Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Story of Mormon Badges: A Case Study

The Inspiration


It was September, and in recent months Mitt Romney’s candidacy and other events had thrown Mormonism into the media spotlight.  All sorts of things were being said about Mormons and Mormonism, some of them true, some of them not.  As practicing Mormons, we decided that the world needs more information about Mormonism and less misinformation.   At the time we were also doing research on badges, a new Internet phenomenon.  We thought, what if badges could be used to spread information about Mormonism and correct misconceptions?  What if a regular person or even a journalist could earn a badges to learn basic facts about Mormonism and then display it online to show their credibility when they participated in online discussions about Mormonism?  We decided to create a series of “Mormon Badges” to educate curious people who want accurate information about the fastest growing American religion.

The First Badge


Many people still believe that Mormons practice polygamy, even though the Church ended the practice over one hundred years ago.  We wanted to use our first badge to correct this misconception.  Our “Mormons and Polygamy” badge required users to read two web pages published by the LDS Church and take a short quiz to test their understanding.

 

Reflecting and Rethinking


After publishing our first badge, we wanted to step back and reflect on our goals for Mormon badges.  We realized that it was more important to us to educate people about what Mormonism is than about what it isn’t.  With this in mind, we chose the founding or “restoration” of the LDS Church as the topic of our next badge, instead of choosing another misconception to correct.
We also began thinking about other ways that badges could be used in the Mormon community.


New Applications


Though we had previously focused on how badges could educate non-Mormons about the Church, be began to explore how badges could be used with Church members.  We saw badges as a way to bridge a gap between the youth programs of the church and the social media platforms that the youth are already using. 

We pictured the Church’s Duty to God and Personal Progress programs awarding badges for requirements completed and the youth then sharing those badges through social media to encourage each other and share the Church’s message with non-members.  We created a prototype badge for the Faith #1 requirement in the Personal Progress program.  When we explained Personal Progress badges to a few young women we knew in the Personal Progress program, their responses were positive.
 


Another youth-directed badge application that we imagined was a system of badges to reward youth for memorizing important verses of scripture in the Seminary program.  We also began to think of ways that badges could be used in proselytizing to train future missionaries and to help people investigating the church by gamifying the process of learning key Mormon beliefs.  Yet another idea was awarding badges to Family History Indexing volunteers for completing certain numbers of batches.

Presenting to a Wider Audience


Our mentor in our badge efforts, Dr. Gideon Burton, arranged for us to present during a session of the Mormon Media Studies Symposium.  We created a Prezi presentation to share with people what badges were and how we saw them being used in the Mormon community.  Our presentation went smoothly and we received some useful feedback from our session attendees.  Their responses were often positive, but they also asked some important questions, such as “Won’t displaying badges online lead to unhealthy competition and showing-off between members?” and “Can’t other people fake badges?  How will you show which badges are authentic?”  Answering their questions helped prepare us to respond to potential doubts of our next presentation audience: a member of the Church media department.


Results of the Mormon Badges Project


Through our experiences with badges, we’ve learned a lot about where badges are already being used and even more about how they can be applied in the future on a wider scale. As we’ve built and tested different prototypes such as our badge on polygamy, on the Restoration or our Personal Progress badge, we’ve seen that there is a huge potential for using badges outside of strict educational settings to encourage learning and provide clear rewards and credentials.

Through our specific badges we not only learned how to harness the new badge technology and interface, but we also were able to see the importance of developing and tailoring content for the medium of badges. Our biggest lesson came through the shift we made away from our original idea of controversies, and we really think that the key to successfully integrating badges into the LDS Church is through focusing on the central doctrines and ideas  of Mormonism rather than on the negative elements. We have also learned how vital the social media aspect of badges truly is, as this allows those who have earned badges to be able to begin a conversation with friends and family about what they’ve learned. Through sharing through social media, the learning that begins with badges is able to be reinforced, and perhaps additional learning will be motivated as questions arise. Rather than just learning in isolation, we have come to see that badges facilitate learning that is more social and more lasting  than other types of online learning.


What we’ve Learned, Future Application of Learning, and “Passing the Torch”


What we have learned from this project has been both promising and intimidating.  We’ve learned that gamification is a powerful tool; it motivates learning and achievement by tapping into that natural human inclination to play.  We’ve caught the vision of just how effective badges can be (and have been), and just how great a fit they would be for the Church.   We’ve learned just what it takes to design a curriculum and issue badges, as well as developed many intuitive and innovative ideas for how badges could be implemented into the current framework of the Church (i.e. Personal Progress, Duty to God, missionary, and CES).  We’ve also learned what it takes to move our ideas forward and present them to individuals that can help move them forward in a way that we never could alone.

