More Than a Merit Badge

by Ben Casteel -- 

I have fond memories of my time as a Scout; and though I never made it to Eagle rank, I proudly wore the sash embroidered with the merit badges I earned.  When we began working on digital badging for students in our Agriculture & Natural Resources programs in conjunction with the AWT4CL project, I couldn’t help but to reminisce and draw parallels to the BSA merit badge process.  After two years of piloting the AWT4CL Digital Learning Badges, I strongly believe that there is so much more to these virtual credentials; and what better way to confirm this than by working directly with employers. As a program chair in a technical field, I am not only concerned with grades but even more so for the students employability.  It is for this reason that we meet annually with our Curriculum Advisory Committees at Virginia Highlands Community College.  The Horticulture and Natural Sciences Committee is comprised of 9 representatives (mostly owners/operators) from key sectors of the green industry.  When I first described the work we were doing with the AWT4CL project around developing learning badges that linked directly to the core durable skills identified by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), their interest was piqued and we spent a great deal of that meeting discussing their potential.  They agreed unanimously that these durable skills should be integrated into the curriculum, and eventually we intend to implement all 12 of the AWT4CL badges as a Program Level Outcome.

 Handshake with employability skill badges

At our 2024 meeting, we discussed the potential of custom-tailoring additional badges to verify key green industry skills.  Together we developed a short employer survey to ascertain which of the APLU durable skills and which field-specific skills would be in the highest demand.  We distributed it to 42 green industry employers within our service region and received a solid 31 responses.  After analyzing and presenting the data to the curriculum advisory committee at our meeting this past spring, it became clear which areas to focus on in the short term.  We decided to focus on 3 each of the durable and field-specific skills for badging trials.  Of the 11 APLU employability skills, Communicate Accurately & Concisely; Identify & Analyze Problems; and Navigate Change & Ambiguity received the most survey selections.  When it came to the field-specific skills, the 3 that received the most attention were Plant Identification & Culture; Safe & Efficient Equipment Operation; and Pest Identification & Management.  We then worked on selecting the criteria for awarding these badges.  These employers were sold on the concept that each badge would have embedded the specifics for earning each badge.  At the end of the committee meeting, each member agreed that they would be much more likely to hire a student that had earned these badges as part of the program.  As such, we will be integrating 6 badges this academic year into the program curricula between 4 different courses.  Our target is that 70% of graduating students will have earned these 6 badges as part of their higher education experience.  By leveraging partnerships with employers and offering evidence of experiences, we are now increasing the employability of our graduates.  These credentials are more than just a merit badge! 

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