“Badges? We DO need stinkin’ badges!”

I read a post from Alice Keeler, Google Drive Level Up Challenge, where she created an individualized, badge-awarding professional development tool using Google Sheets. I thought this was fantastic, though, I had one hesitation; I thought the concept of typing an ‘X’ to receive a badge while promoting trust and self-regulation, was not allowing for accountability and proof of completion [if for nothing else a means to see what people have completed, I love getting inspired by creativity].

I think back to my days as a Boy Scout youth; when I earned a merit badge, it was after completing certain requirements for a counselor to check. As I grew older & became a merit badge counselor, I had to keep track & mark off the completion of each requirement prior to issuing their “blue card” (a progress report for a merit badge). Today’s digital badges, though, should have requisites but not as evaluative as were those from my Scouting days.

So my question was, how do I build in a method of receiving your badge when you submit an example? The answer came from the question… the word submit. I designed a Google Form to submit a link to an example of the requirements for the badge. The Form can only be submitted if a validated link is entered.

Then an add-on is triggered in the Responses Sheet which sends out a confirmation email with a ‘code’ to enter into your “Awarding Badges Sheet“. If the correct code is entered for the correct badge, it will automatically appear. As Bruce Wayne once said in Batman Begins,

“it’s all a bit technical, but the important thing is…” behind the scenes (with many hidden sheets) it works pretty seamlessly.

For this to be a success, all badges must be in place prior to anyone ‘Making their own copy’ of this Sheet. There is a hidden Sheet with a set of directions, kinda explaining the process.

Let me know what you think, drop me a comment. I’d love to connect.