Open Badges are a specific type of digital credentials designed to promote learner-agency principles. Open Badges communicate skills, competencies and achievements by providing visual symbols of accomplishments embedded with verifiable data, along with endorsement and evidence that can be shared across the web. Open Badges empower individuals to take their learning with them—wherever they go—building a rich picture of their lifelong learning and achievements journey.
Open Badges initiative was launched by Mozilla in 2011, and since that time thousands of organizations across the world already issued Open Badges, from non-profits to major employers and educational institutions at all levels.
According to the Open Badges initiative by Mozilla, Open Badges are verifiable, portable digital badges with embedded metadata about skills and achievements. They comply with the Open Badges Specification and are shareable across the web.
Each Open Badge is associated with an image and information about the badge, its recipient, the issuer, and any supporting evidence. All this information may be packaged within a badge image file that can be displayed via online CVs and social networks. Thousands of organizations across the world issue badges in accordance with the Open Badges Specification, from non-profits to major employers to educational institutions at all levels.
Badgewell is one of the first digital badging platforms to offers open badging solutions to educational institutions and enterprise customers across the region. Badgewell provides its users with public profiles were they can store their digital credentials and share them with potential employers.
Badges can mean a lot. Badges may represent many different types of achievements and claims:
- Hard skills such as proficiency in a programming language
- Soft skills like collaboration
- Participation
- Official certification
- Authorization
- Community involvement
- New skills and literacies not recognized by traditional education providers
Because the open badging system is based on an open standard, recipients can combine multiple badges from different issuers to tell the complete story of their verifiable achievements—both online and offline. Open Badges can be displayed wherever recipients want them on the web, including on social media profiles and through services that store and display badges. Badges can be shared for employment, education, or lifelong learning.
Anyone can Issue a badge, receive one, verify that a badge is real, or inspect the metadata and any associated evidence. Badge issuers can certify that their badges are technically compliant with the specification and therefore, can be readily moved among Backpacks and display sites. Badges can be used to set goals, motivate behaviors, connect learning environments, and communicate achievements across many contexts.