"To me, an assessment is the (1) the activity, (2) the evidence, and (3) the judgment. Whether the "thing" awarded out the back end of that process is a grade, a certificate, a pat on the back, or a badge, these second-order proxies are credentials and not the actual assessments"
"What kind of options and motivations for learning could alternative certificates create? What if students could complete assessments when they were ready? Can we give students the chance to "test out of "units or whole courses because of independent learning?"
Badges Competition: Call for Proposals
Badges for Lifelong Learning
"Winning projects will be selected by the expert panel on the basis of aesthetic, technical, and pedagogical quality, the effectiveness of the assessment the badges represent, and the likelihood the badges will be recognized and effectively deployed by learners, learning institutions, employers, trade associations and the general public."
"I admit this title makes a pretty bold statement for a society that pretty much uses the first five letters of the alphabet to define every child from about age 5 until adulthood. But, I am hearing more and more about the use of badges in the classroom, especially in conversations about gamification and self motivation."
"Shifting demographics and workplaces create new needs for non-traditional adult learners. Two responses to these changes have been online learning and certificates. The use of digital badges is another response to these needs that is full of potential."
"...web literacy is more than just learning how to code or specific technical things, but also about being good active members of communities, etc. The first Webmaker badges are a taste of this."
"... digital badges are actually portals that lead to large amounts of information about what their bearers know and can do. They are also being used to improve education itself, by borrowing techniques from video games that keep users playing, until they advance to the next level." - NYTimes.com
"...we've begun to develop and pilot internal badge systems within different areas of the organization. Not surprisingly, this growing group of Mozilla badge systems is revealing itself as fertile ground for investigating the development of a variety of badge systems."
via Carla Casilli
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