BADGEWORTHY: The support for teacher badging grows! Yesterday, nonprofit Digital Promise (DP) announced its movement into the world of micro-credentialing with an infographic representation of "competency-based professional development." Co-authored by GettingSmart, the infographic identifies central issues of personalizing PD, and includes a competency-based development system that includes three focal points:
- A competency map, or what teachers can/should learn;
- Multiple ways by which teachers learn, or the how;
- Demonstrations of competency, or recognition that a teacher has learned something.
Later in the infographic, DP identifies the steps by which one gains badges as micro-credentials--including submission and review of artifacts as demonstrations of competency.
Digital Promise Professional Development Manager Krista Moroder explains that the shift to micro-credentialing comes from the recognition that, "it's easier to personalize learning than ever before." She adds: "There are so many different ways to learn now, that it doesn't make sense to only credential on-seat time."
Along with other members of the Badge Alliance (a group that includes Mozilla and the MacArthur Foundation), Digital Promise plans to release a white paper (“Preparing Teachers for Deeper Learning") with more information next Monday, and launch a full-scale micro-credentialing program in a few months, while working with teachers in the interim to refine the micro-credentialing process.