And that’s really what we’re trying to do now.  The survival of the Mormon Badges idea is linked to the Church’s adoption of their own badge platform.  This platform would necessarily link to such obvious choices as mormon.org and lds.org profiles, but could extend as far as Facebook and Google+ social networks.  We are interested in “passing the torch,” if you will.  We would love to see others more capable than ourselves carrying on our ideas in the way that would best benefit the Church.  This week the Mormon Badges Project will present our ideas to Jared Covington, who works on social media for the Church.  As we prepare to graduate and go separate ways, we hope and pray that someone will catch the vision that we have had for the Mormon Badges Project and hopefully use their influence to suggest to Church leaders the benefit of implementing badges in existing programs.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

How Mormon Badges are Riding the Wave of Internet Culture


Project Overview

The Mormon Badges project aimed to integrate badges with culture, doctrine and programs of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Through rewarding learning about LDS doctrine and misconceptions, the project used badges as an education resource to engage youth in activities, promote gospel learning for investigators and members alike, and to supplement existing Church programs.

The Open Movement (Open Education Movement)

The Open Movement is an online movement moving away from controlled structures to utilize the inherent sharable capabilities of digital media and the internet. One specific example is the open education movement, which aims to share and promote resources and techniques which allow education and online learning to become accessible to anyone no matter if they are a student at a major university or just someone who wants to learn more about something that interests them. Badges are an open educational resource as they rely upon the idea of open learning, that any person can drive their own learning in order to learn about what interest them no matter if they are earning a degree or not, through an open credentialing system. Not only are these badges inherently sharable, but they also rely on open coursework and requirements to demonstrate that learning has legitimately occurred.

Gamification

Gamification refers to companies, programs, applications, etc. that implement or promote a game-like atmosphere in order to make things more fun and interesting.  Companies that take advantage of gamification can capitalize on the natural human tendency toward play, and make less than desirable activities more engaging.  Badges are an important example of Gamification. Badges provide an achievement for gaining granular knowledge, and thus encourage and improve continued learning.  Mormon Badges specifically use this growing trend to engage the youth in Church activities, educate and engage members in Gospel learning, and supplement the CES curriculum.

Commodification of Learning

Learning has always been a commodity, but badges represent a new (or reinvented) commodification of learning, in which knowledge and skills are represented by a shareable digital badge.  In other words, badges are a commodity that represents learning.  As badges gather speed and popularity, they will increase their fungibility-- their ability to be used as online currency which can be used to obtain job opportunities and entrance to new learning communities for the user.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Mormon Media Studies Symposium Badge



The Mormon Badges team is excited to be at the Mormon Media Studies Symposium on BYU campus today. If you've got time come hear us at 12:00 at the Harmon Conference center, we'd love to see you there!

But for those who attend our presentation, we've created a new badge just for the conference. Here are the steps for earning the badge:

1. Attend the Mormon Media Studies Symposium and the Mormon Badges presentation.

2. Complete the online quiz here.

4. We'll send you your badge via email once you've completed all three steps!

5. Display your badge through your Mozilla Backpack and share it through facebook, twitter or Google+!

Saturday, November 3, 2012

Faith #1 Badge Prototype Available

As promised, the Mormon Badge group has been exploring options of how the Personal Progress Program could incorporate badges. The more we've examined the new online Personal Progress, the more we see that the two could go hand in hand to fill a gap within the already established system.

 Right now the website allows girls to sign in with their lds.org account, and then they establish their record and they can create a number of online journal entries. The system even allows for projects and experiences to be approved by the girl’s parent or leader. Yet we think if badges where mixed in, perhaps with a quick quiz checking that all the requirements have been met as well as the online journal assignments that are already integrated in the system, the girl could receive a badge which could then be shared across multiple platforms (such as their social media platforms). Badges would then provide authentication for the girl’s learning or experience as well as concrete proof that she could share with her friends and family. Not only would she be working towards her Young Women’s Medallion, but she could also share the different steps in her process and the gospel principles she is learning about.

To test the capability of badges to work with Personal Progress, we've created the prototype below. Although this is not as sophisticated (technilogically) as we some day hope to see it, we feel this represents one way badges could help girls as they explore the program.

