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Digital Badges Used to Validate New Skills, Demonstrate Knowledge and Recognise Affiliation

Setting the Scene

Women’s Enterprise Scotland (WES) is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company based in Scotland with a global reach. A catalyst for economic growth and inclusion, WES works to create an entrepreneurial environment where women can start up in business and thrive. With an aim to create a national women’s business centre, they are helping women across Scotland unlock their full business capability, across innovative technologies to build the businesses of the future.

Womens Enterprise Scotland Digital Badging on Mobile Device

The Challenge

To help support and increase the number of women-owned businesses in Scotland, WES launched a new ‘Business Advisor Gender Balance’ training programme. This enables business advisors to better understand the challenges which can be faced by women owned businesses, to identify potential business support needs and to tailor business support provision more closely to meet those needs. WES wanted to recognise the skills of those who completed the programme and were looking for an effective way to do this. At the same time, they were looking for a digital solution that would enable their programme participants to demonstrate their involvement with WES.

The Solution

Micro-Credentials and Digital Badges were the natural choice to solve both of these challenges, because they make it easy to recognise skills and experience gained and can also be used to recognise affiliation. Using eNetBadges™, eCom’s digital micro-credentialing and badge tool, WES were able to issue and manage their own branded digital badges, which recipients can keep in their own digital backpack. The skills badges can also have specific metadata attached to them listing WES as the issuer and including evidence of what has been achieved. And of course, they can also be used to recognise affiliation.

The Benefits

As micro-credentials and digital badges are shareable on social media, WES programme participants have the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and their work with WES. As this is such an easy way for members to spread the word about WES, it’s great PR for the organisation.