Digital Badges for Student Employees: New Opportunities!

This article introduces our St. Thomas badging efforts with student employees. During the fall 2020 semester, we began offering digital badges to several student employee groups (student tutors, study group leaders, and certain ITS student employees). Starting in the Spring 2021 semester, these badging efforts expand.  

Why St. Thomas Student Badges? 

Digital badges are electronic, visual images that document knowledge, qualities, and skills that a learner has gained from training or learning experiences.  

You can share your badges on social media (Linked In, Twitter, Facebook), on your resume, and in a digital backpack. Employers and prospective employers can click on your badges for details on what was required to earn that badge.   

The University of St. Thomas partners with Badgr, a third-party digital credential service provider, to host and display its digital badges so you can make your badges available to employers.  

There are numerous reasons to pursue St. Thomas badges, including:  

• Badges are a way to choose learning that may complement 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.    

• Badges showcase your microcredentials 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.  

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

Examples of Current Student Badges 

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

If you already are hired for a student employee position, please skip ahead to the  Student Employment Essentials badge! Self-enroll into that student employment site to learn the content and start earning badges. 

In order to receive this foundation level badge, student employees demonstrate their understanding of how to:  

• Locate and utilize the resources and tools within the Student Employee Handbook and Student Employee Toolkit. 

• Demonstrate an understanding of the role of, rights, and responsibilities of student employees at the University of St. Thomas. 

• Record time worked using the Banner Time Entry system. 

• Demonstrate understanding of the role of student employees in maintaining a safe and healthy work environment. 

There is content to read and view, and then completing a short self-graded quiz.  

Student employee comments reflect the value of this badge:  

• “I feel more confident entering my time into the Murphy portal, and I have located more student employee resources I didn't know about before” (ITS student employee) 

• “This helped me to complete my documentation to start working” (Tutor student employee) 

• “Easy to understand and find the necessary information” (Research-focus student employee) 

The Video Conferencing Badging Series is available for any students and staff in leadership roles hosting Zoom sessions or assisting others to create humanizing, engaging Zoom experiences. These badges may also be required for certain student employee positions.  

This series currently includes a Zoom Host (foundations level), Zoom Assistant (intermediate), and Classroom Equipment Demonstration badge.  

Here are some sample survey comments on what students have identified as the best or most effective aspects of the Zoom Host badge:  

• “Being able to host a Zoom meeting and demonstrate my skills.” 

• “Security Features and Recording Considerations were the most effective experience for me. I got to learn a lot.” Also when marking that this very successful in addressing the module goals said that the badging “content was very well structured and easy to follow.” 

• “I think hosting and recording a Zoom meeting was a great way for me to stop and really think about the things I’ve learned. It made me feel more comfortable in my delivery.”  

• “I did not know about the different ways to schedule a meeting and that there are so many security features when scheduling. It was also really useful to practice applying what I had learned in the module to the final assignment.”  

• “The final practice assignment was the best aspect of the Zoom Host badge.” (Note: This is a video demonstration assignment where the learner demonstrates a list of skills and practices while hosting a Zoom session, and then uploads the video and reflection for review.) 

Student Peer Academic Support Series badges are for student employees who provide tutoring, study group leaders, or other types of academic or learning support. The badge series includes a Tutor and Study Leader Foundations, Principles of Teaching and Learning, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Practices badge for student tutors. This badge series is currently only open for students who are hired as tutors or study group leaders. Please ask your supervisor to enroll you or submit a request to the badge help team

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The initial feedback from the fall 2020 launch of these badges is very encouraging. There was meaningful learning reported by tutors interviews to learn more about their experience, and useful suggestions for how to further improve the assignments and module timing, as well as ideas on how to help students better understand how to promote the learning represented in the badges earned. 
 

Technology-Leadership and Digital Accessibility Badges

Beginning in May 2021, we launched the Digital Site Facilitator badge as a part of a Canvas training for student employees, other student leaders, as well as staff who will be facilitating learning in a Canvas learning space. This badge is envisioned as a part of a Technology-Leadership badge series. 

There is also an interest in leverage digital badges as one of the ways to help grow our base of St. Thomas students, staff, and faculty who utilize Digital Accessibility practices when creating digital resources. The first badge, Digital Accessibility Basics, is a foundation-level badge available in July 2021. 

If you are an individual or a group interested in helping to pilot these new badges during the summer or fall 2021, please contact our Badge and Microcredential team (attention Jo Montie). Also, we are interested in further teaming with other St. Thomas student leaders and staff who would like to expand the range of technology-leadership badges available. 

More Coming Up! 

The future of badging with our student employees, overall student population, and staff and faculty looks promising.  

Future badging ideas for student employees include more foundational as well as advanced training in information technology services (ITS). There are also efforts underway about additional ways to support student leadership and use of technology, and further badge work related to diversity, equity, and inclusive practices.  

• 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!  
• If you are looking for badges to complete, send a message to the ITS services  and let us know "I'd like to learn more about badges I might complete." Also mention if you are a student, staff, or faculty so we can share the correct badging information.