Digital Badges: Beyond Learning Incentives

Abstract

The use of digital badges as learning incentives earned through completion of activities in online instructional settings continues to gain traction. From K-12 to higher education and beyond, into practical skill building and continuing education exercises, incentives such as badges borrow principles from gaming to engage and motivate learners. The implementation of badges into online learning platforms and the adoption of digital badges into Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) further demonstrates the popularity of this trend. Continued understanding of learner needs and perceptions of badges by educators can ensure that efforts taken to “gamify” learning using badges are well spent.