Open Badges as Recognition and Assessment Tools in Learning Frameworks

Open Badges have already entered the field of education internationally, as they are suggested as an alternative way of supporting and recognizing informally acquired knowledge and skills through various learning environments, situations and experiences. Concerns about the validity and reliability of a badge and the pedagogical dimension of its use (e.g. as a motivation tool) are already being raised by researchers and users. Therefore, a new field is opened for future research on the use of badges in education, the conditions of their pedagogical use and their importance in the way of recognition/assessment of non-formal or/and informal learning. The work on hand is divided in two sections. In the first section, we briefly present the relevant literature review concerning the characteristics of badges and focus on some of the multiple perspectives from the use of badges. In the second section, we present case studies from Greece and Europe, which highlight the use of open badges as recognition and assessment tools in diverse learning frameworks. As a result, we present a revised, enriched form of the Papadimitriou-Niari (2019) prototype digital credential system.