This post summarizes recent conversations in the Open edX Slack regarding badging and verifiable credentials.
This post is structured in the form of Q&A to provide more context of the state of badging and credentials functionality in Open edX as of the Teak/Ulmo release. If your question wasn’t mentioned here, please feel free to ask it in a comment.
Q: Are there any free/open badge providers compatible with latest versions of Open edX?
A: As of the Ulmo release, traditional badges can be issued only to Credly and Accredible platforms out of the box. They were selected as the most popular platforms at the time.
Even though Accredible offers a limited free tier that allows issuing credentials to 20 recipients, neither platform offers a truly free solution.
Q: Can Open edX issue and display badges without relying on Credly or Accredible?
A: Yes, there are several approaches to achieve this. Open edX supports issuing badges through custom integrations with alternative badge platforms or using verifiable credentials, but it cannot display them in the UI out of the box.
The first option is to develop a custom badge connector to an existing or open-source badging platform. The badges app in the Credentials service supports multiple badge providers and is compliant with the Open Badges 2.0 specification. You can develop a connector for a new badging platform by following existing implementations (Credly and Accredible). Open-source options include edubadges (maintained and enhanced open-source fork of Badgr), openbadges-modular-server, and a few more.
Note: none of these solutions are battle-tested in production within the Open edX community. Please evaluate each solution individually.
Another approach is to issue verifiable credentials in the form of Open Badges 3.0. Open edX can issue Open Badges 3.0 without external badge providers. Open Badges 3.0 is based on the Verifiable Credentials (VC) protocol, where credentials are issued directly into a student’s wallet (e.g., mobile app) rather than providing a link to a badge.
Currently, the only backend for holding credentials that is supported in Open edX is for the Learner Credentials Wallet from the Digital Credentials Consortium (DCC). Each student holds credentials in their own mobile app, where they can store them indefinitely and share them to platforms like LinkedIn.
Q: What’s the difference between Open Badges 2.0 and 3.0, and which should I use?
A: This is a crucial distinction to understand before choosing a solution. Open edX supports both protocols, but the setup and use cases differ significantly.
Open Badges 2.0: Traditional badge implementation where students receive a link to their badge. Open Badges 2.0 depends on the issuer hosting the data and relies on an email address for the learner.
Open Badges 3.0: Based on the Verifiable Credentials (VC) protocol, aligned with the W3C Verifiable Credentials Data Model. Credentials are issued directly into a student’s wallet (usually a mobile app, but not exclusively) rather than providing a link. Open Badges 3.0 is self-contained and doesn’t require the issuer to continue to retain a web hosting provider for the credential to remain valid. Instead, it uses cryptographic proof to authenticate the badge, the issuer, and the learner who earned it.
Q: Is it neccessary to join the Digital Credentials Consortium to issue verifiable credentials to LC Wallet.?
A: No, membership isn’t necessary, but you still need to register your did in one of the DCC known registries. Please refer to the usage prerequisites section in the credentials documentation for more details.
For more information on Open edX’s implementation of badges and verifiable credentials, check out this Open edX conference talk.
Additional links: