The New York Hall of Science proposes a two-pronged workshop project that will: (1) conduct a study of and develop a draft report on the topic of STEM badges including conceptualizations, rationale, systems, key contributors and challenges and opportunities for STEM-related badges; and (2) conduct a workshop drawn from a wide range of experts to provide critical feedback on the report. An advisory board will guide and evaluate the work.
Learning increasingly takes place across a wide spectrum of institutions and contexts, through different platforms and environments, and is often incentivized by badge reward systems. There is a concomitant need to understand and make explicit the nature and criteria used, the kinds of accomplishments individuals are expected to realize, and the ways that badges are interpreted by conventional credentialing bodies, such as K-12 educational systems and institutions of higher education. The workshop creates an opportunity for a divrse group of individuals at the forefront of badges to inform each other's efforts. The report that is generated will be available to a broad audience of practitoners, developers and researchers involved in STEM education in both formal and informal sectors as well as to individuals involved in setting STEM education policy.
Although digital badges are gaining momentum as a viable alternative to transcripts and academic degrees, there has been a great need for a synthesis of the state of badges that extends beyond a particular implementation or initiative, offers a shared lens for evaluating this approach, and charts the road ahead. This project, entitled "Badge-Based STEM Assessments: Current Terrain and the Road Ahead," was developed to answer this need and to contribute to the thoughtful and rigorous development and application of badges to document and incentivize STEM-related accomplishments and knowledge, as well as to support the implementation and application of conceptually sound and valid badge systems. Learning increasingly takes place across a wide spectrum of institutions and contexts, through different platforms and environments, and is increasingly incentivized by badge reward systems. This project spoke to the concomitant need to understand and make explicit the nature of criteria used, the kinds of accomplishments individuals are expected to realize, and the ways that badges are interpreted by conventional credentialing bodies, such as K-12 educational systems and institutions of higher education. The project involved five main phases: (1) an in-depth study of the current state of badges; (2) the planning and implementation of a working meeting -- involving 100 leaders representing K12 education, technology industry, learning sciences, high education, informal science and education policy – during which they exchanged views and ideas on the use of badging in STEM programming; and (3) the creation of a report that captures broad knowledge and insights for badge-based assessment efforts in STEM. The report has been made available to a broad audience of practitioners, developers, and researchers involved in STEM education in both formal and informal sectors as well as to individuals involved in setting STEM education policy. The project also resulted in a digital tool that is based on the results of the meeting. The tool will help educators document student learning in out-of-school STEM education environments in a way that can be used to develop evidence-based badging programs.
