Educators, by and large, are extremely creative people. I could never be a K-1 teacher, only because I do not have the chops for the incredible bulletin board designs. Seriously Pinterest? I can barely look without feeling terrible about myself.
This also holds true for new initiatives. Admittedly, I am a victim of my last book. Inspiration hits, I get fired up, and then it is off to the races. Digital Badges became that inspiration for me, but I am wise enough to know that it can not happen without student input. Moving forward, I had a skeletal plan for what I wanted this program to look like, but was no here near ready to roll out anything to a large group. Enter, my guinea pigs!
My advisory of ten 7th and 8th grade students became a grain size that was comfortable. Throughout my research, I found digital badges being used everywhere! Higher education was issuing badges on a national scale to track skill development ESchoolNews was writing about badging as a way for teachers to show skill development as a way to build resumes. Adobe, Microsoft, Harvard, Northwestern, Michigan State- all introducing badging programs.
As always, there are pitfalls to any program. Design-Thinking is riddled with downfalls. That is the point, right? We hypothesize, test, and evaluate results. Wait- isn’t that scientific thinking? Or engineering? Or utilizing critical thinking?
Troy Markowitz does a solid job of identifying some of the pitfalls in current badging programs.
“Many academic institutions are going through this evolution process in deciding to certify learning through credentialing, otherwise known as digital badging to help combat the ensuing skills gap and to provide the value of a degree to learners.”
My largest issue with this is that the focus is on badging of “learning” as it applies to future careers. This process is relegated to high school and collegiate credentials. Lacking is the focus on skill development , leading me to ponder if, at a middle level, a focus on transferable skill development would be the MOST important thing?
Why the focus on skills? To make learning meaningful, acquiring skills a main part of filling the student “tool box” to prepare them for learning.
So, where does that leave students? The larger question was, why, as creative people, were we not embracing skill development? Our design thinking is so specific, and can be so grand, in our own curriculum development, yet assessed skills are not celebrated as achievements?
I get it. Teacher time is already pulled in hundreds of directions daily. Educators make, on the average, 4 decisions a minute, 1500 hundred a day, 270,000 educational decisions a year! Read that again, then add in all the little, non educational decisions. It is precisely why “What is for dinner?” is a monumental question at the end of the day. Why add just one more thing to the schedule?
My opinion tends to side with what is best for students. What do my kids need from me? It is not about me, it is about them. With that said, my sanity also matters. Beginning this program, if I am hoping for any sort of adoption will mean keeping a small grain size, to determine buy in and acceptance. No kid acceptance= no bueno for program as a whole. When I broached the subject of this program in my team meeting? Crickets. Initiatives are all well and good, but not when it may mean more work crammed into the work day. So, an island I shall be- for now.
Next steps-
Program introduction for students.
Setting the stage
Engaging Advisory to create agency
Connections to curriculum and Personalized Learning Plans
How to engage students to move beyond badge consumption
Building a program that encourages students to take ownership of badging
Mr. H's Not So Secret Classroom 