Digital badges are visual indicators of skills and achievements. Open Badges is the world’s leading format for digital badges, and is the platform used by the National Forum’s Open Courses. Open Badges is not a specific product or platform, but a type of digital badge. Open Badges are verifiable, shareable, and contain detailed information about the achievement and what the recipient did to earn the badge.
How Do You Earn an Open Badge?
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Wherever you see Open Badges offered online or as part of a learning program, you can be sure that you are earning a credential you can keep, manage, collect, and share along with others to tell the full story of your achievements.
Collecting & Organising Open Badges
If you’re earning Open Badges, you need to figure out what to do with them. You have options, but it’s up to you to figure out how you want to organise your badges and with whom you want to share them.
If you receive badges from multiple issuers, here are some smart steps to take to get the most out of your Open Badges:
- Select a backpack, passport, or wallet solution. See this list of certified hosting tools (many are free).
- Save your Open Badges in one organised digital space.
- Create collections to group individual badges into categories.
- Share your collection of badges with clients, schools, or employers with one link.
Keep in mind that the features of Open Badges hosting tools may vary.
Open Badges are meant to be shared
Earners can showcase their achievements by turning them into valuable currency both in education and in the workplace. Remember, Open Badges are verifiable and often backed by evidence, so they offer unique validity to resumes, CVs, personal websites, and other digital portfolios. When you include your Open Badges in your professional narrative, employers are more likely to trust the claims you make about your skills. Even better, they can click on an Open Badge, view all the evidence, read details about your achievement, and verify the badge’s authenticity!
