Buckeye Badges: A Pilot System Developed at Ohio State University

The primary objective of the Buckeye Badges Pilot Project is to prove the viability of an alternative credentialing system for curricular achievements. This project in online badging was implemented in two major programs in the department of Horticulture & Crop Science and keyed to competencies and learning objectives established by the department and being used for Undergraduate Program Assessment. Given that approach to academic badging, it will allow easy expansion to additional programs. A total of 607 badges were awarded during Autumn semester with 58 students creating Backpack accounts and accepting 99 badges (16%). During Spring Semester, Buckeye Badges partnered with the campus-wide Denman Undergraduate Research Forum and awarded each presenter a 2016 Denman Forum digital badge. This is a competitive program that requires abstract submissions to be reviewed and approved by a review committee. A total of 526 presenters received their badge award via email. The next phase of the program is to develop a badging model for co-curricular skills that students achieve outside the classroom but are very important to employers as students prepare to enter the workplace and begin to interview with employers, both online and in person.

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