Downloading your Digital Badges from Navigatr
When we embarked on our journey of becoming a Cities of Learning UK founding partner back in 2016, we had a vision that went beyond just a platform. Our commitment to embedding Open Badge standards into the initiative was born from the desire to help individuals connect with work and learning opportunities by recognising skills developed beyond formal channels using Open Badges.
As a partnership, we shared a vision that reimagines the city as an expansive learning campus, where education isn't confined to traditional institutions but thrives across every street and corner.
In a world where profound shifts in our job market driven by AI and the gig economy - there is an urgent need for adaptable skills and our cities, often brimming with untapped talents, should become the epicentre of skills development.
The Navigatr team along with consultants and then colleagues at Digitalme, a City & Guilds Group Business (Grainne Hamilton, Anna Sheard, Sharon Ashley, Matt Rogers, Kevin Field, Rosie Clayton) - supported the development of the Cities of Learning Blueprint - A locally-led approach that connects and promotes existing learning opportunities within our cities with Open Badges at the core as a tool for recognising and connecting skills acquired across diverse contexts.
These badges are more than just symbols; they are the keys to a future where competencies like creativity, problem-solving, and resilience are celebrated and validated. By envisioning the city as a learning campus and embracing Open Badges, we create a dynamic ecosystem where everyone can navigate their unique learning journey, unlock opportunities, and thrive in a world that values skills and capabilities in addition to traditional qualifications.
From the outset, we made it our mission to build a platform that adheres to Open Badge standards to ensure that:
The digital badges available to earn are not just static images but contain quality metadata to ensure they are trustworthy and verifiable.
The badges individuals have earned are portable, they can be shared and downloaded by individuals who have been recognised - throughout their lifelong learning journey.
The way we support organisations to design badges gives them all the information they need upfront and is flexible enough to recognise different learning experiences developed in a vast range of settings, so badges can be developed into learning pathways.
The platform can integrate with other Badging Platforms
Everything we've built on Navigatr, including our recent 2.0 enhancements, is steeped in these values.
Downloading badges from Navigatr is easy
We have received some enquiries recently about the ability to download badges from our platform.You absolutely can download your Open Badges from our platform, and it's incredibly simple to do so.
Individuals can download a copy of their Open Badges by requesting it from their profile settings page, we recently updated this from being a manual request to an instant process. It's proof of their accomplishment, and we want them to have easy access to it.
Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to do this.
Open Badges Certification
We're thrilled to announce that one year from our inception, and only six months since we developed badge issuing functionality fully hosted in the UK - we've officially launched our certification process to gain Open Badge Compliance certification through 1EdTech (formerly IMS Global). With this we reinforce our commitment to providing you with credible, industry-recognised Open Badges.
These badges are more than just symbols; they represent skills and achievements in a way that employers and collaborators can trust.
Platform Interoperability: Strengthening Collaborations and Impact
Whilst working on shaping the technical specification of the Cities of Learning platform (that evolved into Navigatr), we recognised the power of integration to strengthen collaboration and impact. Our ongoing collaborations with platforms like Credly and upcoming launch of a new integration with Open Learn Badged Online Courses (BOC’s) via Moodle are a testament to this commitment. (More news on this coming soon)!
Just as Cities of Learning UK sought to integrate existing initiatives into a wider movement, we're here to bridge the gaps and create pathways that benefit everyone involved.
This integration doesn't replace existing initiatives but enriches them by extending their reach, increasing engagement, and providing opportunities that might not have been accessible otherwise.
The future
As we unveil new features, integrations and partnerships on the horizon for Navigatr, we're proud to highlight how our commitment to Open Standards and Platform Interoperability seamlessly aligns with the original values we embraced when we started working with Open Badges, back in 2012.
We remain steadfast in our commitment to providing you with a platform that adheres to Open Badge standards.
People’s skills deserve recognition and trust, and we're here to ensure organisations and communities have a way of recognising those too often overlooked. Digital badges are meant to be shared, celebrated, and put to use, and we're here to support individuals to do so every step of the way by providing the tools they need to succeed and showcase, share and download their achievements.
Thank you for joining us on this journey of innovation, standards, and empowerment in the world of digital badges.
