Digital Certificates and Badges in LMS
LMS are mostly used as Education Management Systems in our country, and digital certificates and digital badges have an important place in this system.
What is a Learning Management System?
It is a software that allows learners to select and register courses, present content, monitor, and report user information in different time education. Thanks to this software, students’ performances are monitored according to their scores from tests. These software systems Many are shifting the channel to cloud-based systems, and managers of large industries often use corporate training. One of the most important reasons why these systems are used so much is that the online education cost is noticeably reduced. Thus, e-learning can be used more easily in schools.
What is the Education Management System?
This training software system manages all planning processes of training institutions. It is the name given to the system that works in a central database at the top of e-learning, where course contents, users, and much reporting information are available in the training given by the e-learning method.
What is a Digital Badge?
Nowadays, the concept of digital badges has started to be used quite a lot in higher education and in some educational circles. The reason for this increased use is that the focus is now on content, trainers, etc. It is mostly due to its orientation towards education and training results. Badges contain the digital identities of people who successfully complete the provided training. Digital badges are the primary formats that allow them to go far beyond traditional transcripts.
With the pandemic period, the whole world has started distance education. From the formal education model, higher education is measured in credit hours. However, measuring the amount of credit hours and the quality of learning is not an accurate criterion. Digital certificates and badges have begun to be created as a new alternative measurement criterion. With ‘Achievements’, one of the sub-modules of the LMS, it forms the score-badge-leadership system. Many educational institutions now award digital certificates or badges to those who are successful among their students. In many institutions, badges and certificates are defined within the LMS and digital products are offered to users who meet the specified criteria. People who can obtain this badge and certificate are created in a structure that they can share on social network platforms or professional social media accounts such as Linkedin.
Effects of Badge and Certificate
Badges; It is seen that it increases students’ success, motivation, and class participation. Also the badges; it has been observed that enables the learners to come ready for the lesson. As a result, badges have a positive effect on organizing the learning process better and making learners more active. Earned badges can be stored for life and can be used in elections that require certification of qualifications such as university applications and recruitment processes. Assessment tools (diploma etc.) provide information about the educational process that the individual receives. But badges and certificates provide information about a person’s skills. In this way, it can help individuals to be evaluated more effectively in learning environments and to reveal skills that can be a resource for the business world.
For this reason, LMS’s should use digital certificates, digital badges, especially to get enough success from Education Management System students.