Parchment Digital Badges (PDB) Training
Welcome to the University of Minnesota’s custom training for Parchment Digital Badges (PDB), a digital badging platform designed to make learning visible across our campus community.
While traditional transcripts only tell a partial story of a student’s academic journey, digital badges serve as verified credentials that recognize the specific competencies, leadership skills, and technical proficiencies learners gain both inside and outside the classroom. Unlike unverified "digital stickers" - which are platform-locked and easily faked - UMN issues secure, Open Digital Badges containing encrypted metadata. This metadata acts as a permanent digital thumbprint, allowing external viewers and future employers on networks like LinkedIn to instantly verify who issued the credential, who earned it, and the rigorous criteria required to achieve it.
Ultimately, this open badging ecosystem drives student engagement, enhances goal-setting, and gives UMN learners a verifiable way to showcase their market-ready skills to the world.
Parchment Digital Badges at the University of Minnesota
Introduction to Parchment Digital Badges at UMN
Welcome to the first video in the University of Minnesota's Parchment Digital Badges training series. Designed specifically for Issuer Administrators, this video introduces the foundational "what" and "why" of our campus micro-credentialing initiative. You will learn how secure, metadata-backed Open Digital Badges differ from unverified "digital stickers," and how these dynamic credentials allow students to track their skills, enhance their resumes, and tell a more complete story of their education. Discover how your program can utilize the platform to drive learner engagement, motivate goal setting, and provide students with a verifiable way to showcase market-ready skills directly to future employers.
Watch the 3-minute video below to learn more: