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Choose writing style appropriate to the context

Decide on the perspective (I, he/she, they)

Just enough information to understand an achievement

Use relevant keywords

Test badge samples

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Find it also HERE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14PNVBu3Timeb2EY0V7pbwdDUh7nxoEj5/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114749595426999189945&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Training activity: How To Create a Quality Badge?

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Training activity: How To Create a Quality Badge?

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Now you know essentials what an Open badge is and what it can be useful for. Watch this video to learn how to create a good Open Badge. ![youtube](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XsOR2EPVC4>){type=video} Source: Project ‘Digital Generation Youth’, [Youtube channel of Cities of Learning](<https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx0Ov5tADukQnhwlCsWQ-sQ>) Open digital badges capture essential information about learning and achievements by storing this metadata inside the badge image. If made public, this information can be accessed and viewed by anyone. Pay special attention to two fields in information about the badge – the description and criteria for earning the badge. A badge description tells the badge viewer about this badge’s specific learning and achievement. When preparing a badge description, you may include the following details: - **Context of the achievement**.​ Where and when did specific learning happen? What new knowledge, skills or change has happened as a result of learning? What kind of specific achievement was reached?
- **Tasks completed.**​ What did the badge earner complete to qualify for this badge? What roles or activities did the badge earner undertake? What evidence did the badge earner submit to claim this achievement?
- **Assessment procedures.​**Which assessment procedures were in place to verify the badge evidence? Who was involved and how was the assessment carried out?
- **Unlocking new opportunities.​** What new opportunities does this badge lead to? Mention all the valuable things that this badge unlocks.
- **Links to a wider framework.​**Though this information can be included as a separate data field in the badge, it does not hurt to mention if this badge shows any skills that are part of a larger competence framework or education standard or connects with a specific level of education (see ans example of hoe to align badges with the [DigiComp 2.1 framework](<https://badgequalitylabel.net/help/articles/aligning-youth-work-activities-with-digcomp-21-framework--webinar>)). When you add this information it will be easier to assess prior learning in relation to the relevant EQF level.
- **Time spent to achieve the badge.** This information is important because it gives information about how long has been ‘worked’ to achieve this badge. If a person worked 3 hours or 6 months to achieve the badge, that makes a difference. ### Tips and Hints for badge descriptions
Here are a few Tips to consider when defining a style of the badge description: - Badges will be viewed by diverse audiences: badge earners, future employers, formal education staff and so on. **Is a certain style of writing acceptable for the context** where the badge will be used or viewed?
- Playful badge descriptions can motivate learners, but may be taken less seriously in more formal contexts. It is good to** test badge samples** with targeted audiences. The style also depends on who verifies the badge achievement and the evidence.
- A badge description can be written in first person style if the badge achievement and evidence are self-approved by a badge earner. Where badges are issued by staff, the third person’s perspective can be used to describe the earner’s achievements. - Since badges will be displayed on the web, it is good to have a badge description that tells** just enough information to understand the achievement** and its context. - Badge metadata is machine-readable. This means that badge information may be discovered by search algorithms and filtered accordingly. **Be aware of some keywords** that potentially help find a badge easier. ### How to describe Badge criteria? Along with the badge description, this is perhaps the second thing that the badge viewer will look at. Criteria should be very clear for both the badge earner and any external badge viewer. - **Criteria should set specific objectives for the badge earner** – what needs to be done and what needs to be achieved. It should describe what evidence should be provided: text, image or any other type of file.
- **Assessment flow**. It should clearly set out how it will be assessed: by the earner, by peers or by the educator or programme manager. - Try to create criteria that are **not too complex**. Instead, split a complex badge into more easier-to-achieve badges.
