Comments on: Let’s make badges not stink

By: What If People Make Bad Badges? P2PU’s Plan of Action. | Peer to Peer University

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 09:30:30 +0000

[...] Executive Director Philipp Schmidt issued a call to action in his post “Let’s Make Badges Not Stink.” But, inevitably some badges will stink. Perhaps even on our platform–we’re creating a [...]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:39:00 +0000

Wrong link for Jessy’s Challenge: http://p2pu.org/en/groups/open-research-create-a-reading-list/content/assemble/

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 17:33:00 +0000

Tying the feedback to the tangible outputs is one way to focus attention on the projects.

Not applying for the badge but instead only submitting a project could be another.Jessy and I have been discussing how our approach to Challenges may have been too proscriptive, too granular. Perhaps a Challenge should simply be: complete this project. Any way you decide to do it. Here are some suggestions. Go. Jessy actually created a new Challenge based on this model: http://p2pu.org/en/groups/open-research-start-a-research-notebook/

Maybe we should refer not to “Challenges”, but to “Projects” with the understanding that assessment will occur at points of iteration and final submission.

Added to terms list: http://pad.p2pu.org/p/terms

By: Daniel Hickey

Daniel Hickey — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:49:00 +0000

Good points. I think the first one is really consequential because it is so easy to enact. It is a natural thing to offer badges for what people do; but it is a simple extension to offer then for what we want people to become. That puts identity front and center

I think I would add that we should examine the discourse that is driven by the badging practices. What does the introduction of badges do to the way meaning gets constructed? If the meaning that gets constructed around the badges is focused more on the badges and what they gain and less on the proficiencies and values the badges represent, then we have a problem. In a more specific sense, we should also do design studies in which we systematically refine the badging practices in order to foster more desirable forms of meaning making.

Case in point, if we associate badges for roles, we would want to examine the discourse that emerges around those roles. In examining the proposals of the final winners, many if not most of the badges are offered for roles. But I worry that the enactment of the badging practices will see the roles/identity be supplanted by a a focus on what they did. It seems to me that this should be revealed in the (presumably online and therefore persistent) discussions of the badges in that community.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:51:00 +0000

Both great points. Do you have an example for a badge that is “about the project more than the badge itself”?

I’ve been thinking a lot about how to scale assessments recently, in light of the new wave of massive open online courses, and I think peer assessment / feedback is one aspect to pay attention to. The other is the creation of tangible outputs as part of the learning. Those are great markers in themselves.

By: mozzadrella

mozzadrella — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Would add:
3.) Make badges about the project more than the badge itself. Users need to be more excited about the work they are completing than the token.
4.) Value and weight peer feedback as highest priority (goes back to community) so that badges aren’t simply a “one person does this, gets that” economy.