1EdTech ConsortiumOpen Badges is an open technical standard for issuing, collecting, and displaying verifiable digital credentials that represent learning achievements, skills, and competencies. Now in its third major version, the standard has evolved from a simple badge-in-an-image format into a full verifiable credentials framework, making it a cornerstone of the digital credentialing ecosystem in education and workforce development.
Background
The Open Badges project was launched in September 2011 by the Mozilla Foundation with funding from the MacArthur Foundation. The initiative grew out of a collaboration with over 300 nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and educational institutions interested in recognizing informal learning and breaking down traditional education monopolies. Mozilla released version 1.0 in 2012 and partnered with the City of Chicago for the Chicago Summer of Learning, a badges initiative reaching youth ages four to 24.
By 2013, over 1,450 organizations were issuing Open Badges. In 2014, Mozilla established the Badge Alliance, a network dedicated to building the open badging ecosystem. The Badge Alliance later spun out to become part of Collective Shift, a MacArthur Foundation nonprofit. Stewardship of the standard transitioned to IMS Global Learning Consortium in January 2017; IMS rebranded to 1EdTech Consortium in 2022.
Purpose & Scope
Open Badges serve both academic and non-academic credentialing use cases. The standard defines a method for packaging information about accomplishments, embedding it into portable formats, and establishing infrastructure for credential validation. Use cases range from micro-credentials for professional development to formal academic certifications, workforce skills verification, and community-based learning recognition.
Key Components
The Open Badges data model is built around several core object types:
| Object | Description |
|---|---|
| Achievement | Defines the accomplishment a badge recognizes |
| AchievementCredential | An awarded badge — a verifiable credential asserting an earner's achievement |
| Issuer (Profile) | The entity that creates and awards badges |
| Evidence | Supporting material demonstrating how the achievement was earned |
Version 3.0 restructures these objects to align with the W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model, enabling cryptographic verification of badge authenticity and provenance.
Serializations & Technical Formats
Open Badges 3.0 uses JSON-LD as its data format, aligning with the W3C Verifiable Credentials specification. Earlier versions (1.x, 2.0) embedded JSON-LD metadata within badge image files (PNG or SVG). Version 1.1 introduced mandatory valid JSON-LD and an Extensions mechanism for collaboratively extending badge objects with new metadata types.
Governance & Maintenance
The specification is maintained by 1EdTech Consortium (formerly IMS Global Learning Consortium), which took over stewardship from the Badge Alliance in 2017. 1EdTech manages the specification through its standard processes for developing and certifying education technology interoperability standards. Concentric Sky's open-source Badgr platform serves as a reference implementation.
Notable Implementations
Open Badges are used by thousands of organizations worldwide. Notable adopters include Purdue University, the City of Chicago (Cities of Learning Initiative), DigitalME (UK), Credly (commercial badge platform), and Badgr (open-source platform). The standard has seen international adoption across six continents, with implementations in Australia, Italy, China, and Scotland among others.
Related Standards
- W3C Verifiable Credentials — Open Badges 3.0 is built on the VC Data Model
- xAPI (Experience API) — An exploratory vocabulary has been defined for referencing badges from xAPI activity streams