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Find out more about badge applications and earn a digital badge!
A “badge application” is a fantastic piece of functionality within Open Badge Factory (OBF) providing an additional way to issue your digital badges beyond manually processing earner names and email addresses.
Badge applications enable you to set up an application form related to a specific badge, for individuals to volunteer their information to be issued with that badge.
Individuals access a badge application via URL, so you can easily insert a badge application into existing processes such as emails, websites, newsletters, or you could even provide a QR code for the URL on printed materials such as posters.
Benefits of using badge applications:
- Provides flexibility for how you issue your badges to tailor to your own data processing procedures and earner interactions.
- Removes the requirement to manually gather and process names and email addresses for issuing a badge.
- Removes the requirement for you to gain written or verbal consent prior to issuing, as under GDPR, the individual is consenting to their own data sharing by completing the application.
- Makes a good badge acceptance rate far more likely, as individuals are invested in the process.
Who creates a badge application?
Badge applications can be created by individuals with appropriate access to an organisation’s OBF account.
To create a badge application in an OBF account, an individual must have a user role of “Admin” or “Creator”.
Individuals with a user role of “Issuer” do not have ‘creator tools’ available and therefore cannot create badge applications.
Types of badge application – approval methods
Depending on the approval method you choose when setting up the application, the badge may then be issued automatically upon submission, or require review.
Available approval methods:
Claim code
This enables a respondent to be issued with a badge automatically upon submitting the application with a correct claim code.
Claim code is one of the most popular approval methods for badge applications, as it automates the issuing process and requires no manual actions from the issuer once the application has been activated. Here is an example of a simple badge application with claim code.
After Review
This enables the badge to be issued after the respondent’s answers have been reviewed by users with issuing access to an organisation’s OBF account.
This is best used if you need to follow a review process to ascertain that an earner has achieved the earning criteria within the badge. For example, you might need the earner to upload a piece of work or provide answers about how they participated in the activity aligned with the badge.
Automatically without review
This enables the badge to be issued with no review process as soon as the application is submitted.
Depending on your OBF subscription type, this method can also be used to create a quiz that individuals must successfully pass to be issued with the badge.
Multi-step assessment
This enables the badge to be issued following review from a jury of reviewers.
Peer assessment
This method enables the badge to be issued following review by a group of qualified end users.
Earn a badge!
Now you have gained awareness of badge applications, you might like to complete one to earn a badge.
We have set up a badge application with a short quiz to test your knowledge on the information in this guide. Answering each question correctly will automatically issue you with the OBF - Badge Application Savvy badge.
Click here to open the application and take the quiz.