Making Digital Media Learning Badges Work

Recently, I joined a number of luminaries for the launch of the 4th Digital Media Learning (DML) competition, Badges for Lifelong Learning. Digital Learning Badges are online tools that recognize, measure, and support lifelong learning. The DML competition is a MacArthur Foundation-funded initiative of HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Sciences, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory). Mozilla is also a core member of the team, and it, not coincidentally, released its Open Badges standard the same day.

So what’s the gist? HASTAC says:

"Today learning happens anytime, anyplace, at any age. How can 21st century learners demonstrate their knowledge and skills? Digital badges can inspire learning, unlock jobs, educational and civic opportunities and open new pipelines for talent."

While some believe that the badges are the salvation of our educational system, others argue that they are another waste of time and energy that won’t change anything. I would point to the valid middle ground: Digital Learning Badges are promising tools for providing a piece of the structure to expand how we think about education and competency.

A number of good blog posts came from the heat of the event itself. I found Matt Thompson’s to be a useful overview of the full set and ones by Erin Knight, Carla Casilli, Andrea Zellner, and Jenna McWilliams to represent a valuable cross-section of reasonable views.

As I alluded to above, it is easy to make sweeping statements and miss three valid points:

1. Employers must recognize the value of badges. There is some concern that if Digital Learning Badges catch on, a profusion of badges will result in devaluing each one. The badges already have influential backers, but the bigger problem will be getting a core number of quality badges. The DML Competition is a great way to attract high-quality participants. For it to further succeed, there must be a core supply of well-recognized badge issuers with commonly accepted quality badges (perhaps by migrating existing technical certifications). More importantly, employers will have to hire people based on competency as designated by badges. McWilliams says: "If documentation of military experience and vocational training aren’t enough to convince people to hire a job applicant, then I need someone to explain how a series of badges earned during military service will." The fact is, though, that employers are going to stay with known, safe certifications—degrees from accredited schools—because that is "how it has always been done." Badges could be a way to create different marks of competency, but we need clear evidence that employers, admissions officers, and other consumers of certifications will accept people with these badges. Someone will need to spend time getting buy-in from these groups and agreement on what a given badge means.

 

2. Badges must represent real competencies. The other side of the profusion point is the validity of any given badge—how do I know the difference between one badge and another, and how can I decide if they are on par with each other? How do I know if a badge represents a competency that meets my expectations? If badges do take off, the possibilities for "badge mills" are endless. There are also clear solutions here. In many cases, existing high reputation and credible organizations will need to be suppliers. There will also be a need for independent validators, à la accreditation agencies. I expect many will spring up and a couple will survive as viable players. The social web can help, too, whether through ratings of badges or connecting one badge-holder to others with demonstrated success stories. In all cases, the overarching success factor will be transparency: what does it take to get a given badge, how many people have it, what were key inputs, etc. Transparency, more than anything, solves this issue.

 

3. Badges can't fix everything. Both sides, suppliers and consumers, need to use badges as a tool to address one problem and not try to make them the proverbial hammer for every nail. Their biggest potential value is in providing measures of competency and expertise for knowledge separate from a traditional education setting. The knowledge to earn a badge may have been acquired through work, i.e., doing a job over time, or through a hobby. The traditional educational system provides a narrow set of ways to gain a stamp of competency. Badges provide one way to attach significance to knowledge gained through different means. They do not solve larger assessment issues, but they do provide incentives for learning skills or subjects and a way to price that knowledge in the human capital marketplace. Badges must be allowed to do that job well and let broader issues sort themselves out separately.

 

The issues that badges could solve are important. Done well, such a system could make important advancements in how we think about education. The DML initiative has launched some good initial steps, but a great deal of organizational design work—building standards teams, maintaining open access, and keeping focus—needs to be done. Let’s not worry about the extreme views and focus on getting the right middle way in place.