Students love recognition, and here at CodeHS, we wanted to give teachers a tool for awarding students with custom badges! You can design badges that are perfect for your students and classes.
Here are some examples of what we mean:
Getting to the Badges App
You can find the Badges App on the left navigation bar, under the Classroom Category:
Or, click on the Search Bar on the top navigation bar and search for Badges:
Creating a Custom Badge
⚠️ Note: Free Teachers can create up to 5 custom badges, while Pro Teachers can create unlimited custom badges.
There are two tabs here: Award and Library.
Award: Here, you can assign badges to students. You'll need to create some badges before you can do this!
Library: Click on this to start creating custom badges and view all custom badges.
Use the Create Your Own button to create a new badge. You'll see a pop-out where you can give the badge a title, upload an image (square images are best), and write a short description so your students know what they're being recognized for.
Ideas for How to Use Badges
Consider assigning badges based on your school's "Core Values" or growth mindsets.
Make posters of the badges for your classroom so you can show off what your students are earning and learning.
Celebrate students with a class cheer when a student earns a badge.
Design badges based on people who inspire and motivate your students: characters in novels, historical figures, famous athletes, renowned scientists, etc.
Create a custom badge assignment to add to a lesson. To add a custom badge assignment:
Visit the Assignments App
Click the lesson you want to add the assignment to
Scroll to the bottom of the lesson and click Add New Assignment
Click Badge in the Choose Your Assignment Type pop-up
Select the badge's assignment prerequisites from the drop-down menu
Click Save & Continue
Pro Plan users may configure additional assignment settings
Click Save & Finish!
Note: Badges can have prerequisites, so students will need to complete selected assignments to obtain the badge
However, you choose to use badges in your classroom, we hope they are a great tool for motivating students and building a joyful classroom culture!
Creating and Awarding Badges - Video Walkthrough
Still have questions? Contact our team at hello@codehs.com to learn more!