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Digital Badges: Purposeful Design in Professional Learning Outcomes for K-12 Educators

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Foundation of Digital Badges and Micro-Credentials

Abstract

For K-12 educators in the United States, ongoing learning while in practice is intended to keep their pedagogical, technological, and related skills current and sharp. In too many cases, however, this learning is measured only in “seat time,” or the number of hours spent in a professional development (PD) session, with little to no regard for the quantity or quality of learning, implementation in the classroom or learning outcomes. PD may lack follow up or tailoring to individual teachers’ needs and interests. Digital badges, a version of microcredentialing, offer an opportunity to go beyond a seat time paradigm to more accurately and vividly document professional learning. As flexible boundary objects, digital badges can effectively communicate the learning content of a professional development session, and track types of learning over time. Additionally, badges challenge PD workshop leaders and attendees to create value from PD sessions, and reach beyond PD and into classrooms, connecting PD concepts to real-world implementation of concepts.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Michigan School of Information, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Kristin Fontichiaro

  2. National College of Education, National Louis University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Angela Elkordy

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  1. Kristin Fontichiaro
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  2. Angela Elkordy
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Correspondence to Kristin Fontichiaro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Mannheim, Deakin University Melbourne, Australia, Mannheim, Germany

    Dirk Ifenthaler

  2. University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Nicole Bellin-Mularski

  3. University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany

    Dana-Kristin Mah

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Fontichiaro, K., Elkordy, A. (2016). Digital Badges: Purposeful Design in Professional Learning Outcomes for K-12 Educators. In: Ifenthaler, D., Bellin-Mularski, N., Mah, DK. (eds) Foundation of Digital Badges and Micro-Credentials. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15425-1_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15425-1_16

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15424-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15425-1

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