Badges 102: Quick Issuing was developed to help individuals and institutions learn more about the ‘issuing’ side of open badges (aka- ‘presenting badges to learners’). In this short course we’ll cover a few things: 1) we’ll briefly cover how the badge process works (in basic terms), 2) next, we’ll briefly take a look at what it means to be a ‘badge earner’, 3) then, you will learn how to easily issue badges using an existing ‘OBI partner’, and 4) you will create your own manual for your learners to earn the badges. You will finish with two final products upon your successful completion: a badge to issue in your selected location and a manual to give to your learners.

Before we begin:

1. Terminology and Prerequisites: If any of the terminology in this brief summary seemed unfamiliar, please be sure to a) consider taking Badges 101: What are Open Badges and 2) review the Glossary list below.
2. How to earn the ‘Badges 102 Badge’: You will also be required to turn in your final products at the end of the course which will qualify you
3. Taking Notes: We ask that along the way you take some notes in a place where you can easily recap the content when it comes time for the final project. You may wish to consider using Twitter to tweet out to #P2PUbadges102, using a Google Doc or setting up a Google Site to organize your thoughts, or create a blog in a space like Google Blogger to blog your notes. Feel free to reference your notes in the forums, if you are posting them in a public location.

Glossary:

• Open Badges (Badges)- An open badge is a digital symbol of personal achievement that displays the work that ‘badge earner’ had to do to receive the badge from the ‘badge issuer’. “A graphic file (PNG) that contains validation information about the Issuer, Earner, etc.” “A “badge” is a digital symbol of recognition that complies with the Open Badge specification. Badges are useful in representing many things such as experiences, achievements, skills, competencies, learning, associations, community involvement, peer interaction, etc.” #
• Badge Earner- Someone who earns a badge. “People who perform tasks and earn a badge.”
• Badge Issuer- Someone who delivers a badge. “Organizations that issue badges.”
• OBI partner- An organization that has made it easy to issue badges via their Web site. An organization partnered with Mozilla.

Discussion Prompt:

1. Give us your best one liner- who are you, where are you from, what are your interests?
2. So, obviously you have a reason for taking this challenge. Perhaps you are just curious about badges to use in a certain context or you have a project already started that you’d like to offer badges through. Give us some insight into why you’d like to issue badges- maybe we can help!
3. Did you develop a public location for taking notes? Let us know where it is!