Badging at UW Tacoma

A micro-credential is a credential that verifies the achievement of  skills and competencies. 

Upon completing a micro-credential, you will receive a dynamic digital badge. This clickable icon showcases the specific skills you acquired through learning experiences. It includes information about the issuing institution, date earned, criteria for earning the badge, and evidence of meeting those criteria. You have full ownership of these digital badges, allowing you to utilize them as you prefer. They can be displayed on social media platforms like LinkedIn, added as links to your digital resume, or embedded in your e-portfolio.

UWT uses Canvas Credentials (formerly known as Badgr) as our credentialing system. This was selected by the University of Washington for multiple reasons: 

• Canvas Credentials issues open badges. This means that the earner retains ownership of the badge, and that they are easily portable to wherever the earner wants to share them.
  
   
• Integration with Canvas: UW uses Canvas as it's Learning Management System (LMS). Canvas Credentials can be configured so that a earner, upon successful completion of a course, can earn a badge instantaneously that is tied to verifiable learning. 

Right now, UWT is new to using badges so there are five groups at this time who are using badges:

• Office of Digital Learning (ODL): ODL issues badges to faculty members who complete workshops in various areas of digital learning discipline including Canvas Module Requirements, Organizing Assignments and Weighting Grades, and Hybrid & Online Teaching certification. If you would like more information, visit https://www.tacoma.uw.edu/digital-learning/passport-teaching-excellence
   
• Institute for Innovation and Global Engagement (IIGE): IIGE is currently offering two microcredentials. One in Design Thinking as a part of their Global Innovation and Design Award program and one as a part of their NextGen Civic Corp program. 
   
• UW Environment Health and Safety Course Completion (EH&S): A pilot under Julie Masura, this badge is issued to laboratory students who have completed the requisite UW EH&S Safety Courses. The training is the same for students regardless of which campus they come from so the goal of this is to allow portability between UW campuses to prevent needless re-training.
   
• Milgard School of Business: Milgard School of Business offers a wide variety of badges, ranging from competing in competitions to the understanding foundations of Data Analysis. 
   
• UWT IT Helpdesk: The UWT IT helpdesk is offering badges to it's student technicians as a measurement of their qualifications ot staff the helpdesk. 

UWT IT formed a governance committee in Fall 2023 to solidify the goals behind badging at UW Tacoma. We want to ensure that badges have meaning, are useful, and are clear. This committee meets as needed.  

If you are interested in making a badge for your program, unit, or team, please email Caitlin Chavez-Moats at moatsc@uw.edu

No. While there is a wide breadth of uses for digital badges, we are committed to ensuring that any badges awarded by the University of Washington Tacoma are thoroughly defined and representative of the quality of UW. To ensure this, badges must meet the following criteria: 

• Description: A description of what the badge represents, such as mastery of topic, participation in an event, or completion of a project.
• Requirements: The requirements that need to be met to be awarded that badge, such as submission of work, participation in a course, or time invested into learning. 
• A badge image that contains the UW Tacoma logo (Note: We recognize that not all have graphic design skills, we're happy to work with you on this). 

Additionally, badges cannot and do not represent any sort of UW credit or course equivalency. They are NOT accredited in any way. This means that a badge cannot be transferred into any college or university as proof of credits or represent anything beyond the achievement of meeting the requirements as outlined on each badge. 

• IT Helpdesk
• IT Helpdesk Tech
• IT Helpdesk Security Awareness Training

• Design Thinking Applied Project
• NextGen Civic Leader Corps

• Hybrid and Online Teaching Certification
• Organizing Assignments and Weighting Grades
• Pre-Flight Checklist
• Canvas Module Requirements
• Fundamentals of Learning Objectives and Alignment
• From Feedback to Forward

• MSBA Applied Project Consultant
• AI Insights Magazine Author
• Analytics Innovation Club Consultant
• Career Readiness for Data, Analytics and AI (Levels 1-3)
• 5 Contest Award Badges 
• Foundations for Data Analytics

UW EH&S Laboratory Certification