Badges and Microcredentialing (W4)
I was skimming through some of the readings on badges and microcredentialing and decided to have it be the focus on my third and last blog post for the week.
As an FSU employee, I’ve completed more than a dozen trainings over the 1.5 years I've been in my position. Topics have ranged from the financial overview of FSU and travel policy to intermediate Excel skills. These trainings are all part of individual "certificates," and while some have been helpful, others have felt like I was checking a box. Experiences like this make me ponder whether organizations create microcredentials just to say they did.
One article that stood out to me was "Who cares about open badges?" by Randall and West (2022). The authors explore how school principals view open badges for teacher candidates. The takeaway? Most found them potentially useful if the badges clearly represented skills, included strong evidence, and were endorsed by credible organizations. Unsurprisingly, “achievement” and “capability” badges ranked highest in perceived value, while “participation” and “membership” badges were seen as fluff.
That distinction hit home for me. Too often, the trainings I've attended have been tied to a certificate just for showing up, not for demonstrating growth. Badges and microcredentials have potential to spotlight real expertise in ways that transcripts can’t, but only if the work behind them is rigorous and transparent.
Even just a brief explanation of what badges can represent significantly shifted employer perceptions (Randall & West, 2022). While encouraging, it means creators have a responsiblity: if they are going to utilize badges, they have to make them matter. That means setting standards, citing evidence, and avoiding what one principal called "a solution looking for a problem" (Randall & West, 2022).
At their best, microcredentials could help learners show the messy, non-linear progress that traditional credentials often miss. But if we’re not careful, they’ll become just another PDF no one reads.
Reference:
Randall, D. L., & West, R. E. (2020). Who cares about open badges? An examination of principals’ perceptions of the usefulness of teacher open badges in the United States. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680513.2020.1752166
I enjoyed this article, too. Badges and microcerts have the potential to make higher ed more flexible and adaptable. However, I think there could be an oversaturation point in which the number of badges becomes too overwhelming for anybody to really care. AI can help with prioritizing and automatically scanning resumes for badges and microcerts. However, maybe fundamentally we need to ask ourselves if a credential actually represents what we say it does. Ex. Just because I go to a workshop on ChatGPT prompts, am I truly an expert at AI now? I think badges and credentials could be hiding something a bit darker, that learning can be a commodity. When we turn learning into a badge, are we encouraging people to truly grow as learners or is the badge the end goal? Racing to the finish to have as many badges as possible may negatively impact our own growth, curiosity, and critical thinking.
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point, Stephen. In some ways, I do feel like learning has become a commodity. The more shiny badges or things we have to show off to one another, the more we stray away from what learning is all about - growth, curiosity, and critical thinking.
DeleteWow Jack, this post really hit a nerve, in the best way! I’ve definitely experienced that “check-the-box” feeling with some trainings too, where the certificate feels more like a souvenir than proof of actual learning. I loved how you highlighted the distinction between achievement and participation badges that really matters when we think about the credibility and impact of microcredentials.
ReplyDeleteYour reflection made me think: maybe the future of professional learning isn’t just about what we did, but how clearly we can show what we gained. I totally agree if badges are going to mean something, we need to make them rigorous, intentional, and tied to real evidence. Otherwise, like you said, we’re just creating digital clutter.
Thanks for sharing such a thoughtful and relevant take. Now I’m rethinking how I list my own badges, and whether they actually reflect growth or just attendance. Bookmarking this one!
I would say you are right on the money, Felipe! Professional learning does need to show what we gained, and we need to be able to demonstrate that beyond just a badge.
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