Digital badges are a powerful way to take charge of professional growth and development. From learning new skills to proving ability to accomplish job-specific tasks, digital badges have become a popular source for workers to upskill and advance their careers. Businesses, schools, and nonprofits use digital badges to provide skills verification and offer opportunities for career advancement.
Digital badges signify the earner has completed a formally approved set of standards or competencies. Badges can be earned by gaining specific knowledge or skills or for completing specific tasks. Collecting badges is a fun way to share learning experiences with others and to highlight the earner’s commitment to knowledge expansion in a specific area. Digital badges are an online representation of knowledge, skills, and accomplishments. They provide an opportunity to promote those attributes through various channels, including social media, email, and online portfolios.
While there are endless benefits to acquiring digital badges, here are three reasons why educators should consider them for professional development.
1. Simple & Easy Earning Process
2. Personalized Learning Experience
3. Professional Recognition
Simple & Easy Earning Process
Getting started with digital badges is simple. Each digital badge is designed with a goal in mind. Learning platforms, ed tech tools and businesses offer opportunities for professional growth through digital badging. Because companies use badges to provide training related to their services and products, theyare usually free. This model serves as a win for the earner and a win for the company. Good digital badges are designed with the learner in mind and detail each step needed to be successful. In most cases, the learner will sign into a platform to complete the required educational steps, document their success, and submit evidence to show mastery of the outlined tasks. Everything is in one place—no need to switch between multiple platforms to earn your badge.
Personalized Learning Experience
Professional development is vital for anyone who wants to be successful in their career. However, learning opportunities are often required or have few customization options. Learners show up to the meeting or event, and the schedule is pre-determined with topics that may or may not be beneficial to individual learning needs. Digital badges allow the learner to take the driver’s seat in their professional development. Through digital badging, the learner can determine what they need to learn and formulate a plan to accomplish their goals. Digital badges can help learners develop new skills or strengthen skills you already possess.
Professional Recognition
What happens after earning a digital badge? Because digital badges are hosted online, the earner can share the badge through a variety of channels. From social posts to online portfolios, digital badges can be shared throughout the professional learning community. Whether an earner is seeking new employment opportunities or looking to advance in their career, digital badges allow them to demonstrate their eagerness to learn and grow, as well as highlighting their proficiencies.
Introducing iCEV Professional Development Digital Badges
iCEV is excited to announce a new digital badging program for educators, as well as industry certification earners. Starting this fall, iCEV will begin offering digital badges to anyone who earns an industry certification hosted on the iCEV Certification Testing Platform and educators who attend an iCEV professional development event.
Be sure to keep an eye out for other iCEV Professional Development opportunities to earn digital badges in the future.
Visit our website to learn more about iCEV's new digital badging initiatives.
