Badgr is a digital badge issuing and tracking platform that awards badges based on achievements earned at UAB. Badges can be awarded in a variety of educational contexts across UAB that are informal and formal learning. They can serve as progressive achievements in and out of a course on a learning pathway. Badge achievements can be rewarded by school/college, department, and course level of all kinds, such as:
- interest and engagement
- participation or attendance
- membership
- knowledge or dispositions
- formal certification (degrees, certificates)
- proficiency, competency, or skill
Digital Badging Information
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What is a digital badge?
Digital badges offer a way to display web-enabled acknowledgements of achievements, course completions, or learning outcomes mastery. With a single click, digital badges will display detailed information on skills and qualifications achieved, including all activities that were completed to earn the achievement. The skills acquired to obtain a digital badge can be verified online in real-time. This will allow achievers to quickly demonstrate and validate accomplishments.
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What do they do?
Digital badges help achievers easily manage, share, and authenticate a wide set of skills and achievements.
- They can create a complete representation of an individuals learning path, skills, achievements, competencies, interest, and qualities.
- Digital badges provide a way for students to communicate valuable skills and achievements that otherwise could be difficult to show on a traditional transcript.
- Students can validate valuable skills and share achievements that can impact future opportunities with potential employers and even academic programs.
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Why do we need them?
Digital badges can be more dynamic in today’s world where learning happens anywhere and everywhere. This will create a formal recognition for valuable skills and share achievements with just a single click. Digital badges can represent the same experiences and skills presented on a resume, but in a richer level of detail. Once a digital badge is earned, it can be shared on resumes, in courses, and social networks. This will allow others to see rich details of learning outcomes and achievements that can be verified authentically as credentials.
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What type of badges does UAB offer?
UAB offers four types of badges based on the criteria and purpose. Descriptions of each badge type are listed below.
Single/Course Program Department School/College A single badge or course badge related to a single criteria completion. Typically reserved for completing a single skill or module requirement in a course. A badge awarded by a specific program based on a set of achievements. In relation to a program, this type of badge would be awarded after a set of courses is completed. A badge awarded by a department based on total achievements from a single or program level badge. An example of this would be a badge awarded after a student has completed all required courses in a particular major/minor. A badge reserved for the highest award given by a School/College. Typically, these badges are reserved for students who completed a total of achievements during their entire tenure at UAB. -
What is a digital badge pathway?
Along with an individual badge award, digital badges can be stacked together into a pathway. Pathways allow you setup multiple layers of requirements or micro credentials that equal one larger overall badge. An example of this would be stacking or bundling a set of single and program level badges into an overall department or school/college badge.
Access
Instructors/Faculty/Staff
To get started with issuing digital badges, follow the steps below:
- Fill out the Badgr/digital badge request form. A member of the eLearning team will be in touch regarding next steps.
- Start working on the digital badge information sheet (downloadbale worksheet template). This will provide the eLearning team with the information needed to setup the badge.
- Meet with the UAB eLearning team and discuss the badge proposal.
- Test and implement the digital badge into your course/program.
- Fully deploy the badge and start awarding.
Students
To access Badgr through Canvas as a student, navigate to the Global Menu Navigation is Canvas and select Badges.
From the Badges menu in Canvas, students may see one or two tabs:
- Progress: To view the badges that are earned in the course, along with the badges that have not yet earned. Students can click on a badge they've earned to download and/or share with social media
- Leaderboard (optional): students can see their badge earning in comparison to others in the course (*Please not the leaderboard has to be enabled in the course)
- Users interested in gaining issuers access can contact eLearning
Badgr Guides/Tutorials/Resources
Instructors
Badgr FAQ
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How are student’s awarded digital badges in the course?
Module completion is how Badgr is signaled to award badges. Students earn badges in a course by setting module completion requirements in Canvas. Module completion requirements can be set based on a combination of assignment grades, quiz scores, submission, content viewed, and module prerequisites. More information on learning how to set Canvas module completion requirements to customize how students earn on their badges can be found on the Setting Module completion requirements guide.
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Can I select specific digital badges for Canvas Modules?
Yes, badges can be selected by previously defined badges in Badgr, you can select a badge that was created by your issuer, or you can request a have a badge created by contacting UAB eLearning. More information on selecting badges can be found on the Select Badges for Modules guide section.
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Can I share digital badges?
Yes, badges can be shared from within Canvas and on the Badgr website. For information on sharing badges, visit the Sharing Badges within Canvas guide and the Sharing Badges on the Badgr website guide.
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What is Issuer Locking?
Issuer locking only allows access to a single issuer on a specified course or subaccount. Instructors will not be able to change issuers once the issuer is locked in a course or subaccount in Canvas. For more information on your school/college or department issuer, please contact eLearning.
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Why can't my students see their awarded digital badges?
If students have completed the module and have not yet received their badge, you may need to trigger a badge check.
Badges can be triggered in three ways:
- By accessing the Progress tab from the badges menu and paging through the student list of names. This sends each page (35 students), one at a time to the Badgr server to check for new awards.
- Requesting the CSV download Report from the Progress tab to trigger awards for all students in a single request.
- Students can trigger a check for their own badges by selecting the Badges menu within their course or by viewing a badge placed in a module. To learn how to trigger a badge, visit the Triggering badge awards in Canvas courses guide.
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What are Badgr Pathways?
Badgr Pathways connect badges from any platform into meaningful pathways users can follow. Users can track their own progress and look ahead to plan the next steps in their learning journey. Desired steps give structure to the badged learning stepping stones and serve for implementing pathway rules. A step may have zero, one, or many badges associated with it. For more information on creating pathways, contact your department issuer. To view a sample of a pathway, visit the Pathway sample page.
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How do I create a Pathway for my curriculum?
A pathway and its completion badge must be created and edited by your department issuer. Contact your department issuer for more information.
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What happens to my digital badges when I graduate?
Students can add a personal email to their Badgr account so that they can access after they are no longer a student.
Badgr Instructor Training
Group, one-on-one, or virtual training sessions are available to faculty.
Badgr Technical Support
Please follow the steps below if you need technical support after reviewing the information, guides, and FAQ's above.
- Troubleshooting Tips Page - Check to see if you can troubleshoot your issue before submitting a ticket
- Contact Badgr Support - Badgr support is available for instructors and students Monday–Friday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. PT.
- Ask eLearning - Users who still need help after reviewing the resources on this page and contacting Badgr Technical support can request support from UAB eLearning using the link below. Request Academic Technology Support
Privacy and Accessibility