Students' perceptions of digital badges in a public library management course

Abstract

For the Spring 2015 semester of the Public Library Management course, students were given digital badges along with grades for their coursework. For each topic’s corresponding assignment, students received a traditional grade and those achieving at least an A- received a digital badge that represented the skill or knowledge demonstrated. By using digital badges, the students were given the opportunity to experience this growing educational trend and reflect on their role in the learning that takes place in libraries for librarians and library users. To explore the effectiveness of digital badging, students were surveyed to ascertain how they perceived the digital badges they received. The survey results indicated that students were underwhelmed by the experience in terms of their own motivation, their perception of the usefulness of badges for employment and for professional development purposes, and their future personal use of badges.