John Cheslock

Associate Professor, Education Policy Studies
College of Education
Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education
2013 TLT Faculty Fellow
Focus Area: Digital badges across various contexts of the University

John is working with Teaching and Learning with Technology this summer to explore the creation and application of digital badges across a variety of contexts. The first context will be within graduate courses in the Higher Education Program. Several of the topics covered in these courses, such as meeting management, advising, and institutional research, involve very specific competencies. John plans to work with TLT, along with members of his graduate courses, to both create and offer these badges to students in Higher Education. These badges can then be re-purposed across a variety of contexts, such as professional development for Penn State faculty and staff that want to develop competencies in areas that are core to the mission of Penn State.

As the use of digital badges grows, we now have a different method of measuring competencies within disciplines and going beyond traditional records of accomplishment such as transcripts and resumes. Someone’s ‘digital backpack’, illustrating all the badges an individual accrues, can be a powerful tool in illustrating to potential employers or collaborators the skills and knowledge someone possesses.