As you may have gathered by now, the Pirate Patch program revolves around the idea of granting badges as a means to foster engagement, signify your learning accomplishments, reward skill development and ultimately provide a more robust record of your development while attending Seton Hall University.  Badges show the entire you as an individual in a way that even your final transcripts never could.

So what are badges?  Simply put, they’re digital icons or tokens which act as your record of achievement.  Every badge that you earn from Seton Hall will have information included telling you the who, what, when, where and why of the experience.  Not only that, but if you ‘bake’ the badge, you can use it to tell that story to anyone else and take the badge with you when you graduate.  You can proudly display the badges you earn via your email signature, your favorite social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) even your resume while looking for an internship or job.  Imagine sitting down for an interview and being able to show off the experiences most likely to get you hired and you don’t even have to make up a story to go along with it.

We’re just starting the badges program, so you’ve seen just a small sample of what’s possible.  In the coming weeks and years, we plan to roll badges for everything important to you during your college years.  We intend to work with the entire University community, from incoming students to Alumni, as well as the community surrounding the campus, from local businesses to prospective employers, to keep the offerings relevant and engaging.

Attend non-credit workshops on technology?  Not on your transcripts, but there’s a badge for that.  Spend time doing volunteer work?  May not be on your transcripts, but there’s a badge for that.  Show school spirit by cheering on the Pirate teams?  Won’t be on your transcripts, but there’s a badge for that.  Win a “design a badge” contest?  No chance of seeing that anywhere near your transcripts but will go perfectly in that interview.  Badges take those things which may have before been invisible and bring them out for the world to see if you choose.  So go to class and study hard but don’t forget there’s a whole world outside of the classroom helping you to grow and develop.  Digital badges can be used to display all of that and more with pride.