When it comes to badges, it may be smart to start with the teachers

So You Want to Drive Instruction With Digital Badges? Start With the Teachers

While badging for students shows real promise, a partnership between the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and VIF International Education demonstrates that in the short run the best approach to scaling digital badging is not to focus on students, but on their teachers.

Beginning this past fall, HISD launched a global learning initiative in 28 elementary schools. The district will expand the program to a total of 51 elementary schools for the 2015-16 school year. To ensure program quality for our students, we partnered with VIF to provide our teachers with globally themed online professional development and a customized digital badging system. Within the professional development platform, they also have access to curricular resources and a community of fellow educators to spur and support collaborative projects and innovative approaches. But the core of the system is the badging approach to professional development.