A History and Frameworks of Digital Badges in Education

Digital badges are online visual representations, accomplishments, skills, or awards that present the characteristics of physical merit badges or awards but go farther in providing validation to viewers in that they are linked to metadata or artifacts. Frameworks, models, and systems of digital badging implementation are just beginning to emerge in the educational and computer science research literature as the digital badging movement began in earnest only a few years ago. Some of the earliest implementations of digital badges included automated awards that still play a role in gamified learning designs. In both formal and informal education key purposes for digital badges include providing motivation, representing accomplishments, and communicating or sharing successes. A historical evolution of digital badges as well as examples of digital badge frameworks, models, and uses in and for education are presented with the intention of providing a basis for initial exploration.