Looking at the DM+LC4

I've been meaning to take some time to examine the winners from the Digital Media + Learning competition 4 that I mentioned in a blog post this weekend. Although badges do seem to be relatively unknown, its pretty encouraging to see that a number of interesting a diverse groups are beginning to use badges for a variety of projects.

One of the badge projects that I've found most interesting is the "My Girl Scout Sash is an App" badge system. The project is described as bringing "the Girl Scout Leadership Experience and career development badge program to a digital media learning platform for girls, ages 5-17, with a focus on middle school and high school. Through collaboration with Motorola Mobility Foundation and MentorMob, teams of girls will create apps, demonstrating and sharing the knowledge gained and badge proficiencies. MentorMob's Learning Platform will be scalable to any individual, teacher, or organization as it is free, open, and crowdsourced."

This idea ties very nicely with the system I've been looking for combining Personal Progress with badges. Yet what is perhaps most intriguing is the idea of tying badges (not a new idea with scouting) to a digital media learning platform, which also seems to be linked with digital media learning. It's pretty awesome to be able to inspire girls to learn how to make their own apps and using badges as a means of demonstrating proficiency.

Another interesting badge project is the "Disney-Pixar Wilderness Explores Badges," which again is tied to education although with a focus on wilderness and conservation issues. This project is described as engaging "youth in nature-based explorations, offering them a way to learn about and become advocates for wildlife and wild places. As these young Wilderness Explorers learn about conservation issues, they become teachers and ambassadors, content producers, and change makers. Badges will provide opportunities for Wilderness Explorers to make real connections in their communities that promote conservation locally and globally."

Again this idea is drawing upon the gamification of learning, but here its fascinating to combine such physical and outdoor based learning with digital media, which is a typically indoor activity. This is actually quite an exciting juxtaposition, and I'm interested to learn more about it as the project grows.

Although there are many different and interesting projects associated with this competition, its exciting to see that others are realizing the capability of badges to influence learning through gamification, even if it is of material that is traditionally associated with the outdoors rather than computers!