Inspect and verify a real badge

About 25 minutes. You need to submit this before the Module 1 quiz unlocks.

In this practical you take a real digital badge apart, check whether it is genuine, and judge how well it has been designed. You will use what you learned in all four lessons, and you will need these skills again in Module 2 when you design your own badge.

What you need

• The example badge: Module 01: Digital Badge Foundations, issued by Certify Academy. It opens in a new tab, so you can keep this page beside it. Yes, it is the badge you are working towards. Read it as a stranger would.
• Optionally, a second badge of your choice: one you have earned yourself, or one shared publicly on LinkedIn by someone in your network.

Step 1: Find the key facts (10 minutes)

Open the example badge and find each of the following. Note where on the page you found it.

1. Who issued the badge, and how can you find out more about them?
2. Who earned it?
3. What is the badge called, and what does its description say it represents?
4. What are the criteria for earning it?
5. When was it issued? Does it have an expiry date?
6. Is there any evidence attached? If not, does the badge still convince you without it?

Step 2: Verify it (5 minutes)

Find the verification panel on the badge page and use its Verify option. Read every line and note two things: what it confirms, such as the issuer, and anything it reports as still pending or unchecked. A panel that is open about what has not been checked tells you more than one that simply says "verified". If you are using a second badge from another platform, try verifying that too and note any differences.

Step 3: Judge its quality (10 minutes)

Imagine you are an employer seeing this badge on a candidate's LinkedIn profile. Answer these questions in a few sentences each:

• Would you trust the issuer? Why, or why not?
• Do the criteria tell you what the person can actually do? Rewrite them if you think they could be stronger.
• What one change would make this badge more convincing?

What to submit

Paste your answers to Steps 1 to 3 into the box below. There is no right or wrong answer to Step 3; what matters is that you can explain your reasoning.