Occasional Observations of Traveling Technology Coach

from http://www.myerstownboyscouts.org/merit-badges.html, saved May 13, 2019

There is a new idiocy movement sweeping the “sitting-behind-a-desk” world: achievement badges. Companies, including many educational technology companies, are eager to bestow digital images, which they call badges, on people who complete online courses and in-person seminars. Winners of these digital badge images can attach them to their email signatures, their Linked-in profiles, etc. The more badges a person has, the more *fill-in-the-blank* they are/get.

Does this remind you of boy/girl scout badges? Does it remind you of the days when distinguished members of the ivied walls of academia would add letters and abbreviations after their names in recognition of their numerous academic degrees?

Do you feel the need to list images all the college courses you passed during your college career? Do you think that it would make you smarter or more capable because you sat through a class and passed the final exam?

Here are several of Microsoft’s innumerable badges. I earned one of them…I cannot remember which one though.

Cordially,

Charle Bender, HSD FS, NYC; BA, Soc./Anth, Carl. Col, MN; MID, PI, NYC.