Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Digital badges – rewards for learning?

Education and Information Technologies volume 22, pages 1817–1824 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Digital badges are quickly becoming an appropriate, easy and efficient way for educators, community groups and other professional organisations, to exhibit and reward participants for skills obtained in professional development or formal and informal learning. This paper offers an account of digital badges, how they work and the underlying benefits for learners and educational institutions. It also evaluates the use of digital badges to engage and motivate learners. It is this engagement and motivation strategy that a short non-award course for high school students seeks to replicate through many different learning strategies, one of those being the use of digital badges. A digital badging model has been proposed, which shows the four stages educators go through in their decision to use digital badges. Finally, a double-loop learning process has been suggested that could help educators in the implementation of digital badges.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  • Appel, M. (2012). Are heavy users of computer games and social media more computer literate? Computers and Education, 59, 1339–1349.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bixler, B., & Layng, K. (2013). Digital badges in higher education. http://newcomb.tulane.edu/blogs/uccbadges/case-studies/digital-badges-in-higher-education/. Accessed 26 July 2015.

  • Bowen, K., & Thomas, A. (2014). Badges: a common currency for learning. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 46(1), 21–25.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cassells, T., Broin, D., & Power, K. (2016). Increasing student engagement with gamification. 9th European Conference on Games Based Learning, 8–9, 770–773.

  • Chugh, R. (2010). E-learning tools and their impact on pedagogy. In Ubha, D.S. & Kaur J. (eds), Emerging Paradigms in Commerce and Management Education. GSSDGS Khalsa College Press, Patiala, India, 58–81, ISBN: 978-81-909755-2-0. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275771731_E-learning_tools_and_their_impact_on_pedagogy.

  • Educause (2014). Educause 7 things you should know about ... Badging for Professional Development. https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/EST1402.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2015.

  • Finkelstein, J., Knight, E., Manning, S. (2013). American Institutes for Research. The potential and value of using digital badges for adult learners. https://lincs.ed.gov/publications/pdf/AIR_Digital_Badge_Report_508.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2015.

  • Gibson, D., Ostashewski, N., Flintoff, K., Grant, S., & Knight, E. (2015). Digital badges in education. Education and Information Technologies, 20(2), 403–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grant, S. (2014). What counts as learning: open digital badges for new opportunities. Irvine: Digital Media and Learning Research Hub. http://dmlhub.net/publications/what-counts-learning/. Accessed 28 July 2015.

  • Hense, J., & Mandl, H. (2012). Learning in or with games? Quality criteria for digital learning games from the perspectives of learning, emotion, and motivation theory. In Sampson, D.G., Spector, J.M., Ifenthaler, D., & Isaias, P. (eds.), Proceedings of the IADIS International Conference on Cognition and Exploratory Learning in Digital Age, 19-21 October, Madrid, 19–26.

  • Hickey, D.T., Otto, N., Itow, R., Schenke, K., Tran, C., & Chow, C. (2014). Badges design principles documentation project; Interim report. http://dpdproject.info/files/2014/05/DPD-interim-report-v4-january.pdf. Accessed 15 June 2016.

  • Laskowski, M., & Badurowicz, M. (2014). Gamification in higher education: a case study. Make Learn International Conference, 25–27, 971–975.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lepper, M. R., Henderlong Corpus, J., & Iyengar, S. S. (2005). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations in the classroom: Age differences and academic correlates. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 184–196. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.97.2.184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin, Y., McKeachie, W. J., & Kim, Y. C. (2003). College student intrinsic and/or extrinsic motivation and learning. Learning and Individual Differences, 13(3), 251–258.

  • McDaniel, R., & Fanfarelli, J. (2016). Building better digital badges pairing completion logic with psychological factors. Simulation & Gaming, 47(1), 73–102.

  • McGeown, S. P., Putwain, D., Geijer Simpson, E., Boffey, E., Markham, J., & Vince, A. (2014). Predictors of adolescents’ academic motivation: Personality, self- efficacy and adolescents’ characteristics. Learning and Individual Differences, 32, 278–286. doi:10.1016/j.lindf.2014.03.022.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soenens, B., & Vansteenkiste, M. (2005). Antecedents and outcomes of self-determination in three life domains: the role of parents’ and teachers’ autonomy support. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 34, 589–604. doi:10.1007/s10964-005-8948-y.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tagg, J. (2007). Double-loop learning in higher education. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 39(4), 36–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Toven-Lindsey, B., Rhoads, R. A., & Lozano, J. B. (2015). Virtually unlimited classrooms: pedagogical practices in massive open online courses. Internet and Higher Education, 24, 1–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Professional Development, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Building 18/G19, Bruce Highway, North Rockhampton QLD, 4702, Australia

    Rebecca Shields

  2. School of Engineering & Technology, Higher Education Division, Central Queensland University, Melbourne, 120 Spencer Street, Melbourne, VIC, 3000, Australia

    Ritesh Chugh

Authors
  1. Rebecca Shields
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ritesh Chugh
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ritesh Chugh.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Shields, R., Chugh, R. Digital badges – rewards for learning?. Educ Inf Technol 22, 1817–1824 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-016-9521-x

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-016-9521-x

Keywords

search

Navigation