Student perceptions of digital badges in a drug information and literature evaluation course.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this article is to describe student perceptions of implementation of digital badges in a drug information and literature evaluation course. EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING: Two digital badges were developed as voluntary learning opportunities. Student perceptions were obtained through pre- and post-survey instruments consisting of selected questions from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. FINDINGS: The response rate was 69% (106/153). At baseline, 53% of respondents agreed that digital badges could help them better understand course material. More students agreed they would share earned digital badges on LinkedIn (68%) than Facebook (19%). Most students who earned digital badges agreed that badges helped increase their confidence in course material (73%), focus on specific learning objectives (55%), look deeper into course competencies (64%), and were a useful adjunct to the traditional teaching method (82%). DISCUSSION AND SUMMARY: Digital badges were perceived by students as a positive adjunct to learning and may provide a novel mechanism for development of an electronic skills-based portfolio.