Digital Badges for Students and Student Employees

St. Thomas offers online modules and mini-courses that lead to new learning, and then earning a digital badge credential. View all of our digital badges on the One.StThomas.edu Badge site. This article highlights what may interest you for starters...    

Why Digital Badges? 

Digital badges are electronic, visual images that document knowledge, qualities, and skills that you gain in an online module or mini-course. Employers, prospective employers, and professional network groups can click on your badges for details on what you did to earn that badge.   

St. Thomas partners with Canvas Credentials (digital credential service provider), to host and display your digital badges. And digital badges are portable; when you graduate from St. Thomas, your badges stays with you!

Why take time for a digital badge course? 

• Badges showcase your skills and competencies to prospective employers. By sharing your badge(s), prospective employers see your verifiable, secure information of specific skills and knowledge that you earned with that badge at St. Thomas.  

• Some badge courses complement or enhance your degree program and transcript. 

• Badges may offer an edge to certain St. Thomas opportunities; your work on badges documents your initiative, technology skills, and ways you “go the extra mile” to proactively take initiative in your learning.    

• At times a badge may help you to explore an interest or passion outside of your degree program.  

In the next section we highlight several badges that may be of interest to student employees and/or students who want to strengthen a career path or explore an interest! 

Canvas Course Building Badges

You use the Canvas course management system in all of your classes. (Note: the Tommie Tech Canvas site for undergraduates or graduate students orients you to Canvas basics and other technology needed as a student.)

The Canvas Course Builder badge series (sponsored by the Innovation Technology and Services team/ITS) is for student employees and club leaders learning to build content into a Canvas course. These are also good badges to complete if it aligns with a career path around design or technology so you could speak to your skill set with digital badge credentials. 

If this interests you, enroll in the Canvas Course Builder Badge 1 course. 

Next, the Canvas Course Builder 2 intermediate-level badge can be enrolled in after completing the Builder 1 badge. (Read badge description for this intermediate level badge.)

Digital Accessibility Skills Series 

Develop skills to create digital content and communications that are more accessible for all people (including people with visible or invisible disabilities and users of assistive technology). These badges are sponsored by the ITS and Digital Accessibility Service team. 

The Digital Accessibility Basics and Learning Hub (self-enroll link) badge helps you start to apply digital accessibility practices into your student, work, and community life. This badge takes about one hour. 

For those looking to go deeper into your accessibility skills, we have several intermediate-level badges including the Digital Accessibility Ambassador badge, Accessible Documents badge, and soon an Assistive Technology badge.

Digital Learning Success Series

Learn to better guide other people’s learning in the digital/online space. These badges are especially helpful for student employees, club leaders, and other students skills to guide other people's learning in a Canvas site. The ITS/STELAR Digital Learning Success team manages these badges. 

The Digital Site Facilitator badge module helps you to learn more about an effective online presence as well as technical Canvas skills such as sending course announcements, and how various assignment tools and features work for those in a Teaching Assistant or Teacher role in Canvas.

The Badge Reviewer badge module opens up after you complete the Digital Site Facilitator badge. This badge description describes the second badge in the series. 

Digital/Technology: More Badge Options

These are additional digital badges that may be of interest to certain students or student employees in expanding your digital competencies! 

The Data Foundations Badge (sponsored by the ITS IDAR team) introduces the fundamental concepts and skills required for working with data, and the tools used to harness it. (Takes about 2-3 hours, self-paced). 

We also have a Microsoft 365 Badge Series. Self-enroll into the Microsoft 365 Basics badge (2-3 hours) and Intermediate level badge using Office 365/Microsoft tools (2-3 hours).  

Lab Safety Badge Series

There are several of digital badges sponsored by the University of St. Thomas Engineering Department that pair in-person training with online content.   

The Lab Safety Badge teaches the basic knowledge needed to reduce your risk of injury when working in the Engineering Labs. What you learn here will also be applicable in other lab-like spaces you may work in outside the University as well.

Upon completion of the Lab Safety badge, there are additional badges including Wood 1 and Wood 2. 

Sustainability Badges 

St. Thomas has several digital badges (in partnership with the Office of Sustainability and the Biology department) that expand your understanding of ways to be a steward of the planet and live in interdependence within our ecosystem.  

Start with the Sustainability Essentials badge (takes under an hour to complete!) This intro module tools you with core concepts of Sustainability and their connection to our St. Thomas mission. Also, learn how to get involved and contribute to efforts at St. Thomas and beyond.

We invite you to dig into the Pollinator Path badge series!  Pollinator Path Principles (badge 1) introduces you to many types of pollinators and the plants that depend upon them, and much more. Then you will be introduced to the Pollinator Path in Practice badge.

And, if possible, please visit the St. Thomas Pollinator Path garden as your take on this new learning; the course includes directions to find that and also is filled with photos and videos from the garden!

Student Employment: Exploring and Onboarding

The St Thomas Human Resources (HR) department sponsors several digital badges that support student employee onboarding. 

Student employees start with the Explore Student Employment badge if seeking skills to learn how to search for a student employment job. 

Then, when hired student employee position? Please complete the Student Employment Essentials badge. 

This badge content is also paired with other important resources on student employment on the HR OneStThomas Student Employment section.  

Student Tutor/Academic Support Series

Student Peer Academic Support Series badges (sponsored by the Academic Affairs department, Tutor program, and ITS) are for student employees who provide tutoring or other types of academic or learning support. The badge series includes a Tutor Start-up Essentials, Tutor Foundations, Principles of Teaching and Learning, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practices badge for student tutors.

The Tutor Champion badge is earned upon completion of these four badges.

This badge series is currently only open for students who are hired as tutors. Please ask your tutor staff supervisor to enroll you. 

More Resources  

• Our OneStThomas Badge and Microcredential site is where to find all current badges for students, student employees, staff, and faculty. 
• To find out St. Thomas badges on our public St. Thomas Canvas Credentials website. You can click and read on badges and the type of information employers or others would see when you shared or posted your badge. (Note: Your badge would also include your name, the date it was earned, and all the micro-data about what you did to earn the badge.) 
• If you have ideas on badges that you’d like to see made available to students (or perhaps even interested in helping to develop), please send our badging service team your ideas, or set up a consultation with us!