In order to earn this badge you must:

1. Complete the following activity:

The first principle of the gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Learn about faith from the scriptures and living prophets. Read Hebrews 11; Alma 32:17–43; Ether 12:6–22; and Joseph Smith—History 1:11–20. Read two general conference talks on faith. Exercise your own faith by establishing a habit of prayer in your life. Begin by regularly saying your morning and evening prayers. After three weeks of following this pattern, discuss with a parent or leader what you have learned about faith and how daily personal prayer has strengthened your faith.

2. Complete a journal entry about your feelings about faith and prayer either online or in your physical journal.

3. Complete the online quiz here.

4. We'll send you your badge via email once you've completed all three steps!

5. Display your badge through your Mozilla Backpack and share it through facebook, twitter or Google+!

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Mormons and the Restoration Badge

The Mormon Badges team is again proud to annouce the launch of our second badge, "Mormons and the Restoration." This badge explains  how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began and some of the key beliefs such as prophets, the priesthood and modern day revelation. We're excited to share some of the  beliefs and tenets at the very heart of the Mormon faith, and we invite everyone to learn more with us about the history of the Church!

So here are the steps:
  1. Spend just a few minutes reading the official material from LDS Church websites in this link: http://mormon.org/restoration
  2. Watch this video:
  3. Take our short “Mormons and the Restoration” quiz -yes, it’s open book- by clicking this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHZ6TTVWdlMxSjBEbEtacF9ZNjRVQ2c6MQ If you get the answers right, we’ll email you the link to claim your “Mormons and the Restoration” Badge from our badge hoster-site, badg.us.  After we email you the link, we’ll never use your address again to contact you or for any other purpose.
  4. Claim your badge by clicking the badg.us link in the email.  You’ll be able to display your badge in your Mozilla Badge Backpack and post it to your blog or website, showing your friends that you are informed about Mormonism!  
  5. Tell all your friends to come and earn the badge too!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

A New Look and New Ideas

The Mormon Badge Project team has given the blog a makeover and added new pages with information about our new ideas for Mormon Badges.  Check it out!

Also, look for our new Mormon Literacy Badge, "The Restoration," coming out this Thursday, November 1st!  This new badge will give users a basic overview of the founding or restoration of the LDS Church.  Find out why prophets are important, who Joseph Smith was, and how he translated the Book of Mormon.  Stay tuned to increase your Mormon knowledge!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

THE FIRST MORMON BADGE IS UP!



The Mormon Badge team is proud to announce the release of our first badge, “Mormons and Polygamy.”  A common misconception about Mormons is that some Mormon men have multiple wives.  They don’t.  As you’ll learn, the practice of polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was discontinued over one hundred years ago. This badge explains a few basic facts about the history of the Mormon church and polygamy.

Are you ready to get informed about Mormons and polygamy and earn your first Mormon Badge?  

Here are the steps:

  1. Spend just 10 minutes reading the official material from LDS Church websites in these two links: http://mormon.org/faq/practice-of-polygamy (pay attention to the comments by real Mormons) and http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/polygamy-latter-day-saints-and-the-practice-of-plural-marriage
  2. Take our short “Mormons and Polygamy” quiz -yes, it’s open book- by clicking this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHNnWmtmZEkzV2tORjFqRVB2d1BPbHc6MQ.  If you get the answers right, we’ll email you the link to claim your “Mormons and Polygamy” Badge from our badge hoster-site, badg.us.  After we email you the link, we’ll never use your address again to contact you or for any other purpose.
  3. Claim your badge by clicking the badg.us link in the email.  You’ll be able to display your badge in your Mozilla Badge Backpack and post it to your blog or website, showing your friends that you are informed about Mormonism!  
  4. Tell all your friends to come and earn the badge too!

Friday, October 12, 2012

A FAQ about Mormonism and Issues with Representations of Mormonism in the Media

This quote is from the LDS Church's newsroom website (http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/) and explains some of the problems with media's representations of the Church and with  the general lack of knowledge about Mormonism of most members of the public.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest Christian church in America. More than half of its 14 million members live outside the United States. Yet despite the faith’s growth and presence, survey results continue to show that relatively few people are familiar with Mormon beliefs.
As an institution, the Church has the responsibility to publicly and clearly articulate its official teachings. In turn, reporters can help inform the public by accurately reporting on these doctrines. But in doing so journalists should be aware of some common pitfalls. For instance, reporters pressed for time tend to take peripheral aspects of the faith and place them front and center as if they were vital tenets of belief. Additionally, sincere commentators often overemphasize what others see as “different” about Latter-day Saints at the expense of highlighting the Church’s most fundamental doctrines in their reporting. Unfortunately, as many members attest, this kind of journalism paints a distorted picture of the Church and continues to confuse the public.
Despite these complications, the Church welcomes honest inquiry from all types of media outlets. The Church expects journalists to be accurate and honest and to focus on the faith as it is lived and believed by its members. The Church discourages sensationalized and misleading journalism that accentuates abstract ideas that do not reflect the beliefs, teachings and practices of the Church’s global membership.

