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Important ePortfolio and Digital Badging Updates

 

Badge and ePortfolio Creation are Now Separate Processes

Weber State University now has separate processes and platforms for helping students earn badges and share their work in an ePortfolio. While the two efforts are related, faculty and students will use different tools for each. Badges provide the validation, and ePortfolios provide the deeper context.

How they work together: 

  1. Earn – Students will complete an educational sequence in Canvas and earn a digital badge through Parchment. 

  2. Display – Students can then embed the badge into their student ePortfolio. (Departments will have the choice of using Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Express, Wix, or Google Sites.) 

  3. Reflect – Students can add a skill reflection or the project files associated with a badge in an ePortfolio to demonstrate the knowledge acquired for the earned credit.

 

Understanding Digital Badges

What they are: Badges are digital icons that contain metadata — information embedded within the images — that serves as verifiable, shareable evidence of a student's completed requirements for a specific skill or achievement.

How they work: A secure microcredential, represented by the badge, is issued through Parchment (a platform integrated directly into Canvas). Badges can be auto-awarded based on module completion or specific grades.

Why they’re valuable: Digital badges are valuable because they are verifiable, secure, and easily shareable on students' ePortfolios, resumes, websites, email, LinkedIn, and other social media.

 

Understanding ePortfolios

What they are: ePortfolios are digital spaces that house artifacts (projects, videos, papers, badges) and other details that showcase a student's academic journey.

How they work: Students create ePortfolios that showcase their highest-quality professional work using Adobe Portfolio, Adobe Express, Wix, or Google Sites.

Why they’re valuable: When transitioning from Weber State University to careers, students will have easy, accessible digital spaces to share their professional work with prospective employers. 

For program consistency, departments are encouraged to agree on a single ePortfolio platform for their students.

See ePortfolio options

Badge emblems can be displayed on your LinkedIn profiles to show evidence of what you know.How To Display

After meeting the requirements for earning a microcredential, you will be able to add the URL for your completed microcredential to social media channels. You can display the badge graphic for potential employers and link to the projects that prove your competency.

For example, here's how to display your microcredential on LinkedIn: 

  1. When in your LinkedIn account, go to Me in the upper righthand corner and click on View Profile.
  2. Next, click on Add Section.
  3. Scroll down to Recommended, and click on Add Featured.
  4. Click on the + sign and then on Add a Link.
  5. Copy the URL from your digital microcredential. (Make sure it has your name in the URL so it links to your microcredential.)
  6. Paste the URL into the link box and click on Add.
  7. Add a title, then a description if desired.
  8. Click on Save.