Student BadgesNot to be confused with Badgers.

Guest speaker: Amy McQuiggeDocumenter: Jake LedermanColleagues: Edwin Pell & Tariq Khan

http://animal.discovery.com/mammals/badger/

http://www.gifts-family.com/schoolbadges.html

This was as clear as any of the slides got for me. Luckily my colleagues were able to see everything.

It is kind of cool that our guest speaker looks like Colossus

Why badges???• Could be used to showcase skills that can’t be graded.• Good reward for after school programs & for

students that go above and beyond expectations.• Students could use them on applications to colleges.

http://balboaoaks.bsa-la.org/merit_badges.php

Peer assessment

http://hartmaninventorysystems.com/news/who-is-your-competition-really/

Badges are a great way to employ peer-to-peer assessment. Having students give out grades in the form of badges to their classmates might make them work harder.

Badges are a way to encourage healthy competition among students. This is important because later on, in their adult lives, they will face much less friendly and more necessary types of competition.

ALREADY HAVE ONE OF THOSE? GET ANOTHER!

http://aznninjanews.webs.com/

By having each subsequent badge award a higher level of mastery, even though a badge is earned, the motivation still remains to learn more!

Our A-frame meeting was getting a little crowded, so we high tailed it down the coast to find a more suitable location for our brainstorming session.

EDTariq

Brain

Positives• An extra way to motivate

students. Every motivation tactic used by you will not work on all your students. The

more motivation techniques you employ, the more likely you will engage all different types of students.

• Room to innovate Badges are still new to education so there is plenty of room to innovate the

uses and creation of badges. Schools could create more advanced badges for more gifted students to strive for. There could be types such as interdisciplinary badges or community service badges.

Draw Backs• As a first year teacher, it might be more important to

establish yourself as a capable professional before looking to innovate education. Concentrating on badges might detract attention from conveying important information or class organization.

• It seems that the current school model does not embrace innovation as a necessary & positive aspect of teaching. The “teach for the test” mentality of some schools might make it difficult for new ideas to gain footing.

Conclusion

A badging system can be an excellent way to motivate students to succeed in their educational endeavors. It will help encourage peer-to-peer learning and assessment, as well as give opportunities to showcase additional skills and talents later in life.

We believe that badges will fit in perfectly with a student-centered, inquiry based classroom.