Global Cougs Digital Badges
Global Cougs Digital Badges give all WSU students a path to develop global competencies without traveling abroad. They also help prepare and orient students before departing on a traditional study abroad program.
What are Digital Badges?
Each of the 6 Global Cougs badges is grounded in a specific Global Learning value, which provides a unique and translatable framework for global learning outcomes. Earning one or all of the 6 badges equips students with global knowledge, engaging experiences, and new ways of thinking about the world and the people in it!
Why should I earn Digital Badges?
- Digital Badges demonstrate skills and qualifications that tell a story beyond your diploma or academic certificate.
- Digital Badges build your professional portfolio! Include your badges on your resume, LinkedIn, etc.
- If traditional study abroad isn’t an option for you, Digital Badges give you an equal opportunity to develop your global competencies. You can earn a Digital Badge from your home campus, or anywhere in the world for free!
- You will receive a certificate for each Digital Badge you earn, which can be verified by future employers when they email ip.globallearning@wsu.edu.
Details about Digital Badges
Global Self-Awareness
- Examine your role in a global context. Through earning this badge, you will develop a mature, integrated identity with an understanding of the systemic interrelationships among the self, local, global communities, and natural world.
- Requirements:
- 1 hour core Global Self-Awareness workshop (accessible in the application)
- 3 elective experiences relating to Global Self-Awareness (search the Digital Badge Connect webpage for experiences and corresponding forms that you will upload to your application)
Perspective Taking
- Walk in someone else’s shoes, even when it’s difficult. Earning this badge will prove your ability to engage and learn from perspectives and experiences different from your own and understand how your place in the world both informs and limits your knowledge of it.
- Requirements:
- 1 hour core Perspective-Taking workshop (accessible in the application)
- 3 elective experiences relating to Perspective Taking (search the Digital Badge Connect webpage for experiences and corresponding forms that you will upload to your application)
Cultural Diversity
- Engage with other cultures to address significant global problems. Work to have the ability to recognize the origins and influences of your own cultural heritage along with its limitations. Develop the curiosity to learn and collaborate respectfully within the cultural diversity of other people.
- Requirements:
- 1 hour core Cultural Diversity workshop
- 3 elective experiences relating to Cultural Diversity (search the Digital Badge Connect webpage for experiences and corresponding forms that you will upload to your application)
Personal & Social Responsibility
- Understand the local and global impacts of individual and collective actions. This badge will enable you to recognize your responsibilities to society – locally, nationally, and globally – and develop a perspective on ethical and power relations across the globe and within societies.
- Requirements
- 1 hour core Personal & Social Responsibility workshop (accessible in the application)
- 3 elective experiences relating to Personal & Social Responsibility (search the Digital Badge Connect webpage for experiences and corresponding forms that you will upload to your application)
Understanding Global Systems
- Advocate for informed, appropriate action to solve complex global problems. Understand the complex and overlapping worldwide systems that operate in observable patterns and are affected by or are the result of human design or disruption.
- Requirements:
- 1 hour core Understanding Global Systems workshop (available in the application)
- 3 elective experiences relating to Understanding Global Systems (search the Digital Badge Connect webpage for experiences and corresponding forms that you will upload to your application)
Knowledge Application
- Develop solutions to the world’s most pressing and interconnected problems. By understanding the integrated and systemic interrelationships between past and present challenges, you can effectively apply knowledge and put skills into action.
- Requirements:
- 1 hour core Knowledge Application workshop (available in the application)
- 3 elective experiences relating to Knowledge Application (search the Digital Badge Connect webpage for experiences and corresponding forms that you will upload to your application)
Badge FAQs
No! All badges are free of cost, making it a convenient and accessible way to start developing your global competencies.
Yes! In any semester you can choose to earn 1 badge, or many – perhaps even all 6 at a go!
We encourage all students to begin and complete a badge or multiple badges of their choosing within the same semester. You can complete the requirements within the semester at your own pace. Having a focused plan to finish a badge or badges within a semester will help you get the most out of the experience.
No! All 6 badges are seen as equal. You may complete the badges in any order you’d like.
Type in the badge you are working toward in the search box on Digital Badge Connect and the elective experiences for that badge will appear. You can also verify using the column titled Badge.
Yes! Please fill out the Prior Experience form and submit per the instructions on the form and we will get back to you shortly.
Each session you attend stands alone to fulfill 1 of your 3 required elective experiences for each badge. You are not required to attend the International Center sessions on a weekly basis.
You will receive an email from our department letting you know we’ve received all the requirements and are in the process of review. Please allow 2-3 weeks for this process to be completed. Once approved, you’ll receive notification through email. Finally, at the end of the semester in which you’re earning, you’ll receive a certificate of completion from the Global Learning Director.
Of course! We at Global Learning encourage all students preparing to go abroad to participate in the badge program. The global competencies you will start to develop during the badge program will start to flourish once you are abroad and experiencing other cultures firsthand. You’ll also be more comfortable once you travel because you will have been exposed to these new ways of seeing the world already.
Learn more about Digital Badges
I’m still a bit confused, may I have more information?
Yes! Please email ip.globallearning@wsu.edu with any questions you may have about this exciting program!