Canvas + Badgr Pathways for Tracking Faculty Professional Development

[cain-cptc]

I would like to talk to anyone who is using Canvas and Badgr Pathways to track faculty professional development. The would be for tenure and promotion and/or adjunct faculty professional development. We want to use tools that we already are using. I am interested in anyone who has done this whether you were successful or not - what other solutions have you tried? I am finding that the more specialized products tend to be more inflexible. 

Thanks!

PS. Apologies in advance: I was forced to choose a label to post here and none of the labels made sense. 

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

Thank you @cain-cptc for your question. We don't use it for tenure or promotion, but I am happy to share how my college uses Canvas Credentials (Badgr Pro) for our Better-Prepared Online Teacher program. This is a group of professional development courses in online teaching and course design. By completing the four-course sequence (one badge per course), participants get a fifth (pathway) badge. 

A couple of the courses are also offered by the Online Network of Educators (@ONE), and participants can earn badges for those courses either from @ONE or through our local offerings.

Pathways: Better-Prepared Online Teacher - Cosumnes River College

The @ONE program is a professional development organization that is funded by the chancellor for California's community colleges, and they use Canvas Badges as the certificates of completion for their courses. Some of our colleges require that faculty complete an @ONE course before being allowed to teach online, and so they are getting practice in honoring the badges that @ONE awards. We don't yet have universal appreciation however; I've had to create instructions on how to convert a badge into a printable certificate.

I hope that other community members share their experiences too.

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

If you mean the designation within the badges, @anneris, any terminology can be used. In the badges for our Better-Prepared Online Teacher program, the badges refer to the participants as "learners" or "teachers" and never as students. "Student" is one of the base roles in Canvas that cannot be removed. However, you could create a new role based on Student and call it "Participant" if you wish. 

[asells]

I am also interested in this topic.

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

Thank you @cain-cptc for your question. We don't use it for tenure or promotion, but I am happy to share how my college uses Canvas Credentials (Badgr Pro) for our Better-Prepared Online Teacher program. This is a group of professional development courses in online teaching and course design. By completing the four-course sequence (one badge per course), participants get a fifth (pathway) badge. 

A couple of the courses are also offered by the Online Network of Educators (@ONE), and participants can earn badges for those courses either from @ONE or through our local offerings.

Pathways: Better-Prepared Online Teacher - Cosumnes River College

The @ONE program is a professional development organization that is funded by the chancellor for California's community colleges, and they use Canvas Badges as the certificates of completion for their courses. Some of our colleges require that faculty complete an @ONE course before being allowed to teach online, and so they are getting practice in honoring the badges that @ONE awards. We don't yet have universal appreciation however; I've had to create instructions on how to convert a badge into a printable certificate.

I hope that other community members share their experiences too.

[anneris]

Is it possible to change the designation of "student" to "participant" or another designation more appropriate for adult professional learners? Thank you.

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

If you mean the designation within the badges, @anneris, any terminology can be used. In the badges for our Better-Prepared Online Teacher program, the badges refer to the participants as "learners" or "teachers" and never as students. "Student" is one of the base roles in Canvas that cannot be removed. However, you could create a new role based on Student and call it "Participant" if you wish. 

[anneris]

I meant within Canvas but I think that you answered the question clearly.  I just don't see an easy way to add a role within student called "participant."  I much prefer to call adult learners something other than students.   Also, I am not seeing Badges within Canvas.  Where do I get started with Badges?  Thank you!

[ProfessorBeyrer · Accepted solution]

Roles are edited at the root level by a system administrator. The Canvas Guides has a document on how to do this:

How do I add a course-level role in the Permissions page?

For Canvas Credentials and Canvas Badges, the homepage for that topic in the Instructure Community has helpful information:

Canvas Credentials/Badges (Badgr)