Digital Badges for EVERYONE!

As I was driving today I was thinking about who at my campus I could give badges to and what they would be. I know that I want to give my students the bulk of the badges to use as motivators for behavior and academics. Here are the badges I want to make: *Good Citizen *Being Respectful *Helping Others *Team Leader *Good Friend *Compassionate *Prepared *100% on any assessment *Improvement on a test *Move up in reading level *Writing Wizard (Using the skills taught in Revision & Editing) *Spelling Star I also want to give badges that serve as rewards. For example, *Bring a stuffed animal *Shoes off *Lunch with the teacher *Bring it to me Tuesday (they get to celebrate with Admin) *Chalk at recess I also thought I would want to make and give badges for the staff. Here are the ones I want to make for them: *Caught being Kind *Helpful *Team Player *Jeans Pass *You Rock *Good Friend

ClassFlow

As I was researching the Ron Clark Academy, I came across a program that they use called ClassFlow. It allows you to present classroom materials, distribute classroom materials, and students can turn in classroom materials. I also noticed that it gives you the opportunity to give rewards or badges to your students. I found this help video that describes how badges are given!

NASA's Digital Badges

While researching digital badges in the classroom, I came across a blog that discussed NASA's digital badge program. When I investigated further I found the site! It is called The Starlite Digital Badges Activity and can be found at www.starlitebadges.com. You do need a Mozilla Open Badges account which I talked about in my previous post. It is also a pilot program so not fully interactive. The program was created by Project Whitecard and CET Wheeling Jesuit University. One thing I did not like about it was that it was very slow. They tell you at the beginning to make sure everything is closed but it is still so slow! The instructional objective is: Through an interactive, game-based activity, players will be able to locate sedimentary rocks on a simulated Mars landscape and activate the rover's drill in search of evidence for past life. Honestly, the first time I played, I failed the first mission. Here is my take on the game: 1. It was VERY slow! The rover moved like a turtle and if I were playing for fun, I would have quit by now. 2. I had to complete 3 missions (and that's about all my patience could take) and they sent a badge to my e-mail and to my Mozilla backpack. 3. I think the idea is great but it needs to updates, especially with the engagement of the game.

Credly

I tried a new website today to make class badges and I really like it! The website is called Credly and it has allowed me to sign up for free, create my own badge using their templates, and send them by e-mail. In the free version, I could do everything I need as a teacher! I can send them to all of my students, see who all has received them, and run reports on my badges. The first badge that I made was the "Reading Wizard" badge. The students will receive this badge when they move up on their reading levels. The cool thing about this site was that you e-mail them (which you would send to parents) and you can include a comment. I sent one to my own e-mail using my daughters name so this is what it looks like when the parents receive it!