What is a badge?

A badge is a symbol or indicator of a goal achieved, a skill, quality or interest.
A digital badge at first glance is an image that represents a competence, and is released by the institution which is responsible for verifying it.
In effect, the image - which is the visible part of the badge - is also associated with metadata containing the description of the competence, the way to verify it, the indication of who will verify it and, when verified, certifies the identity of who has acquired the badge.
It is therefore easy to understand why the badge becomes particularly useful in learning contexts, where it can be used to guide, demonstrate and motivate the user's activities throughout Student's career.

What is an Open Badge?

An Open badge is a badge whose metadata is written in an open source format , therefore they are:

  • Open: use an open standard for metadata, the badge can be published on any portfolio (backpack, wallet) that is compatible with the standard;
  • Independent: they can be conquered in the most varied contexts and each user can choose which platforms to use to collect and display them;
  • Speakers: they collect a lot of information, including who holds the badge, who assigned it, when and on what criteria;
  • Safe: the identity of the person holding the badge is associated with the image together with the other metadata and with an algorithm that allows to verify the overall truthfulness of all the information.

Why open badges?

With the Open Badges it becomes possible to claim the things you learn, give value to the things you teach, check and demonstrate your skills, show the Open Badges on the web in association with your profile.

The organizations assign Open Badges (instead of participation certificates or educational qualifications) to highlight individual qualities or experiences, which the person can then group and present by building their own personal history of their professional profile.

The forma.lms plugin at a glance

The purpose of the forma.lms open badge plugin is to issue digital badges in open badge format to students who have successfully achieved course results. You can read following details to understand the plugin usage.

  • In administration, it is possible to upload badges (.png template images), assign them to courses, and define release rules (as for certificates);

 

  • The Student is issued the badge at the conclusion / passing of a course;
  • The Student can see all his badges on a dedicated page (similar to that of certificates);

         

  • The plugin can respond to certification verification requests sent by a Open Badge backpack.

 Conclusion

If you want your Students to be able to achieve Open Badges, keep the history of their achieved results on a standard Open Badge backpack, and share their results on the social networks, then forma.lms Open Badge plugin is the right plugin for your purposes.