Digital Badges
The partnership between Winona State University and Credly’s platform provides members of our learning community, both on and off campus, the opportunity to earn and share digital badges.
Digital badges are awarded to individuals to publicly certify educational competencies, achievements, and skills attained through professional training.
In our increasingly digital society, the stakes are high for individuals to communicate their skills in real-time, and badges are an effective means to digitally share and verify learning.
What Is a Digital Badge?
Badges are digital icons that can be used to document and communicate a learning achievement or credential.
Badges contain metadata that provides the context and verification of the learning, such as the criteria that were met to earn the badge.
Badges from WSU are not awarded lightly. Only individuals who meet each and every criterion will earn the badge.
Because they are digital, badges can be shared within social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, as well as other forms of digital forms such as email, websites, and digital resumes.
FAQs
Why earn a digital badge?
Earning a digital badge communicates that you have acquired specific knowledge and skills that are relevant to the value you bring as a professional.
Displaying your badge on social media can increase your odds of being noticed by your network and employers.
How do I claim my badge?
If you have met the criteria to earn a badge, you'll receive an email from WSU Adult and Continuing Education at continuingeducation@winona.edu notifying you of your award.
You'll also receive an email from Credly, our badging service. This email will contain a link to create an account on the Credly's platform to accept your badge.
It's no problem if you can't find the email—just create an account on the Credly's platform site with the same email address that WSU has on file for you.
At any time, should you need assistance, please contact WSU Adult and Continuing Education at continuingeducation@winona.edu for assistance.
How do I share my badge?
Sharing your badge through Credly to the online destination of your choice is a fast, easy way to let your professional network know about your achievements.
You can share your badge during the acceptance process, and you can also go back into your Credly account any time and share it again.
What should I do if I haven’t received my badge notification?
To make sure that you receive your badge notification email and that it doesn't end up in your spam folder, add admin@credly.com as a Contact or Safe Sender in your email settings.
If a badge has been issued, but you have not received an email notification from Credly, we suggest you do the following:
- Check your email's spam/junk folder to see if the email notification was delivered there.
- Make sure the email address on file with your badge issuing organization is accurate.
- In some cases, a domain firewall can block emails from Credly. Toavoid this, create an account on the Credly platform with the email address the badge was issued to. This way, you can accept the badge from the Dashboard. If you already have an account registered to another email address, please add the email address your badge was issued to as a secondary to your account.
- Contact WSU Adult and Continuing Education at continuingeducation@winona.edu for assistance.
How do I attach my badges to my email signature?
Adding a hyperlinked badge image to your email signature is a great way to make sure your professional network is aware of your certifications, credentials, and other badge-worthy recognition.
How do I add my badge to LinkedIn?
LinkedIn now requires individuals to manually add information about their certification in order to share their badge to their profile.
To share your badge details to your LinkedIn profile, follow these steps:
- Once you have connected your LinkedIn account, click the LinkedIn icon from the “Share Badge” page.
- Check or uncheck the boxes next to "Add to my Profile" and "Share to my newsfeed" as desired.
- If adding to your profile, click "Share to LinkedIn" and a blank LinkedIn form will appear in another tab within your browser.
- Go back to the Credly tab in your browser and click the "Copy" button next to "Certification Name". A green check mark will confirm that the information was copied.
- Switch back to your LinkedIn tab and paste the information into the "Certification Name" field.
- Copy and paste the information on the Credly tab to the LinkedIn form until all relevant information has been added.
- You'll need to choose the dates based on the information included on the Credly share page under "Time Period".
- Click Save.
Once you've successfully shared your badge, it will appear in the “Licenses & Certifications” section on your profile.
The badge image won't display in the “Accomplishments” section of your profile. LinkedIn chooses to show the company logo of your badge issuer instead.
Viewers can click on the "See certification" button to view more details on Credly.
How do I get support?
If you're experiencing any problems or issues with your digital badge, you can always visit Credly's Help Center for assistance or you can contact WSU Adult and Continuing Education at continuingeducation@winona.edu.
Digital Badge Options
Digital badges are a value add for our credit and non-credit students.
These alternative forms of recognition will not and should not take the place of formal academic programs and majors but certainly enhance the development of particular skill sets.
Up-skilling is beneficial as students work to gain employment or pursue new career paths.
Implementing a digital badge program at WSU keeps us on the cutting edge of alternative industry credentials.
Customized Training Badges
Digital Badging is transforming the way recognition is professionally communicated and understood.
If you're interested in exploring this portable digital badge or want to gain the necessary tools for implementing your own customized badging program for your organization, email Julie Kiehne at jkiehne@winona.edu.
Examples of customized digital badges include:
- Merchants Bank – I Believe in Leadership Series
- Rochester Public Schools – Multicultural Education Certificate Program (MECP)
- Olmsted County – Multicultural Education Certificate Program (MECP)
- Mayo Clinic – Multicultural Education Certificate Program (MECP)
- Oliver Companies – Resiliency Series
Non-Credit Badges
Digital badges are associated with many of our non-credit professional development courses.
To earn a non-credit digital badge, you must successfully complete the criteria identified in the badge description.
You'll be awarded your badge within 7-10 days of the course completion.
Examples of non-credit badges include:
- Essentials of Leadership with Development Dimensions International (DDI)
- Scrubs Online Career Exploration
Co-Curricular Badges
Winona State University students seeking degrees have the opportunity to earn badges, which will be displayed on their co-curricular transcript to denote the successful completion of the criteria identified in the badge description.
Co-curricular badges are structured to complement formal credit-based curriculum.
Digital Citizenship Foundations
Digital Citizenship Foundations badge earners build a strong foundation of professional knowledge, skills, and abilities in 5 important domains:
- digital footprints
- literacy
- etiquette
- responsibility
- hygiene
Contact Chad Kjorlien by emailing ckjorlien@winona.edu for assistance.
