University Technology

Awards Tool - Western Online

The awards tool in Western Online allows you to create badges and certificates to share with others in other courses or restrict them to a specific course. Recipients can add their awards and badges to their WIU Profile, and add them to their LinkedIn Profile. 

Learn more at Brightspace Help .

Popular Topics

  • Do Awards Ever Go Away?
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    Note: If in the future WIU no longer contracts Brightspace as our LMS public awards pages shared from our instance will become unavailable. Additionally, if the institution were to request a data purge, any data purged from Brightspace (i.e. a user’s name) will no longer appear on publicly shared awards pages. Learn more at: https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/kb/articles/17238-introducing-sharing-awards-with-a-public-link

  • What is the difference between a Badge and a Certificate?
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    Badges are awarded based on any criteria determined by you. They are meant to provide digital markers that represent accomplishment throughout a course or program. Certificates are also awarded based on criteria determined by you. Certificates are similar to Badges, however, they include a PDF that users can print.

  • Can I award learners the same badge multiple times?
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    Currently, the feature to award learners the same badge multiple times does not exist in Brightspace. To award the same badge to a learner multiple times, you will need to create a new badge each time. D2L recommends creating a new badge and awarding it to the learners whenever they reach out for assistance.

  • How do I copy an award from one course to another?
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    When you copy an award from another course it will include all release conditions originally set to release the award.

    1. Within the course that you want to copy the award into, select Course Admin from the navigation bar.
    2. Click Course Admin in the navbar.
    3. Click Import / Export / Copy Components.
    4. Select the Export Components option.
    5. Select Copy Components from another Org Unit, then click Search for offering.
    6. Search for and select the course that you want to copy an award from and click Add Selected.
    7. At the bottom of the page, click Select Components.
    8. Select Awards, then do one of the following:
          - To include all items, select
      Copy All Items,
          then click
      Continue.
          - To include only some items, select
      Select individual items to copy,
          then click
      Continue
        . On the Select Items to copy page, select the items you want to copy.
    9. Click Continue.
    10. Click Finish. (You will receive a notification from Western Online when copying is complete.)
  • How do learners access their awards?
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    When a learner earns a new award, Western Online will send them a notification. Depending on how the instructor set up the award they may also receive an email notification. Additionally, when they login to a course where they have received an award, a congratulatory pop-up will appear. They can also use the steps below to access your awards.

    1. From the navigation bar within a course, select Assessments > Awards.
    2. The My Awards tab that appears will include all previously-earned Badges and Certificates.
    3. Click on the View Available Awards tab to see a complete list of awards you could earn. Note: some awards remain hidden by the instructor until they are earned.Use the search bar to find a specific award.
    4. Use the filter to show Badges only, Certificates only, or all types of awards.
    5. Add awards from other courses to your My Awards page by selecting Include Awards from other courses.
  • How do Learners Share their Awards?
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    1. From the navigation bar within a course, select Assessments > Awards.
    2. On the My Awards page, find the award(s) you want to share.
    3. Select the location where you want to share the award.
          -
      Internally: Share to Profile
        allows you to share your badge to your Western Online profile.
          -
      Externally: Share to Bdgr Backpack
        allows you to share it to Badgr Backpack which is a central place where a learner can curate digital badges they have earned from multiple sources.
          -
      Externally: Share to LinkedIn
          allows you to share your award to your
      LinkedIn Profile.
          Ensure that
      Include public link to award
          is selected. Once you have shared your award to LinkedIn, login and view your profile, then scroll down to
      Licenses and certifications
        to see your award listing.
    4. You can also share your award as a public link, that can be copied into any desired location.
          - Click on the
      Share
        link under the award you want to create the public link for.
          - Click on the
      Create Link
        button at the bottom of the page.
          - Once the link is generated and appears in the field provided, click the
      Copy Link
        button, and paste the link wherever you would like to share it.

 

Tip Sheet

Awards and Certificates Tip Sheet

 

Video Tutorials

Awards - Create a Badge
Create a Certificate
Manually Grant an Award
Add Release Conditons to an Award
Revoke an Award
Learner - Share Awards with a Public Link