HOW will your technical solution work?
Containers, hosts, integration and data ownership - the technical stuff!
Your credentialing needs, resources and current roll-out stage are the main factors to consider when choosing and planning your technical setup, and you want to make sure that it is viable and scalable over the coming years. As laid out in the Technical Resources section, you have several options, but they need to work together and be in line with your business and value goals (as per the Badge Canvas).
We assume that you have taken the self-assessment by now, which leads you to a personalised recommendation page.
At the end of the day, the following questions can give you the cornerstones of your technical setup:
- Do you want to self-host and have the IT capabilities to do this? yes / no
- Do you want to provide a wallet and be liable for the accessibility? yes / no
- Do you want to use VC (Verifiable Credentials) or Open Badges?: VC / OB
- Do you want to have control over all data? yes / no
- Do you have, or plan to have, an LMS that is able to integrate digital credentials? LMS / no LMS
- Can you afford to pay for each issued digital credential, or do you need to minimise costs?
Again, the first self-assessment should give you recommendations based on your answers.
TIP
Be aware that technology evolves rapidly and you need to reconsider your options every 3-5 years.
Badging Purpose
You may have already discovered your badging purpose in Step 1; the Why you want to start with digital credentials. In the Project Canvas, you can note down concrete ideas about what you hope that badges will achieve in your organisation and how your earners will benefit from gaining digital badges.
Designing your badge/s
When you have chosen your technical solution, you will need to design your badges. Whilst this may sound easy, it is important to try to view even your first badge within a larger badge system; how will your badges relate to each other? Will you use different colours or different shapes to represent different types of badge? How will your overall design represent your organisation and make your badges easily recognisable?
In addition to the meta data behind your badge, the visuals of your badge are equally important, as the badge image will be the outward projection of your badging programme. Your badge will need to display your organisation's logo and an icon which represents why the badge has been earned as well as maybe displaying a level of achievement (easy, moderate, hard), and any external validatory logos. Websites such as HPass and Accredible offer downloadable resources which can help with designing your badges.
Checklist for Step 3
Gain an in-depth understanding of what badging needs you have now and in three years' time.Evaluation of vendors and platform providers based on your potential needs in two to three years from now - see the link to the Technical section for options.Plan for a technical pilot / POC (Proof-of-Concept) with one badge / a few badges, and a suitable learner / earner group, to get timely feedback and iterate from there.Test usability and accessibility through your other technical systems, e.g. logins, mailings, communities etc.Budget plan for the next three years based on your previous assumptions.Design your badge system! Design your first badge/s with a view to setting them into a larger system as your badging programme grows in the future.
