Why Badges?
Badges are a tool that can easily be brought into the high school classroom in a variety of settings. Badges are a great way to learn skills in easy to manage steps that can help students to accomplish tasks without a lot of stress. I have found that it is a great tool for me because I can get overwhelmed when I am told I have to learn a new skill that is foreign to me. I have found that without thinking too much or stressing about the topics I have built a ton of skills, especially in the areas that I find interesting and can see myself implementing in the classroom. For students, this will be a great way to help them learn skills without presenting huge amounts of criteria or planned learning outcomes all at once.
I can see myself using this for preparing for a big essay in a socials class or something similar as this can be overwhelming for a lot of students. Having a badge for creating a thesis statement, for researching a certain number of sources, writing an opening paragraph, for analyzing two or more different historians opinions, and finally for reflecting on the essay writing process, can make the task of writing a big essay feel more manageable. I often find that when I have a huge task it is difficult to plan my time and break down each step of the process. When doing badges it is easy to complete a short 10-30 min skill or section in between other tasks, and can be a welcome change from having to sit down and just write an essay or do a project. Additionally, it is very rewarding to have an actual bade added to your portfolio and can be a way for students to show their teachers, parents and peers what they have been working on without making them read an entire paper. Finally, badges emphasize skills over content which is the direction that the new curriculum is heading.
There is also a huge benefit in the gamification aspect of badges. I have found that it has been really fun to complete badges and it is easy for me to see how students would enjoy getting badges as well, especially if they love to play games or are competitive in nature.
Folioz Badges
To earn my folioz badges I have created a folioz page, created separate pages and collections, include a video about myself, include documents from google drive, include youtube videos and reflect on how I will use folioz in my teaching practice.
Google Suites
This category includes a variety of different skills using google. I made a large number of badges in this area as I learned how to create a google site, embed google docs and youtube videos, add new pages and preview pages. I also learnt how to use google drawings, google slides and google sheets.
Student Made Badges
These are badges that my classmates and former students in this program have created. They represent other aspects of technology and this program. These badges include procrastinating (doing badges instead of studying for other classes), being part of the November Fitness Challenge, creating an educational pintrest board and making a friend on folioz.
Google Classroom Bagdes
In order to get my google classroom badges I created a classroom for a class I want to teach, have added external media, added assignments and dates to my class calendar and have downloaded the google classroom app among other things.
Youtube Badges
I decided to only get the beginner badges in this category. In order to get these badges I created a youtube channel, edited some setting in the creator studio and added a video to my channel.
Google Badges
For these badges I had to create a google account, create google forms, docs and slides, star items, and create folders.