Date: January 19, 2023
The information below has been gathered during the EELISA badge issuing process for the first two activities of the Circular EELISA Community’s project entitled “CIRCULAR IN PLAY: A series of gamification events to enhance knowledge and awareness of the circular economy” funded by the first EELISA Call for Joint Inter-Institutional Activities in Communities and coordinated by Dr. İmge Akçakaya Waite of İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi (ITU) and Prof. Justo García Navarro of Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM). The information is subject to changes as instructed by EELISA and thus should be updated as necessary.
As Circular EELISA, we are a pioneering community across EELISA in experiencing EELISA badge and credentials issuance process. Then what is an EELISA badge and how does it work toward a university degree credential? Let’s have a brief look and find out!
EELISA badges are official digital awards granted by EELISA. They are micro-credentials that are collected through activities carried out by EELISA communities. By participating in an activity, a learner only collects badges; however, the credential starts with the collection of the first badge and is progressively enriched through participation in EELISA community activities. In other words, it is an incremental process that requires interested participants to attend multiple EELISA activities in order to collect enough credentials that are later translated to ECTS credits and reflected in their transcripts and degrees. Badges can be issued to any and all participants of an EELISA activity, regardless of their institution (EELISA or non-EELISA), country (Europe or outside of Europe), and status or cycle (bachelor, master, PhD, post-doc, alumna/alumnus or non-student).
Each EELISA badge is characterized by three features: (1) one Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) defined by the UN, (2) one SDG-related learning objective, and (3) one EELISA impact level (see below figure). These features are defined separately for each activity by activity designers and/or coordinators and approved by the community coordinator. In designing badges, activity designers/coordinators are expected to assign the most appropriate SDGs, learning objectives and EELISA impact levels for the said activity. In doing so, they are also encouraged to consult the “EELISA credential tool for activity designers,” which is a guiding document prepared by EELISA Office with detailed feature descriptions and samples. For one activity, up to two SDGs can be considered for badge issuance, with up to two impact levels per SDG. In case of consecutive activities within a project, the badges are expected to incrementally increase in EELISA impact levels. The design of an EELISA badge reflects on the SDG and the EELISA impact level attained.
Once an activity is completed and the activity coordinators gather activity participants data, they fill out “EELISA credential data collection template for badges” prepared by EELISA Office. This template is a table that collects basic activity information, basic student information, and the abovementioned badge features. The badge table is later approved by the community coordinator, the activity coordinator’s (or activity host’s) university’s academic coordinator, and EELISA, respectively. Approved badges are delivered to activity participants by EELISA office via email.
EELISA badges are a great innovative tool for students and other EELISA activity participants to prove their academic engagement in EELISA!
İmge Akçakaya Waite, PhD
İstanbul Teknik Üniversitesi (ITU)
January 19, 2023
