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Gary Vear posted an update in the group Open Badges 10 years, 6 months ago
Hi everyone
Like most I am a big fan of the open badges initiative and think it can give a lot to organisations in a variety of sectors.
My issue curently is the best way to distribute the badges. I have a credly account in which I could e-mail the badges I ahve designed to those participants that have met the assessment criteria. However, this would then require the user to create their own credly account to save their badge and/or export the badge to their mozilla backpack. (If I have this wrong, please do correct me!)
Ideally I think my organisation would like to be able to issue the badges through the work e-mail and allow the learners to store them on our learning portal. (which in turn could then be transferred to their own personal backpack.)
Has anybody or any organisation done this? if so, I would appreciate any feedback (good or bad) regarding the process and timeframe it took to have all software/protocols/support in place???
Thanks
Gary
Gary, Unless your organization is set up as a badge issuer, you cannot ‘host’ badges on your own server. At the most basic level, you need to have a web site that the badge and metadata are served from, but there is a process for creating the badge (known as ‘baking’ the metadata to the image) that has to happen at your site, too. Mozilla OpenBackpack is a destination; once a badge is issued, it can be displayed using the MOB. Credly is a complete issuing and displaying system. Both systems require you to create an account and login, and both allow users to display earned badges publicly. Credly does allow the badge metadata to be connected to your own server rather than Credly’s servers, to allow even more control over the information.
Systems such as Moodle, WordPress, Canvas, and Blackboard, that now support Badges, can keep them within their system (closed) or work with external displayers (such as MOB and Credly). Other MOOCs I’ve participated have used both MOB and Credly; personally, I think Credly does a nice job of simplifying the processes for the issuers without becoming too technical. It’s all still young; once Mozilla’s BadgeKit becomes fully operational, it will make issuing OpenBadges even easier for issuers.
I’m running a small badge pilot and have been looking into options for issuing badges for a while. We kept coming back to Credly. Yes, it’s potentially a barrier that people have to open an account, but the storage and display options are good – even allowing multiple email addresses. Credly badges can be added to the Mozilla backpack if people want to.
The Mozilla badgekit might offer a better solution eventually but is only in private beta now and won’t be generally available until next year so for those of us keen to explore the reality of badges it looks like Credly!
Hi Anne/all
I am looking at Credly too. Last year we managed to issue badges for an event we do each June – badges for delegates and for presenters. I used a WordPress and WPBadger – a plugin. It was quite time consuming both setting this up and supporting people in getting their badges! But fun and for some I think succeeded in raising awareness.
Also waiting for a simpler solution from Mozilla badge-kit and in the meantime looking at WordPress/BadgOS plugin and Credly for this summer. Open to other ideas though!
We used Credly to issue badges to participants in our Open Education Week events in March and had good take-up from staff, students and external visitors (physical and virtual), issuing almost 40 badges in the end. I didn’t get any negative feedback about Credly on that occasion, but it was a fairly lighthearted badge just for taking part and to raise awareness of one aspect of open education. I’m using it again for the pilot on our staff development TEL events and have now started issuing serious badges with criteria and evidence. So far so good, but I am doing quite a bit of scaffolding in terms of explaining the process and the role of Credly.