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.

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+!

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+!

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!