Over the past few months you’ve probably heard about the association’s new Badges for Lifelong Learning project. As YALSA develops badges that you’ll be able to earn online to demonstrate your knowledge and skill related to the association’s Competencies for Serving Youth in Libraries, we thought it would be helpful to regularly provide information on how badge programs support adult learning. To achieve that, this is the first in a regular series of posts on badges that will appear on the YALSAblog.
You know about YALSA’s badges, but you might be asking how will earning badges help me? Or, you might wonder, can I further my own professional development through badges? Check out the three resources below for answers to those questions.
- “By displaying skills and achievements that traditional degrees and transcripts often leave out, badges can lead to jobs, community recognition, and new learning opportunities,†states the Mozilla Open Badges site.
- YALSA Badges will give you proof that you have learned specific skills. As reported in the New York Times badges give you the chance to have non-traditional learning recognized, such as learning done online or that is self-paced.
- The Times also noted late last year that, “The badges will not replace résumés or transcripts, but they may be a convenient supplement, putting the spotlight on skills that do not necessarily show up in traditional documents.†Never might be a long time but for the time being, badges do work as a supplement to traditional forms of professional recognition.
Check back next week to learn more about how badges can help you develop and demonstrate your competency in serving teens in libraries.
If you have questions about the YALSA badge project, contact Linda W. Braun
