Badges

I have been reading about using badges to help motivate students, show achievement, and help students learn better.  I admit, I've been curious as to how I could use them in a math classroom for something other than discipline.  Its easy to figure out how to apply badges to behavior but not to learning the math itself. 

So I did a search and came up with some nice information.  Trever Reh has a lovely article on his blog from 2013 that has ideas for badges that could easily be used in the classroom.  He has examples and suggestions including one for those who come up with a creative way to explain their work.  He includes pictures and shares where his ideas came from.

I also found a lovely question on making your own badges.  There is a lovely blog entry by Billy Meinke on making your own badges.  I've included this because most of the information I found came from various websites who offer people the chance to earn badges as they work their way through the material.

So now we come to the question of how do you decide what to award badges for?  This article is great because it discusses criteria for awarding badges to effectively increase student motivation and provides information on where to create the badges and how to award them.  It has the specifics I need to get started.

Faculty Focus has an article with additional things to think about before you actually implement badges.  It focuses on bringing the badges into the classroom rather than using them.  It gives questions one can think about.  In addition, Inside Higher Education has an article with recommended places to create your digital badges.

I love the internet because I can find information on so many different educational topics including creating digital badges.