Intro to Open Badges

Once an assessment determines that someone has learned something meaningful, the learner typically wants a credential or certificate of some kind which they can use to get a job, enroll in another degree program, or just hang on their wall. This is where badges come into the picture.

15 years ago, publishing was an expensive and difficult process. Getting your amazing novel or brilliant idea in front of millions of people cost millions of dollars. However, blogs radically transformed publishing - today anyone can publish to the whole world instantaneously and for free using Wordpress, Blogger, or another free blogging platform.

Similarly, today it is terrifically expensive and difficult to award someone a credential in recognition of their learning. Credentials imply formal institutions, accreditation, and a host of other hoops and expenses. In the same way that blogs democratized publishing, Mozilla's work with open badges Links to an external site. aims to democratizing credentialing.

An introduction to Mozilla's Open Badges initiative.
This video is (c) video4hastac and does not use the course's CC BY license.