Issuing a Badge in Moodle

At JAMK University of Applied Sciences, the Moodle learning environment includes the Open Badge Factory plugin, which allows the issuance of badges created in the Open Badge Factory on a Moodle course. The process is as follows:

1. Prepare the Badge in Open Badge Factory
   • Create the badge in Open Badge Factory. You need designer access credentials, which can be obtained from Mari Varonen (firstname.lastname@jamk.fi).
   • To make the badge visible in Moodle, check the “Ready to be issued” box. Note that this makes the badge visible to all users with a teacher role in Moodle, so only check this box when you are ready to issue the badge to avoid misuse.
2. Issue the Badge on a Moodle Course
   • As a teacher in a Moodle course, find the “Competence Badges” option in the course’s “Add” menu.
   • Select the badge that belongs to your course. Only badges marked as “Ready to be issued” in Open Badge Factory will appear in Moodle.
   • Define the badge issuance rules. You can set the badge to be issued after completing a specific activity or the entire course. If the badge is awarded after completing an activity, select the desired activity. If it is awarded after completing the course, define the grade.
   • Optionally, add a criteria description that will appear below the badge criteria.
   • Once the issuance rules are defined, click the “Issue Competence Badge” button at the bottom of the “Competence Badge Details” tab.
   • The recipients field will list the Moodle course participants who meet the issuance rules. Select the email addresses of the participants to whom the badge will be issued. You can also edit the email message if desired (the original is formatted in Open Badge Factory).
   • Finally, click the “Issue Competence Badge” button at the bottom.
3. Notification
   • Once the badge is issued, you will receive a notification. A news item about the badge issuance will also appear in the “Notifications” section of Moodle’s top bar.