Hello Credentials crew, and happy almost-Autumn!
For this month’s blog post, we decided to share a few exceptionally good questions we received recently so you’re all able to see our responses. Please comment and let us know if this information proves useful to you. And we’d also love to know if there is any content you’d like to see in future posts, so please feel free to share that in the comments, as well!
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Topic:
Public-facing organization page
Question:
I am wondering, when would an organization's page be visible to the public? I am awarding badges to learners by sharing a claim code that directs them to their badges. From my understanding, from there, they would be brought to the badge description and then can click on the issuer description. When would they see the organization page? I want to best understand how I should utilize this page.
Answer:
Your badge earners and staff won't see the organization's public page by default. However, it can be quite valuable as a means of showcasing the credentialing opportunities available, and pathways learners might opt to pursue. You can opt to hide individual badges, pathways, and even entire issuers from the organization public page as appropriate. You may then choose to link to the public page in documentation and marketing materials about your badging program. Note, too, that each badge and each pathway has a public-facing link that can be used in any communications about them. For more information on public-facing pages: Public pages
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Topic:
Separately tracking different groups of learners
Question:
You had said specifying "2022" on my badge designs isn’t a great idea, and that if I edit it to "2023" next year, the change will impact all previous recipients. I was wondering if I should create new badges for each year to accommodate and differentiate between different cohorts of learners. Is this something you recommend? Or is there a better way to do this?
Answer:
Having to create new badges every year will create a lot of unnecessary manual labor for you and your team, so we do not recommend this approach. Canvas Credentials allows you to differentiate cohorts by default with groups for this very reason. You can create cohorts, or "groups," for each calendar year and track progress within each group independently of one another. You can also assign pathways to groups and track group progress along different pathways. For more information on groups: Using hidden groups
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Topic:
Pathways and year-specific badge designs
Question:
If we stick with our plan and make separate badges per year, can you share what that might do to the pathway? We would want someone who received a badge on a specific topic to be eligible for the pathway regardless of what year they received the badges.
Answer:
You would need to either create new pathways each year, or modify each of your pathways to include the newly created badges, in order for anyone who receives a badge on a specific topic to be eligible for the pathway regardless of what year they receive the badge. For more information about pathways: How to create and edit a pathway
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Topic:
Editing badges
Question:
Also, what happens when you edit your badges once they have been created and awarded?
Answer:
We recommend using caution when editing badges! Previously awarded Open Badges are shared in social networks and across many systems, and changes you make will be visible in all these locations when the learner has shared their badge directly from the Badgr website (as this uses a URL and links back to the metadata saved within our application). However, if a learner has exported the badge metadata and shared a static version, the shared version of their badge will not automatically get updated. It's a very tricky thing to manage and we recommend only doing it when completely unavoidable. For more information on editing badges: Editing badges
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Topic:
Revoking badges
What happens when you revoke a badge from a learner?
Revoking a badge removes the assertion from the badge, and anyone who attempts to verify it will determine that the badge is not valid. For more information about revoking badges: Revoking badges in Badgr
