badge checklist

What is a badge checklist?  Do I have to make one?

A badge checklist is nothing more than a list of all the concepts or skills which must be mastered in order for a learner to demonstrate mastery and achieve the badge.  The list can be sequential or non-sequential (the wiki editor currently supports both bulleted and numbered lists, though it does not yet support indented lists).

Creating a badge checklist is a great way to use your badge wiki page (badge wiki page = the contents of the "Wiki" tab in the badge view page) to help provide a "roadmap" towards mastery of the badge.  Creating a badge checklist is completely optional.  If you prefer, you can use your badge wiki page to store whatever information you like.

The Badge List team has found, though, that checklists are a great tool for badging and we highly encourage you to try them out.

How do I edit the badge wiki page?  How does the formatting work?

To edit the badge wiki page go to the main badge view page (badgelist.com/group/badge), select the Wiki tab, then click the "Edit badge wiki" button in the upper right corner of the wiki area.  (Tip: Only the badge experts are able to edit the badge wiki page, but tag wiki pages are editable by learners as well.)

Basic text formatting can be done by clicking the buttons in the toolbar above the text box.  For tips on advanced formatting (like including images, links and hashtags) go here: #advanced-formatting.

Can I create other wiki pages? / What are hashtags and why should I use them?

We recommend making each of the concepts/skills in your checklist into a #hashtag so that it becomes a clickable link to another wiki page that can contain more detailed instructions on how to master that concept/skill.  For more details click on #hashtag or #wikis, but here's the gist: to make any text into a hashtag just put a hash sign ("#") before a string of characters.

How will my learners use the checklist?  What sorts of instructions should I give them?

The main tool you have at your disposal for having learners "check-in" around specific checklist items are their #learning-logs.  You can direct learners on how to use their logs by including instructions either in the main badge wiki page alongside a checklist item or in the tag wiki page for a checklist item.

A useful instruction might direct learners to read or review a particular resource (included via a url link) and then to produce some sort of work product which they would then post to their learning log (#post-log-entries), being sure to include the hashtag of the checklist item in the body of their learning log entry.  Including the hashtag of the item  (or items) in their learning log entry will make the entry show up on the tag wiki page itself.  For more info, refer to #hashtag.