I've been reflecting on the thoughts I posted earlier about pride, and I'm pretty sure that there is more to say on the subject. Perhaps it's because I'm having difficulty sleeping in the middle of a snowstorm that's got me so contemplative, but that earlier post has been rattling around in my head like a song that I just can't shake. So, I thought I would take a shot at putting some of those "rattlesome" thoughts down.
But, first a digression. I have worked directly in the field of instructional technology for more than a decade, and I've been involved with educational initiatives in general for nearly 25 years (just typing that makes me feel old, and my go-to line whenever that happens is to say that "I'm much to young to be this old"). I only say this here in order to give you some sense of scale when I talk about how often I've been involved with discussions of "BADGES!". It seems like every few months I'm involved with some meeting where someone will raise the idea of badges as a way to provide feedback to students/identify mastery of content/provide a record for posterity/identify workplace skills for employers/etc... I could go on listing these justifications, but I won't, though it certainly seems like the reasons why people think badges in education are a good idea are as numerous as conversations will allow.
My response usually ranges from mild interest to utter bafflement during these sessions. Not because I think that badges are uninteresting or don't hold potential, but because I usually find that the people who are proposing these systems have a faulty sense of what motivates people. For the most part, they have the "if you build it, they will come" mentality, and that entirely misses the point. They believe either that the badges themselves will motivate individuals to participate or that the usability of the badges will be what motivates them (in other words, "my future employer will value my badges, so I'll take them seriously"). Both of these reasons are entirely off base, in my opinion.
The reality of the situation is that the only thing that would ever make badges worthwhile in educational settings is if students have pride in what they represent (I'm sure you were wondering when the digression would make it's way back around to pride). That doesn't come from the badge itself or from a belief that future employers will value them. It comes from an intrinsic value placed on achieving whatever the badge signifies.
As an example, I have received badges for some pretty kooky things. I once received a "Conference Attendance" Badge because I picked up my registration at a conference. How meaningful was that badge, do you think? How much pride did I take in that accomplishment? If your answer to that is anything more that "Zero", you're likely to love badging systems. In fact, it had a negative impact on my affect, because I started really wondering about the quality of sessions I could expect to see at a conference that did something so transparently childish to its attendees. After all, I may have been happy getting a gold star in Kindergarten, but I like to think that it takes more than a sticker to gain my affections now.
In fact, the only electronic badges that I've ever really valued were those from my early days participating in Tough Mudders. I think they still give them out for participating in events, and while I don't do much with them anymore, I remember feeling tremendous pride in sharing those earliest ones on Facebook. They represented something greater than a few pixels on a screen. They represented all of the hard work that I had put into getting back into shape. They represented my willingness and ability to engage with something difficult. Most importantly, they represented my new passion.
But as I said, I don't do anything with those badges now. They have lost that same meaning. They no longer represent the pride I have in my abilities. And, quite honestly, if badges for something that I'm obviously passionate about don't maintain their interest for me, then it's VERY unlikely that meaningless badges would. This doesn't mean that I don't have pride in my accomplishments, it simply means that I get more enjoyment out of the tangible results of my participation. This goes beyond my headband collection (which is quite glorious, if I do say so myself - and just to be clear, I don't want to hear any cracks about how many 10X headbands I have), and includes old Team Bad News shirts and photos from my events.
I guess the lesson that I would take from this is to think hard about what badges, tokens, and mementos represent to the people we work with in educational settings. As leaders and teachers, we can get away with some gimmicks for a little while, but unless the people actually value what underlays those gimmicks, they will grow stale very quickly. Worse yet, they may backfire on you. Learn from the "Conference Attendance" badge...don't assume that these things will be seen in a positive light.
But, first a digression. I have worked directly in the field of instructional technology for more than a decade, and I've been involved with educational initiatives in general for nearly 25 years (just typing that makes me feel old, and my go-to line whenever that happens is to say that "I'm much to young to be this old"). I only say this here in order to give you some sense of scale when I talk about how often I've been involved with discussions of "BADGES!". It seems like every few months I'm involved with some meeting where someone will raise the idea of badges as a way to provide feedback to students/identify mastery of content/provide a record for posterity/identify workplace skills for employers/etc... I could go on listing these justifications, but I won't, though it certainly seems like the reasons why people think badges in education are a good idea are as numerous as conversations will allow.
My response usually ranges from mild interest to utter bafflement during these sessions. Not because I think that badges are uninteresting or don't hold potential, but because I usually find that the people who are proposing these systems have a faulty sense of what motivates people. For the most part, they have the "if you build it, they will come" mentality, and that entirely misses the point. They believe either that the badges themselves will motivate individuals to participate or that the usability of the badges will be what motivates them (in other words, "my future employer will value my badges, so I'll take them seriously"). Both of these reasons are entirely off base, in my opinion.
The reality of the situation is that the only thing that would ever make badges worthwhile in educational settings is if students have pride in what they represent (I'm sure you were wondering when the digression would make it's way back around to pride). That doesn't come from the badge itself or from a belief that future employers will value them. It comes from an intrinsic value placed on achieving whatever the badge signifies.
As an example, I have received badges for some pretty kooky things. I once received a "Conference Attendance" Badge because I picked up my registration at a conference. How meaningful was that badge, do you think? How much pride did I take in that accomplishment? If your answer to that is anything more that "Zero", you're likely to love badging systems. In fact, it had a negative impact on my affect, because I started really wondering about the quality of sessions I could expect to see at a conference that did something so transparently childish to its attendees. After all, I may have been happy getting a gold star in Kindergarten, but I like to think that it takes more than a sticker to gain my affections now.
In fact, the only electronic badges that I've ever really valued were those from my early days participating in Tough Mudders. I think they still give them out for participating in events, and while I don't do much with them anymore, I remember feeling tremendous pride in sharing those earliest ones on Facebook. They represented something greater than a few pixels on a screen. They represented all of the hard work that I had put into getting back into shape. They represented my willingness and ability to engage with something difficult. Most importantly, they represented my new passion.
But as I said, I don't do anything with those badges now. They have lost that same meaning. They no longer represent the pride I have in my abilities. And, quite honestly, if badges for something that I'm obviously passionate about don't maintain their interest for me, then it's VERY unlikely that meaningless badges would. This doesn't mean that I don't have pride in my accomplishments, it simply means that I get more enjoyment out of the tangible results of my participation. This goes beyond my headband collection (which is quite glorious, if I do say so myself - and just to be clear, I don't want to hear any cracks about how many 10X headbands I have), and includes old Team Bad News shirts and photos from my events. I guess the lesson that I would take from this is to think hard about what badges, tokens, and mementos represent to the people we work with in educational settings. As leaders and teachers, we can get away with some gimmicks for a little while, but unless the people actually value what underlays those gimmicks, they will grow stale very quickly. Worse yet, they may backfire on you. Learn from the "Conference Attendance" badge...don't assume that these things will be seen in a positive light.
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