Catalyst for Change: A Penn State Case Study on Digital Badges

During this session, we'll provide an overview of Penn State's new L3 Digital Badging Platform and discuss how it was built to address a variety of academic and cocurricular needs. We'll start with the why and how of digital badges, share our research on badges, talk about related challenges and opportunities, and ultimately discuss how badges fit into an exciting ecosystem of educational change, alongside learning analytics and MOOCs. We'll even let attendees get their hands on L3 and create some badges of their own. And we'll do it all without a single Treasure of the Sierra Madre joke. Maybe. For badge novices and experts alike!

OUTCOMES: Understand, at a high level, the origin of digital badges * Learn how and why to create a digital badge in a vast array of contexts * Learn how to build broad stakeholder buy-in for using digital badges across your school, university, or organization * Understand what Penn State research tells us about how badges are influencing behavior