This upcoming school year (2015-2016), I want to start playing with badges both for myself and my students.
I have kept away from badges because they remind me of stickers that teachers give to kids, you know the whole ‘punishment/reward’ (must read book on this topic is written by Alfie Kohn and titled Punished by Rewards). Mitch Resnick is also has some reservations on badges.
Colleagues that believe in badges tell me they’re just like badges designed for Girl Guides and Scouts and the idea is to celebrate achievements and do not foster competition.
We will see how my little experiment works out. In the meantime, here’s my first badge from remind (click on the badge for info on what remind does. Click on the badge below for more info on the remind app which I will test with my McGill students this upcoming fall.
Here’s the badges I hope to get this year if I don’t get bogged down in corrections, workshops, and presentations:
I’m curious to see if the process will be challenging and fun or if it becomes tedious. I will post the badges on the main page as I earn them.
Let’s see how long I am motivated to do this. Another reason I want to give this a try is because the New Horizons Report on Emerging Technologies lists ditigal badges as having potential .