Spotlight on Badges: Credly

A few years ago online vendors were beginning to design ways to recognize students for completion of both course elements and full courses online. What started as a promising movement then has cascaded into a fully-integrated recognition for learners' lifelong achievements via the "leading platforms for sharing and managing digital badges and credentials." (Credly site)

Credly is one of the best, insuring achievements are recognizable and easily connected to learning venues who look to prove completion. Earning and issuing credits is free and can be connected to places that matter to you in your career and business: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and embedded on your personal blogs, portfolios, and websites. An issuer designs badges, decides what the criteria is for awarding the badge, and can track data to know where the badges travel and who is using and seeing them.

Exciting to note such organizations as New York City Department of Education, Educause, Ohio Department of Education, Dallas Museum of Art, Harvard, Smithsonian, Yale University, and Training Magazine use Credly to make achievements compelling and visible.

I read through the most recent site announcements and the list of the software which integrates Credly and makes the award process even easier is both impressive and growing at a fast pace. Here are some I know you will recognize: MailChimp, Salesforce, Pathbrite, Eventbrite, and Brandman University.

Finally, while the free application will be perfect for many reading this, know there are three more tiers - Pro, Premier, and Enterprise Edition, and the pricing structure is competitive. At the highest level or Enterprise Edition, a school or platform can totally customize and integrate the badge system platform to reflect their needs.

Do I still download the certificates? Sure I do when they are offered, but this system of crediting achievement is here to stay. If you want to see my badges (sparse at this point - several I designed for a course I am constructing), check out the links I posted in the right menu.

To read more about the growth trajectory, I have attached a link to a paper written by Educause which has a wonderful history and analysis that will answer many questions:
http://bit.ly/1AUz8WS

Whether the badges are awarded by an instructional institution, open-sourced, or earned through completion of a MOOC, these are really hyped up gold stars and I loved getting those as a child. The rationale for the visibility and motivation is still there, just 21st Century.