- Some badges may not require uploading evidence, but they may require earning other badges before this particular one. Mention it in the criteria. Please find a few examples of quality descriptions of the badge. These badges are created to recognise the learning of international volunteers in the foreign country. In this example, you can see that the authors of the badge system chose to use a first-person style badge description. This was done intentionally because when a volunteer shares own badge, the message comes from the badge owner’s perspective. You will learn about various types of badges in the following activities. This badge serves as an **_onboarding badge_**. Meaning it aims to motivate badge earners to become interested and aware of what Open badges are before a person dives deeper into the entire Achievement Programme. You can see that a badge is rather simple in terms of achievement - there is just one task and a badge is earned by completing this task and getting evidence approved by the mentor. You can add specific skills from your chosen competence framework when setting up your badge on the Cities of Learning platform. In this way, you will link a badge to the larger context of competence development. ![Recognition Ready badge example](</storage/content/21ts04tnlcp0e6o2f5bkvjpqao1j1bl3.png>) Here is another example of the badge, but this one is much more complex - a person can earn this badge only at least 2 out 3 tasks are complete and evidence approved by the mentor. This badge is linked to one of the Key competences for Life-long learning - Personal and social competence. ![](</storage/content/fh1egum2aoqr71q5npv0nfvac1q4sg5u.png>) ### Badge Types
You can have badges for various reasons and usually, we divide badges into several types. Technologically badges do not differ and follow the same standard. However, when designing a badge system it is good to sort badges into different types and be aware of what you are trying to achieve with each badge. ![Badge types](</storage/content/ajp95gb0n0f1qvm7e0fit4rvc8p94quk.png>) 1. **On-boarding badge** can be issued for people learning about badges and finding out how badges will be used in the specific project or event. 2. **Participation badge** recognise or motivate active participation
3. **Competence badge** is often more complex and may consist of ‘smaller’ badges recognising knowledge, skills or attitudes. 4. **Learning/achievement badge** is issued to recognise specific learning achievement. 5. **Fun badges** are often the most popular as everyone want to have fun and having seriously funny learning process gives extra energy and joy. 6. **Motivation badges** might not be recognising the final achievements, but it could be be badges leading people along the way and recognising their efforts, persistence and motivating people to keep on going. 7. **Behaviour badges** can be dedicated for recognising specific behaviour that you expect or promote. 8. **Membership badges** can symbolise belonging to a specific group, organisation, class, process. When exploring examples of badge systems you will noticed that many badge systems would contain several types of badges. The system would start with a few on-boarding badges, then continue with some badges for motivation and participation and then more badges for learning and achievements. When designing a system of badges, you can mark for yourself what kind of badge it is and what you are aiming to achieve. If you are eager to try out creating a digital open badge, you can try that on [www.awero.org ](<http://www.awero.org>) ### Assessment of badge evidence and ways to issue a badge
You can decide among several ways to issue a badge. Identify which way is best for you relating to the objectives of your activity and a badge. - **Issue a badge by scanning a QR code.** This is the method of issuing is generated automatically by the platform (by default). This method is suitable especially for in-person events, when participants physically come to the activity and organisers can decide when to issue a badge. By using this method, learners will not add any other evidence to the badge. The badge itself will be evidence of participation. - **Issue a badge by email. **This method suits well if people can not scan the QR code on the spot or if they participated in an online activity and organiser has emails of learners. - **Set-up tasks to earn a badge.** In many cases it makes sense that a badge is not issued, but earned by the learner upon completion of certain tasks. Badge issuer can define one or more tasks for each badge and require a learner to upload evidence - any kind of file: text based reflection; an image; a link, etc. **Organiser can set up assessment in three different ways:** - **Self-assessment.** Evidence is self-approved upon the upload. This is a good method if you base your learning process on trust, assessment and self-reflection. Not all learning should be assessed by external people. - **Peer-assessment. **You can set up a number of peers from the same activity who need to approve the evidence. Only then, a badge is issued. This method is relevant when activity involves several people in accomplishing some tasks together. - **External assessment. **This method is suitable if activity organisers are willing to see the evidence and have the power to review and approve it. This is the most top-down approach and suitable for more rigid educational programmes.

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On the Cities of Learning platform, badges are aligned to the 2.0 standard of . Diverse organisations, businesses, institutions, schools, colleges and universities use badges to validate and recognise learning and achievements across the globe.

By default, automatically created badges do not require evidence and can be issued to emails or by giving a QR code/URL link. It is recommended to review and modify the badge description, criteria and evidence requirements before issuing the badges.

Organisers can issue badges in 3 different ways: 1) to emails; 2) by giving a QR code/URL link; 3) by requiring evidence that Badge issuers can set as an assessment criterion at the level of badge tasks. Evidence can require 1) self-approval; 2) peer review; 3) organisers review.

Helpful tips for filling in the Bagde description or tasks fields:

First prepare texts keeping them saved somewhere else, for example Google doc, Word or similar. The platform does not have auto save function and texts may be lost while editing, for example due to low or unreliable internet.

When copying texts from other documents, paste them by removing any formatting. Due to complex formatting and possible conflicts, sometimes the platform may show error message when trying to save draft or publish.

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On the Cities of Learning platform, badges are aligned to the 2.0 standard of . Diverse organisations, businesses, institutions, schools, colleges and universities use badges to validate and recognise learning and achievements across the globe. By default, automatically created badges do not require evidence and can be issued to emails or by giving a QR code/URL link.

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Badge example No.1: Make yourself known, a badge from the Global Youth Skills playlist for young people

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Badge example No.1: Make yourself known, a badge from the Global Youth Skills playlist for young people

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Everyone is visible… almost everywhere and always. It’s about what you do with your visibility. Have your visibility under control and actively curate your personal »brand« yourself. The holder of this badge has worked on: - Sharing personal presentations with others and gathering constructive insights
As a result, the skill ‘managing reputation and identity in a world full of connections’ is being worked on. The holder of this badge has worked independently and in collaboration with peers at the **Make yourself known** skill zone of the [Global Youth Skills competence framework](<https://www.iftf.org/fileadmin/user_upload/downloads/work-learn/GlobalYouthSkills_Final_Report_021419_sm.pdf>) from Institute for the Future. How the holder of this badge worked on these skills can be seen in the evidence in this badge. International youth work trainers have assessed the completed tasks.

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Just add (using +) your templates in this column.

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Badge example No.2: Digital youth work using good practice example of VR room from Young Dragons, Slovenia

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Badge example No.2: Digital youth work using good practice example of VR room from Young Dragons, Slovenia

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Badges of Empowering Youth Organisations: DigitalYOu Platform

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Badge example No. 3: Training course for youth workers on facilitating learning

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Badge example No. 3: Training course for youth workers on facilitating learning

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This badge has a description following the recommendations for micro-credentials

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Training course for youth workers on facilitating learning

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This badge certificate is a micro-credential that confirms that the person completed the international modular training for youth workers on facilitating learning in international youth work settings. The residential training activity occurred in Lithuania from 15th to 21st of September 2024. The course participant carried out preparation activities before and follow-up activities after the course. 60 hours of work (equals 2 ECTS) is the estimated time the learner invested to achieve the following learning outcomes at ISCED level 5: Motivating and empowering young people; Being honest, respectful and transparent; Fostering democratic and active participation; Respecting ethical boundaries when working with (the group of) young people; Raising young people’s awareness of the power of change; Supporting young people in dealing with crisis situations in a fair and constructive manner; Recognising own feelings and values and role modeling this process to others; Creating a supportive environment to act on value, both residential and online; Generating trust and maintaining confidentiality, respecting of privacy and data; Encouraging and actively supports collective actions; Addressing factors supporting and blocking creativity; Having the courage to improvise and experiment and recognising the importance of this; Aiming at reaching educational aims by using specific ways and methods that encourage creativity, problem solving, ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking, in different environmental aspects; Being OK with imperfections, failures, and mistakes; Confidently and constructively challengig a ‘them and us’ mindset; Acknowledging the experiences of others. The participant could choose a flexible learning pathway through non-formal training and informal learning activities. The learner could choose to submit evidence of learning outcomes to eight out of thirteen digital Open Badges required to earn this badge certificate. Peer review supported participants’ reflection and understanding of learning outcomes. The course training team reviewed and approved badge evidence. This certification is aligned with the European Training Strategy (ETS) competence model for youth workers. The training organiser has approved Erasmus+ Accreditation to carry out learning mobility for youth workers and trainers in compliance with the quality standards in the EU-funded mobility programmes in the field of youth. The Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps Programmes National Agency in Lithuania evaluated the quality and approved accreditation to carry out this training activity.

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Henry Uithaler Badge description template_updated 01.10.2025

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By attending SA’s most comprehensive career guidance initiative, school leavers will be equiped to enter the working world. Students will be able to access training options and career paths by engaging businesses, educational institutions, NGO’s and government bodies.