The badge movement
There are lots of badges of honor. Scouts have them. Those in public service wear them. You probably have badges in some of your social networks.
In the education field, it’s a way to display a special achievement.
Education badge systems work the way that Girl Scout badges work: once a student has demonstrated mastery of a certain skill or set of skills, they are able to earn a badge. This badge will serve as credible evidence that this student has mastered the content or skill required for that particular badge.
Our response
Asia Society developed and is currently piloting the Global Leadership Badge System. This system is based around our Global Leadership Performance Outcomes and includes one badge related to each of the four global competence domains: Global Researcher Badge, Global Integrator Badge, Global Communicator and Global Contributor Badge and the culminating Global Leader Badge.
The badges
Global Researcher Badge – To earn this badge, students must investigate the world beyond their immediate environment. They frame questions about significant global issues, conduct research, and analyze integrate, and synthesize credible evidence drawn from sources worldwide.
Global Integrator Badge – To earn this badge, students must recognize perspectives, both their own and others’. They articulate and explain such perspectives and the influences of people, groups, and schools of thought on their development.
Global Communicator Badge – To earn this badge students must communicate effectively, using appropriate language and behavior, as well as non-verbal and technology supported strategies, to engage diverse audiences.
Global Contributor Badge – To earn this badge, students must take action to improve conditions, viewing themselves as players in the world. They act personally or collaboratively, in ethical and creative ways to contribute to improvement locally, regionally, and/or globally.
Global Leader Badge – To earn this badge, students must present a portfolio of their work that provides evidence of their mastery of each of the four domains of global competence. They reflect on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they have developed in becoming globally competent. They demonstrate a commitment to continue learning and acting as globally competent youth leaders by investigating the world, recognizing perspectives, communicating effectively, and taking action to improve conditions on globally significant issues.
Earning the badges
A student earns each of the first four badges—Global Researcher, Global Integrator, Global Communicator, and Global Contributor—by demonstrating proficiency in the four domains of global competence. In order to earn any badge, they must demonstrate proficiency in each performance indicator under each of the four domains, through three different assignments.
Once students haves earned these four badges, they are eligible to earn the Global Leader Badge through a public exhibition of their portfolio that highlights the accomplishments that led to each badge and presents a synthesis and reflection on their development as a globally competent youth leader.
Read the Global Leadership Performance Outcomes.
Once a student has completed the requirements for a badge, they will receive a digital badge. This digital badge will allow others to see: 1) the performance indicators that the student met in order to earn the badge and 2) the actual work that the student submitted to earn the badge. Through this system, we believe that potential employers or schools could use the badges to get a more accurate picture of prospective employees or students than they’re able to get through school transcripts.
Piloting
We are planning to begin offering the Global Leadership Badges to students in a few of the International Studies Schools Network (ISSN) schools next fall.
This pilot test will allow us to ensure that the pacing, rigor, and structure of the badging system and its accompanying curriculum is not only high-quality but also clear and manageable for students. After this pilot testing, we hope to offer our badging system to a larger group of schools within the ISSN.
Vision
Our ultimate goal is to partner with universities and other organizations so that earning the badges can help students gain admissions into certain undergraduate programs or internships. In such a system, for example, a student who has earned the Global Leader Badge could be granted points towards admission into the International Relations undergraduate program at one of our partner universities.
