TVETipedia Glossary

Digital badge

(Digital badge / digital open badge)

Validated graphical visualisation of a learning experience, – e.g. participation in a course, seminar or workshop, or acquisition of knowledge, skills and competences – with or without certification.

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A digital badge can be shared on social media, added to email signatures, embedded on a CV or portfolio, or added to digital badge wallets;
a digital open badge is a digital badge whose content (e.g. identity of the holder, learning content, learning outcomes, issuing organisation, issuing or expiration date, assessment criteria) is verifiable and portable;
open badges can be issued, earned, and managed by using a certified open badge platform; digital badges are issued in a variety of formal, non-formal or informal settings.

Source:
Cedefop, Glossary. Terminology of European education and training policy, (accessed 03/2023)
Cedefop, Glossary. Terminology of European education and training policy, (accessed 03/2023)
Access resource, available in English, French, Italian, Portuguese
This multilingual glossary (provided in a multitude of European languages) defines a selection of key terms used in European education and training policy. It is a revised and expanded version of the “Terminology of European education and training policy – A selection of 130 key terms” (2014). It considers new priorities of European Union policy, mainly concerning skills intelligence and employment. New definitions have been developed in collaboration with the experts of Cedefop’s departments VET and Skills and VET and Qualifications.

A digital badge is a clickable graphic that contains an online record of

1) an achievement,

2) the work required for the achievement,

3) evidence of such work, and

4) information about the organization, individual, or entity that issued the badge.

Mozilla has created an Open Badges Infrastructure (OBI) standard that includes a display platform called the Badge Backpack so that badge earners will have a free, hosted, public location for management and display of their digital badges. Thus, badges earned by individuals from disparate organizations that use custom badging platforms may be aggregated in one location for others to view. Digital badges can be used, among other things, to depict course completion, establish micro-credentials, represent honors, show event participation, and demonstrate community membership (Bixler & Layng, 2013; cited by Lemoine & Richardson, 2015).