Badge Earners

Find out more about the benefits of digital badges and how to receive and manage your University open digital badges.

Benefits of a earning a BadgEd digital badge

Three female students sit outside in the grass and work and talk around a laptop

A University open digital badge can help you visually showcase your skills and achievements outside of your coursework. Your open digital badge contains verifiable data and is usable across platforms like your CV, portfolio, web page and professional social media.

A University open digital badge offers earners several benefits.

  • A digital badge offers an easy, visual way to share validated skills and achievements with potential employers, clients or higher education programs.
  • An open badge is yours to manage and post as you choose across different formats and platforms, such as LinkedIn.
  • You can earn just one badge, or you can earn a number of badges and building your own themed collections by combining badges.
  • A University of Edinburgh digital badge shows that your skills and achievements have been verified by a reputable institution

 

Digital badges are a useful way of recognising your progress, not least because you can share them with prospective employers across a variety of platforms, such as a digital CV or LinkedIn; they are a testimony to the important skills you’ve gained.

Tristan Craig

3rd Year Ancient and Medieval History

I believe that badges can be very useful for students, especially in terms of their employability. They show the valuable skills we gain that we may not be able to present in our CV otherwise.

Zofia Magdalena Matuszczyk

2nd Year Psychology

Receiving, sharing and managing a University open digital badge

Image of an example University digital badge for Developing Data Skills Level 3, circle half navy blue, half white, UoE logo

Receiving your BadgEd badge

After you have earned a badge, you will receive an email notification from the 'University of Edinburgh' (noreply@eu.badgr.com) titled 'Congratulations! You earned a badge!'. The notification will include key information about the badge as well as options to download the badge or manage the badge using a University Canvas Credentials account. 

Using and sharing your digital badge

Once issued by a University school or program, your digital badge will be available in your ‘Backpack’ in the BadgEd (Canvas Credentials) site. You’ll be able to:

  • download your badge for offline use
  • share your badge using a URL link
  • share your badge with an embed code
  • share your badge directly to your social media or LinkedIn feed.

Explore your backpack and manage your badges

The backpack or 'my badges' area of your University Canvas Credentials account allows you to manage your badges, and it includes options to:

  • share badges
  • upload or remove badges
  • print or download badges
  • view the public page where others can verify your badge
  • create collections of badges

Save a backup copy of your open digital badge

From your backpack, you can download your digital badge from your backpack and keep a copy on your device or in your files.  Be sure to download the PNG as it is and make no changes to the file, because your badge's metadata are 'baked in' to the image file.  You can check if you have saved the complete badge image file using the Open Badges 2.0 Validator. 

Open Badges 2.0 Validator (external link)

Manage your account settings

You can manage your account settings in order to change your personal information, add additional emails, link social media and other accounts, delete your account, or merge your University account with a personal account. 

Guidance and support documents (step-by-step)

You can find downloadable guidance for receiving, sharing and managing your digital badges below.

Digital badges and your data

A digital badge contains verifiable data about you and your achievements and is designed to be shared.This means the University holds information about everyone who uses University’s version of Canvas Credentials, the BadgEd Open Digital Badges service. If you would like more information about privacy, data and BadgEd, please visit our Privacy Statement.

BadgEd privacy statement

Video: How to receive and share your University of Edinburgh Digital Badge. 

Having a BadgEd digital badge allows you to take ownership of your professional and learning journey and is a secure digital proof of the skills you've gained. Your digital badge makes it easier to present your skills and knowledge in your CV or online presence. 

To get the most out of your digital badges, make sure you share your digital badges in the recommended way. This video will provide an overview of the options available once you have earned a badge from the University of Edinburgh, including accessing your backpack and how to share a badge. The University BadgEd service is hosted by Canvas Credentials. 

Once you have received your badge notification email, and set up your University linked Canvas Credentials account, you'll automatically have access to the area known as 'the backpack' or 'My Badges'. The backpack is where all your badges are stored and where you can fully interact with them. Your backpack is yours for life and will store badges both from the University and badges you earned elsewhere. [SILENCE]

 From your backpack, click on the badge card for the badge you want to share. This will take you to the badge information page. On the right hand side of the badge information page, you'll see a Share button. You can use this to share your badge by social media, by link, or using an HTML code. Add the badge directly to your LinkedIn profile via the Social tab, making it a permanent part of your digital presence. Adding the badge to your  LinkedIn profile will post the badge directly in your  Licences and Certifications in LinkedIn. 

Sharing your badges in the recommended ways lets people who are viewing your badge verify important details about it, such as who issued it, what you did to earn it, when you earned it, and any expiry or renewal dates. 

Alternatively, you can share it to your social media feed as a quick way of announcing your achievement to your network. Platforms supported are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Canvas ePortfolios. To share to the feed of these social media platforms, simply click on the button for your chosen social media platform. 

You can also share your badge directly via a link, which is useful for adding it to your CV or other spaces in your digital presence. Simply choose the Link tab, copy the link, and paste it in the desired location. When someone clicks the link, they will be taken to the badge details and the verification page for viewing by the public. You may also use this link to create a hyperlink with your badge image to create an email signature. 

Lastly, you can share your badge via HTML, allowing you to embed it directly into your website, digital portfolio, or blog. To do this, select the HTML tab and choose whether you'd like the badge to display as a card or badge. Then choose which information you'd like the embeds to display and copy the embed code before pasting it in the desired location. 

For more information on our open digital badge service, please visit edin.ac/BadgEd.

Further information

If you have any questions about BadgEd, contact us via the IS Helpline with as much detail possible about your question.

Contact IS Helpline

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