[ARCHIVED] Which badge app have you had the most success with?

[bfeist]

I would like to start using a badge system with my students within Canvas.  I noticed that there are a couple different apps that have badges and am wondering which is best?  Thoughts?

[tross]

We use CanvaBadge and while it is not used everywhere in our district, we have found it easy to use.  

[bfeist]

Thank you for your reply Teri.  Does Canvabadge allow you to create badges for accomplishments other than completing modules?  For example, would I be able to assign a badge for an assessment score, improvement on an assignment, effort, early submission...

[tross]

You can use the final grade or modules.  It does have an external url for evidence so you might be able to manually award with that but I have not tried it.

[ryan_corris]

@Teri Ross   So, if I wanted to give teachers / students badges for completion of things in Canvas as well as outside of Canvas, CanvaBadges would only work for items in Canvas?

[tross]

It only works in Canvas and it isn't maintained anymore so no new features but it has been easy to use for our limited use. 

[ryan_corris]

I did not know that it was not being maintained anymore.  Thanks for that insight!

[khammond]

Badgr is a platform that uses Open Badges and can be integrated with Canvas in less than 5 minutes.  Since it uses Open Badges, you can issue badges outside of Canvas using the same (or different) issuer.  We also offer backpack features, like Mozilla Backpack.

Within Canvas, Badgr does automatic badge awards based on module completion, but we've seen a lot of instructors get creative with the way they set things up. With the new Canvas release of MasteryPaths, there may be greater flexibility (I have not yet checked out the functionality). 

I'd be happy to give you a demo and show you how Badgr works if you'd like. We are a Canvas preferred partner and are regularly releasing new feature updates.

[bfeist]

tross So do you mainly use Canvbadge for module completion?

[tross]

 @bfeist ‌  That is correct.  What we do is usually create a module in the sequence that is just the badge.   That way they complete the module then click on the badge item.  The next module has the badge as the prereq. 

[mcowen]

Least year at InstructureCon16, we had a great Pre-conference session on badging. My notes show me these were the popular ones:

• Credly
• Badger
• Open Passport
• Badge Safe

With Credly getting the most positive reviews.
CanvaBadges is a good starter badging system, but there is essentially no reporting available.

2 others mentioned in passing were Buckeye Badges as well as Basno.

I'd love to hear what you choose. Please let us know.

Good Luck!

[bfeist]

Deactivated user you explain what you mean by "reporting"?

[mcowen]

 @bfeist . Being able to track which learners have received badges. What badges they have received and when they earned them.

[joseph_allen]

Mike,

I'd love to start using Badges in Canvas, but really having a hard time getting started.  We tried Canvabadges, but it was more cumbersome and there seems to really be no good place to view the badge.  What are your thoughts on how to get started with this?  

[mcowen]

I agree. There is no easy way to view the awarded badges. There is some javascript on canvabadges.org that will allow the badges to be displayed within student profiles, but that is the extent of 'showing badges' as far as I know.

For installation help, I wrote a help document here.

For tracking who has been awarded which badges, I would recommend looking into a different badging system, like the ones I mentioned above.

It's probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope at least the knowledge is useful.

[khammond]

Hi Joe - It is my understanding that CanvaBadges are not actively being maintained. I'd be happy to show you Badgr's Canvas app if you are interested. It is reallly easy and we have some good badge viewing, tracking and sharing features. Feel free to contact me anytime help@badgr.io 

[kobrien3]

After reading two previous threads...

Badges for Learning 

Badgr ... is it working for you? 

I figure I tie the knot as I find this question post  

If you have questions about Canvabadges or Badgr, you might want to read the threads above.

And after watching this  

And this   @lstark ‌

  @khammond  

If Badgr works well with masterypaths‌

That would be very exciting! snufer 

 @cclowes ‌ let's activate this...

Canvas Release: MasteryPaths 

[ryan_corris]

I have explored with Mastery Paths and Badgr.  I have found Badgr to work well with MasteryPaths.  Students are only required to complete the assignments assigned to them in the module to receive the badge for completion of the module.  For example, let's say a module named Plate Tectonics has 15 module items and all of them are required. Then those items are split up evenly between the three paths.  Maybe item 1-5 go with the high path, items 6-10 go with the middle path, and item 11-15 go with the low path.  If I take the initial MasteryPath assessment and I am placed in the middle track, then I only have to complete those five required items (even though there are a total of 15 required items for the module) to receive my badge for completing that module.

[tmercer]

I've used Canvabadges and Badgr and Badgr seems easier to use and you can download your own designs.  Plus Canvabadges isn't being maintained.  But I'm fairly new to badging.

[james_sanzin]

I started with Canvabadge, but now use Badger. It will automatically award badges based on module completion.

[mjoaquin]

We are using Badgr as well for the same reasons mentioned by others. We can import our own designs, and it will auto award based on module requirements being met. 

[mjoaquin]

Following up to say that we use Canva to design our badges. We liked that we could customize the designs, download them as pngs or jpgs, import images, and it is free. We opted for a custom dimension of 197 x 197 (pixels) this equates to roughly 2 inches. We then design the badges as 2 inch circles, because in addition to using Badgr for digital badges we also print out and award tangible badges so the 2 inch shape works well. 

 

Some of these badges are just for fun (like the Kendra Scott one haa)

[james_sanzin]

Canva sounds almost like it was meant to work with Canvas lol

[mjoaquin]

Right! Match made in naming heaven.

[alan4]

We've just made a free alternative to Canva for designing open badges: Badge Designer - Create beautiful open badges 

[ryan_corris]

As a side note, I have also explored several different options for creating custom badges.  I wanted to find something that the teachers in my district could use fairly easy without having to learn a whole new program for creating badges.  I have decided that using PowerPoint is a very good option for badge creation.  It is something that our teachers already have and it can make some great looking badges.  Here are some examples of some badges I created for our districts badging course.  

The background of the badges were created with shapes and shape attributes in PowerPoint.  Some of the icons for the badges were found through a Google search and were marked "Labeled for reuse".

As apart of our badging course I actually included a PowerPoint file that walks teachers through how to manipulate images, shapes, text, etc. within PowerPoint and create their own customs badges if they choose to go that route.  I have attached the PowerPoint file to this post if you are interested in looking at it or using it for yourself or with your staffs.  It is not the prettiest thing, but it seems to get the job done and helps people learn how to create custom badges with a program many people already have and use.  Feel free to use this file and make changes to it that meet your needs if you want.