Setting Up and Using Course Badges
Margarita Berezyanskaya
Last Update há um mês
Badges can be awarded automatically based on criteria set by the teacher using the activity completion function. They can also be awarded manually by a teacher for other criteria, e.g. effort, teamwork, peer support, etc. These badges are only recognized by a teacher in their own course.
Teachers can award pre-loaded badges on the Avenue site or they can use or create their own badges, as long as they are in .png or .jpg format and are the standard size (90 X 90 px or 180 x 180 px). Teachers can also visit Badges For Your Moodle, a site offering free badges for use in their Moodle courses.
The first step to using course badges is to enable the Completion tracking setting on the course Edit Settings page. More information about this is found in the Setting up and Using Completion Tracking article. This same article explains how to set up completion tracking for course activities and resources, which can be used as criteria for issuing course badges.
How to Create a Course Badge
1. On your course Navigation drawer, click on the Badges link.
2. Click Add a new badge button.
The New Badge details page is displayed.
3. Click Expand all near the top right corner of the screen. This will expand each section on the page.
Note: If all sections are already expanded, the button will appear as Collapse All, and this step can be skipped.
4. Type a name and description for the badge in the Name and Description textboxes under Badge details. Students see this name and description.
In the next step, teachers select the badge image, a 90 X 90 px or 180 X 180 px JPG or .PNG file. This can be uploaded to the course using the File picker or by using drag and drop onto this page.
5. Click on Choose a file button.
In this example we will be using a file from the Avenue badge repository.
6. Click on Badge Repository.
7. Click on any of the folders to see the available badges. Bronze, silver and gold badges are provided for each language skill at each LINC (from 1 to 7) and at CLB levels 1 to 8.
8. Click on any of the badge icons to select one.
9. Type in the badge file name in Save as, add the Author
(your name) and click on Select this file.
Teachers can set the criteria for awarding any of these badges. Gold badges are numbered 1, silver 2 and bronze 3. Here is what the Gold, Silver and Bronze badges look like:
10. If you have created your own badge, you can fill in the spaces for Image author’s name, email, URL and Image caption.
11. Scroll down and expand, if necessary, the Badge expiry section.
The badge expiry cannot be changed once it is issued. Teachers can select the expiry to Never, or set a Fixed date at the end of a LINC session, when a student might change classes. It is also possible to choose a Relative date, which makes the badge available after the date of issue for as long as the teacher chooses. It is the teacher's decision if and when a badge expires.
12. To set a Fixed date, choose the date by selecting the Day, Month and Year from the drop-down menus, or by clicking on the calendar icon next to it, browsing through the months and selecting the target date.
The badge settings are now complete.
13. Click the Create badge button.
14. Click Choose in the Add badge criteria drop-down menu.
15. Click on Activity completion.
16. Select the check boxes of all reading activities for which you wish to award a badge.
Note: Clicking the Enable check box allows the teacher to set a deadline for students to complete these activities.
18. Click on the Save button.
19. The Manage badges page for this badge appears. The following screenshots show the main parts of this page. Note that the Criteria tab is displayed.
The tabs and their functions are shown below.
- The Overview tab displays all details about badge.
- The Edit details tab enables the teacher to change the badge settings.
- The Message tab displays the custom message sent to badge recipients.
- The Recipients tab lists who received the badge.
- The Endorsement tab allows the teacher to select a third party such as the school or learning center to endorse the badge and add value to it.
- The Related badges tab allows teachers to connect and display all badges with the same criteria on the badge page.
- The Alignments tab specifies any external frameworks that are aligned with the skills the badge is given for (e.g. CEFR levels, IELTS bands, TOEFL scores, etc.).
20. Click the Enable access button to begin using this badge.
A warning appears, reminding teachers that this badge may be issued immediately and that some settings are locked.
21. Click the Continue button to enable access to the badge.
Adding a Custom Message
When badges are awarded, recipients receive an email advising them that they have received a course badge. Clicking the Message tab on the Managing badges page for a badge displays a text box that teachers can use to update the message and subject line.
22. Click the Save changes button after editing the message.
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