These are the problems the Mormon Badge team is hoping to mitigate by publishing badges that use official LDS church material to explain common misconceptions about the church. We hope to release our first badge with information about polygamy and Mormonism sometime next week.  In the meantime, check out this FAQ published in the Church's newsroom that covers polygamy and many other frequently asked questions about Mormons. See the FAQs by clicking the link:
http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/mormonism-101
On the newsroom site, you'll need to scroll down a little and click the FAQ link just below the info-graphic.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Why Mormon Badges?

These slides came from a project for our Digital Culture class at Brigham Young University that spawned The Mormon Badges Project.

Between The Book of Mormon Broadway musical and Governor Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, lots of people are talking (and singing) about Mormonism, or the LDS (Latter-day Saint) faith, right now.

But some people have only heard popular misconceptions about Mormonism.

Others simply don't know who Mormons are or what they believe.

Our goal is to award people badges after they complete 5-10 minutes of official material taken from Church websites and LDS scriptures.  (While all our material will come from the Church itself, please note that we are not sponsored by the Church in any way.)  Our aim is not to convert, but simply to inform, so that more people have accurate information about our faith.

We hope that people will find the badges interesting, informative, and easy to complete.  Each badge should leave the user a little bit closer to understanding what Mormonism is and isn't.


As the number of badges earned increases, we hope that often repeated misconceptions about Mormonism will decrease.


Why should you want to earn a Mormon badge?  Maybe you're a journalist or frequent blogger who wants to ensure your comments about Mormons are accurate.  Maybe you're just a regular guy or girl who wants to know more about the religion that everyone's talking about.  And wouldn't it be cool to display your Mormon badges on your Facebook profile or blog so that other people know you know something about Mormonism?  Each badge is a conversation piece and a credibility enhancer.  And meanwhile, we'll feel pretty good that more people understand us just a little bit better.  It's a win-win situation.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

The DL on Mormon Badges

Welcome one and all!  My friends and I are a group of BYU students who are set on helping set the record straight on the LDS faith--especially in light of Governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.  There are a lot of journalists, government officials, and even leaders of other faiths who have misconceptions about our beliefs.  Many are simply not informed with accurate information.  As a result, Latter-Day Saints, or “Mormons,” are often cast in a negative light.  While any publicity for the Church tends to be good publicity, my friends and I have devised a system of “badges” that could help spread the word on what Mormons are all about and what we really believe.

What is a badge?  This is a relatively new phenomenon online.  It works like this: certain organizations online offer a course or set of material that must be learned like, say, TV/VCR repair.  An individual may take that badge course, and if he meets the necessary qualifications, such as reading the lesson material, watching relevant instructional videos and passing a quiz at the end of it all, he is rewarded with a badge which signifies that he is competent in that particular body of knowledge or skill set.  This badge can then be attached to that individual’s blog, as a sign that they are knowledgeable about that specific topic.  

Well, we want to do the same thing...sort of.  We want to give badges to people like you and your friends who take the time to more accurately understand some of the more controversial issues surrounding our faith, like polygamy, blacks and the priesthood, and “baptizing dead people.”  The required course for each badge will be 5-10 minutes of material from Church websites, videos and LDS scriptures. You can then display your badges on a Facebook profile or blog, giving more clout to your writings about the LDS people and their faith.  It’s a win-win situation: You get more credibility and have something interesting to talk about, and we get the satisfaction of knowing that our religion is being more accurately represented.

Why are we telling you all of this now, before the first badge has been released?  If you’re LDS, this General Conference (a bi-annual church-wide meeting) is a great time to get the word out to your friends because interest in the Church is higher than usual.  If you’re not LDS and you want to understand us better, we hope you’ll keep checking back to earn your first badge as soon as it’s released, in about two weeks.  We really want you all in on this.  As we work on the first badge, we’re looking for your comments, input, questions, and help, from LDS and non-LDS alike.  If you have an issue that you’d like to see addressed in our system, let us know!  If you want to donate some time to the project, please tell us how you can help and email us your contact information.  We really want this project to succeed.  That’s why we’re turning to you!  Thanks in advance for all your support and prayers!

-The Mormon Badges Team