Digital badges and verifiable credentials: Open Badges 3.0 explained

A PDF certificate is easy to issue and just as easy to fake. Employers checking a candidate's qualifications often have to email the training provider and wait. Digital badges built on open standards solve both problems: they carry structured information about the achievement and can be verified instantly. For training providers, they are also a marketing channel, because learners share them.

What Open Badges are

Image files that contain verifiable information about learning achievements, Open Badges are based on a group of specifications and open technical standards originally developed by the Mozilla Foundation with funding from the MacArthur Foundation.¹ The Open Badges standard describes a method for packaging information about accomplishments, embedding it into portable image files as a digital badge, and establishing an infrastructure for badge validation.¹ Stewardship moved: The standard was originally maintained by the Badge Alliance Standard Working Group, but transitioned officially to the IMS Global Learning Consortium as of January 1, 2017.¹ That body is now known as 1EdTech.

1EdTech describes the specification as a method for packaging information about a single recognition or achievement, such as an earned microcredential, skill, competency, or degree.² An Open Badge displays a visual token and has a rich, defined metadata structure.² Importantly, Open Badges can even contain evidence and demonstrations of the relevant skills.²

Open Badges 3.0 and learner records

The latest version aligns badges with verifiable credentials. Open Badges 3.0 and CLR Standard 2.0 assertions are specific to one earner and are a claim that the earner has made a particular achievement with metadata about the achievement, the issuer, and the earner, including possible evidence that provides support for the claim.² Technically, Both Open Badges and CLRs are presented as JSON or JSON-LD files.² Badges can also be linked to frameworks to give further alignment and context to the credential.²

Adoption

Open Badges is the world's leading format for digital badges.³ It is a format, not a product: Open Badges is not a specific product or platform, but a type of digital badge that is verifiable, portable, and packed with information about skills and achievements.³ The Open Badges standard is a free and open specification available for adoption.³ Issuers should use platforms certified for the standard: Open Badges can be issued, earned, and managed by using a certified Open Badges platform.³

Credential platforms

Several platforms handle design, issuing and verification. Two widely used examples:

Credly offers a network where learners' badges are visible; it invites providers to Become a part of a searchable network alongside some of the most powerful training, assessment, learning, and certification providers in the world.⁴ and to automatically issue verified digital badges to recognize all kinds of achievements.⁴

Accredible lets issuers Create and issue branded digital certificates and badges that showcase achievement⁵ and describes how it enables you to design and auto-issue verifiable digital credentials that learners easily share to social media, transcripts, websites, and email⁵.

Compare platforms on standards certification, LMS integration, branding, verification pages, analytics, pricing model and data ownership. We have not tested these platforms; this is not a ranking.

Designing a badge programme

1. Define criteria clearly: what was assessed and how.
2. Add evidence where appropriate, such as a project or practical assessment record.
3. Set expiry for competencies that need refreshing.
4. Align badges to frameworks or job roles for context.
5. Integrate with your LMS for automatic issuing.
6. Promote sharing and verification to employers.

Where badges came from

Digital badges (also known as ebadges, or singularly as ebadge) are a validated indicator of accomplishment, skill, quality or interest that can be earned in various learning environments.⁶ While physical badges have been in use for hundreds of years, the idea of digital badges is a relatively recent development drawn from research into gamification.⁶ The open standard has a specific history: in 2011, the Mozilla Foundation announced their plan to develop an open technical standard called Open Badges to create and build a common system for the issuance, collection, and display of digital badges on multiple instructional sites.¹ The standard was originally maintained by the Badge Alliance Standard Working Group, but transitioned officially to the IMS Global Learning Consortium as of January 1, 2017.¹

The Open Badges standard describes a method for packaging information about accomplishments, embedding it into portable image files as a digital badge, and establishing an infrastructure for badge validation.¹

Verifiable credentials explained

Verifiable credentials (VCs) are digital credentials which follow the relevant World Wide Web Consortium open standards.⁷ They have numerous advantages over physical credentials, most notably that they're digitally signed, which makes them tamper-resistant and instantaneously verifiable.⁷ The model involves three roles: the entity that generates the credential is called the Issuer.⁷ The credential is then given to the Holder who stores it for later use.⁷ A verifier, such as an employer or site gatekeeper, checks the signature. Open Badges 3.0 aligns badges with this model, so a badge can be verified without contacting the issuer's website.

What makes a badge credible

• Clear criteria: what the earner did, how it was assessed and against which standard.
• Evidence: links to work samples or assessment records where appropriate.
• Issuer reputation: an identifiable, accountable organisation.
• Expiry: for safety competencies that need renewal, an end date.
• Alignment: references to occupational standards or qualification levels.

Use cases in industry

1. Site access checks: contractors present verifiable training records at the gate.
2. Internal skills matrices built from badges for specific tasks.
3. Stackable pathways: several micro-credentials leading to a larger qualification.
4. Recognition of informal learning, such as mentoring or improvement projects.

Implementation steps

• Choose a platform that supports current Open Badges versions and exports in standard formats.
• Design a badge taxonomy with naming rules, levels and visual identity.
• Connect issuing to assessment results in the LMS to avoid manual errors.
• Explain to earners how to store and share badges, and to verifiers how to check them.
• Review uptake and verifier feedback after the first year.

Limits

A badge is only as good as the assessment behind it. Too many low-value badges dilute the system; keep criteria demanding enough that badges mean something to employers.

Key takeaways

• Open Badges embed verifiable metadata about achievements in a portable format.
• Version 3.0 aligns with verifiable credentials and learner records.
• Choose certified platforms and define clear criteria and evidence.

Frequently asked questions

Are digital badges as valuable as certificates?

Their value depends on the issuer and the rigour of assessment. A badge from a credible provider with clear criteria can be more useful than a paper certificate because it can be verified instantly.

Can badges expire?

Yes. Issuers can set expiry dates, which is useful for competencies that need refresher training.

Do we need a platform to issue Open Badges?

Using a certified Open Badges platform is the usual approach, as it handles hosting and verification.

Can employers verify badges without an account?

Typically, badges link to a verification page or can be checked by tools that read the badge metadata.

Are badges the same as certificates?

They can carry the same information, but in a machine-verifiable format with criteria and evidence attached.

Can a badge be revoked?

Yes; issuers can revoke badges, for example if an assessment is found to be invalid.

Sources

Every factual statement marked with a number links to the source below. Sources were retrieved on 23 October 2026; check the publisher for later revisions.

1. Open Badges (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
2. Open Badges (1EdTech) 1edtech.org
3. OpenBadges.org openbadges.org
4. Credly credly.com
5. Accredible accredible.com
6. Digital badge (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org
7. Verifiable credentials (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org