Digital badging at MUMAA

DIGITAL BADGING AT MUMAA RACHEL STRAUGHN-NAVARRO

certify

award

credential

recognize commemorate

validate

engage

acknowledge

verify

celebrate honor

reward

empower

WHAT IS DIGITAL BADGING? •

“A badge is a validated display of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in any learning environment. Badges can represent traditional academic achievement or the acquisition of skills such as collaboration, teamwork, leadership, and other 21st century skills.”

-LearningTimes

•

“A digital badge is an online representation of a skill you’ve earned.”

–Mozilla OpenBadges

•

“A digital badge is a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interest that can be earned in many learning environments.”

–HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory) Watch a video explaining digital badging by the MacArthur foundation here.

WHY DIGITAL BADGING? 'How can we make it possible for learners in the K-12 age range to tap into learning experiences that happen outside traditional classrooms and use badges to connect those two worlds?'

-Jonathan Finkelstein, CEO of Credly (Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Badging in the Classroom: Our Definitive Guide) “The world is changing fast and, today more than ever, traditional modes of assessment fail to capture the learning that happens everywhere and at every age. Digital badges are a powerful new tool for identifying and validating the rich array of peoples’ skills, knowledge, accomplishments and competencies. Digital badges inspire new pathways to learning and connect learners to opportunities, resources, and one another.”

-HASTAC

THE NUTS AND BOLTS Credly is a free platform for issuing, sharing, and managing digital badges.

Mozilla OpenBadges develops and maintains standards so that badge earners may combine and share badges from multiple issuers on the same platform.

OTHER MUSEUMS USING BADGES Through online educational programming, Smithsonian Quests, students can “unlock” badges by completing a set of quests to gain certain skills. For instance, the “Symbol Spotter” badge means “you have an understanding of how symbolism can provide important visual cues and can offer deeper meaning than what is initially perceived.”

The Dallas Art Museum offers a free program in which members can earn badges by entering activity codes unique to specific events and completing tasks. For instance, The Collector badge: “What an eye you have!

Create your own collection by selecting ten or more works of art you love. Text each artwork's accession number (found on the wall label) to 214-390-9693 and receive the Collector Badge.”

The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum uses badges to “construct a digital record of students’ extracurricular learning and providing recognition for the technical and conceptual skills students gain through their involvement” in museum programming.

BADGING POSSIBILITIES AT MUMAA • Badges could: • • • • •

Encourage attendance at Museum lectures and events Reward crowd-sourced content creation

Track student participation at the Museum in and out of school Honor volunteer hours and years of dedication Acknowledge docent training and enrichment

Where to start: Pilot two different badging programs when the Museum reopens to gauge interest and effectiveness of badges for rigor and reward.

BADGING TRIAL #1: THE GREEK VASES • Target Audience: High School and up • Goals: Increased participation, crowd-sourcing content creation, set rigorous educational goals for patrons.

THE ARYBALLOS

• Description: The earner of this credit has gained a moderate amount of knowledge about Greek Archaeology through the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

• Criteria: The earner of this credit has attended a museum gallery tour, a lecture discussing Greek archaeology, and created a digital project describing what they have learned.

THE KYLIX

• Description: The earner of this credit has investigated Greek art and archaeology through research and participation and contributed their insight at the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

• Criteria: To earn this credit the recipient must have received The Aryballos credit and attended two additional lectures and developed a digital presentation about a Greek object in the Museum.

THE KRATER

• The earner has gained significant knowledge about Greek art

at the Museum of Art and Archaeology by attending and participating in events and contributing thoughtful content to the Museum's digitial resources.

• The earner has earned both The Aryballos and The Kylix credit, has attended 5 total lectures at the Museum, visited the galleries at least 3 times, and produced three digital content elements demonstrating their insight into Greek Art at the Museum of Art and Archaeology.

BADGING TRIAL #2: MIDDLE SCHOOL ART LAB • Target audience: Middle school students • Goals: Reward attendance at new Art Lab programming • Description and Criteria: Students will receive each badge after attending the associated Art Lab event

INDICATORS OF SUCCESS The Museum will be able to determine if these badging trials are successful if:

•

People actually accept and are motivated by the badges

•

Attendance and participation will increase as a result

•

The Museum’s body of crowd-created content will grow

•

Patrons will request similar programs for other topics or milestones

LOOKING FORWARD Possibilities for the future include:

• • •

• • •

Museum might develop badging on various topics across the collection Patrons might track badges and steps toward completion on a museum dedicated app App might also serve as platform for making and sharing user-created content in the Museum and could be GPS-enabled to track number of museum visits, etc.

Museum could sponsor badge-based education programs in area schools Museum might develop age-specific badges for university students, early education, adults, etc.

Museum might develop iconic badges that would be uniquely associated with the MU Museum of Art and Archaeology