Badge From Your Own Domain
Ever since Mozilla announced the community would no longer support the #OpenBadges project I wanted to come up with a way to control my credentialing. We had worked on Badging since 2011 only to see the standard development fall behind a paywall, Credly purchase a shady patent from Pearson (but don't worry if you join said paid standards board you are indemnified), and the huge profit machine behind assessment in education dilute and ruin our misssion.
I didn't buy into the badging craze at first and folks labled me as the community skeptic but over time I see the value of connected evidence to criteria and displaying these accomplishments. My problem arise from a philosophical difference in who should control learning.
Many in the badging community began to push back against light weight or particpation badges (for an overview on power of social badging see Hickey & Shenke, 2017claiming it hurt credibility. Some thought the word carried so much baggage we had to start saying micocredential...even before people did anything with badges...At heart is a disagreement of who shoudl be in charge and in our original vision of credentialing we wanted to badge all the things. Let communities define as what counts for learning and not entrenched instiutional power
Time to take control and bring badging back to my own domain
Why Badge from Your Domain
Own your content
In my webmention badge model I get to own all the badges I issue and all the badges I earn. Directly from my own domain. I do not have to give any thid party service one bit of data (okay I am technically using Webmentions.io for this proof of concept). I could send the badge to a third party ledger for history purposes but it becomes my choice.
Connect with Your Learners
The model of webmention badges fits perfectly well with #OpenPedagogy as you form better connections with yoru learners. I work in teacher education.; Ther is no B or A level in teaching children to read. You either can or can not by the time you leave. Using badges to track all the necessary skills, knowledge, and dispositions leads to more meaningful feedback conversations.
Mantain Your Control
Anyone else have whiplash from the number of badging platforms coming and going? Sick of trying to fengaled WordPress plugins to work? Tired of committimng to #FOSS projects only to see Mozilla hand the keys to for profit companies? No matter your motivation seize control of your credentialing and start badging from your own domain.