Introducing Open Badges in Mahara

This is a small post to raise your awareness of a new feature which we've introduced to UCS' Mahara e-Portfolio system. Open Badges.

If you are weren't aware, an Open Badge (http://www.openbadges.org) is a Mozilla backed, open standard framework for defining web badges, in all senses similar to a physical badge you used to get in Boy Scouts or Girl Guides.

A badge can be rewarded to an individual for any number of different achievements. Previous pilots and projects over the last couple of years in the higher education sector have been run to promote an achievement or evidence system based around the use of badges, some have used in house bespoke systems, however, there is growing evidence of using a central 'Backpack' like Mozilla's OpenBadges standard. For example:

'Seton Hall – Created campus wide badges for students who participate in campus events. It’s pretty neat because students can simply swipe their ID card at events to earn the badges. They have another program where freshman earn badges by attending mandatory freshman events.' (Croom, A (2014)) - http://adamcroom.com/2014/04/a-brief-history-of-digital-badges-in-higher-ed/

Well, now you can import and visualise a collection of your own badges into your Mahara e-Portfolio page. You can follow the steps below to import your badges:

If you don't have a Mozilla Backpack, follow this link --> http://www.openbadges.org and register using an email address. If you already have a backpack you can skip to the next step.

1. In Mahara, go to your 'Profile' option under the 'Content' tab
2. Navigate to the 'Contact Information' section
3. Make sure the email address listed is the same as your Mozilla Backpack one, if it isn't, click the 'Add' button and add a the address you used to register for your Mozilla Backpack
4. Click 'Save Profile' at the bottom of the page.
5. You will need to validate your new email address (email will be sent)
6. Go to your portfolio page you wish to add the badges to
7. Click the 'Edit this page'
8. Click the 'External Content' option
9. Drag the 'Open Badges' (Shield icon) onto your portfolio page
10. Depending on what badges you have (if any) you will see what 'Collection' you wish to add.
11. You may need to create a collection in your backpack which is public. 

Any badges you are rewarded with, wherever they are from will now appear on your portfolio page.