Digital Badges in Higher Ed: Certifying Research Skills That Impress Professors and Future Employers

ASU librarians launched a pilot digital badge system for students to learn and demonstrate information and research proficiency while addressing two recurring needs with one solution. Specifically, college professors desire ways to improve and ensure high levels of research skills among their students (including transfer, distance, traditional, and online). In 2012, Project Information Literacy reported that employers seek candidates who can locate, select, and synthesize information and use information with colleagues to create new solutions to problems. Digital badge systems are scalable; they also promote learning and provide a way for students to demonstrate that learning to instructors and employers.