How do I create course badges?

Note: One or more features described in this document may not be enabled in your domain. Contact your Echo Administrator for more information.

Badges can be awarded to recognize and encourage students, and they are rapidly becoming the standard in competency-based learning for recognizing and tracking mastery.

Echo allows for two types of badges:

• Automatic badges - configured to be automatically awarded to students by Echo when they complete an activity, unit, or course.
• Teacher-assigned badges - configured to be assigned by teachers to reward a specific achievement or behavior. Teachers can choose from badges in specific categories (e.g., leadership, scholarship, service, etc.) and provide personalized comments and/or evidence, so students know why they're being recognized.

To create both types of badges:

From the homepage, click on the edit pencil next to one of the courses you want to create badges in.

Click the "Tools" button and select Course Settings.

On the course settings page, scroll down to the bottom of the page where the Badges section is. Click on "Create Badge."

Fill out the information necessary for the badge.

• The badge name (required; 128 character limit)
• Upload a badge image
  • Required file type: PNG
  • Ideal size: 90x90
• A description of what the badge represents (required; 128 character limit)
• The requirements for earning the badge
• The Issuer name, organization, and contact e-mail address

Click "Save badge."

Under course settings in the Badges section, a badge can also be set to be awarded upon enrollment completion, which means the student completed the course. What defines enrollment completion is set by the instructor in the "Enrollment completion" section.

Click the dropdown in the Badges section that says "Assign upon enrollment completion," and choose the badge to be assigned.

Make sure to click "Save" in the top righthand corner when done creating and managing badges.

To assign a badge automatically when a student has completed an activity or project, click the Edit pencil next to a folder or activity in the Course Editor.  

Click on the Navigation tab for the folder/activity.

Choose a badge from the dropdown menu under Badges.

Click "Save" when done.

To assign badges manually, see this article.

Echo is constantly being improved based on the feedback from users and we strive to keep our documentation up to date.  If this document doesn’t match what you are seeing in Echo, please let us know.