Badges
Contact Information
Jenny Richmond-Bravo
Graduate Professional Development Coordinator
p. 519-661-2111 x87848
jrichm6@uwo.ca
Current grad students will receive regular emails with Own Your Future news and updates.
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Badges
Through cross-campus collaboration and partnership, Own Your Future offers digital badges to showcase the development of critical transferable skills and competencies that are valuable in multiple career contexts. Each badge is accredited and issued through MyCreds, a globally-recognized and secure digital credentialling platform.
Through Own Your Future, Western's graduate students can earn a digital badge to showcase their skills in as little as 3 hours! Each badge represents the fulfillment of particular learning outcomes achieved through a combination of instructional time and built-in evaluation activities (which can be re-taken if necessary). Once earned, digital badges can be displayed on a LinkedIn profile for greater visibility.
Explore below to learn more about the digital badges available through Own Your Future and our campus partners!
Grant Writing Skills
Grant writing is a crucial component of academic careers, as well as some non-academic careers. The transferable skills developed through grant writing are valuable in multiple professional contexts and include persuasive writing, budget planning, and effectively communicating complex information in brief and accessible language.
Pathway 1: Faculty of Arts & Humanities Grant Writing Program
Time to Complete: ~ 12 hours
Delivery: In person, synchronous
Western's Faculty of Arts & Humanities offers a 2-day workshop annually in June for graduate students to develop fundamental knowledge and skills related to grant writing. Own Your Future offers a digital badge to graduate students who complete this workshop and submit a draft grant application demonstrating achievement of learning outcomes. For more information about this workshop, please click the link above.
Pathway 2: In Development
Research Partnership Skills
Pathway: Western Research RECAP Module Series
Time to Complete: ~ 3 hours
Delivery: Online, asynchronous
Western Research offers a series of eLearning modules for their program, Research Engagement Collaborative Alliance with Partners (RECAP). These asynchronous, on-demand modules cover content to help researchers (including graduate students and faculty) enhance their ability to effectively undertake collaborative research opportunities while implementing co-creation design principles with diverse partners from various sectors.
To earn the Own Your Future digital badge for Research Partnership Skills, learners must complete RECAP Modules 1-3 and the corresponding knowledge check activity with a score of at least 80%. A link to access the knowledge check activity will be provided upon completion of the modules.
Important Note: You are welcome to complete the modules and knowledge check at any time, however, the badge will be issued only three times per year (end of January, May, and September). This means that if you complete the requirements in February, you will receive your badge in May, and so on.
Learning Outcomes
By completing these modules, learners will strengthen their knowledge and skills related to: building research partnerships and collaborations while working effectively and authentically with others; identifying mutual benefits and implementing co-creation design principles; overcoming power differentials when contributing and learning about multi-sectorial expertise, lived experience, and critical perspectives throughout the research process; communicating complex information with clarity and impact; acting with integrity and accountability while navigating complex situations; driving innovation and creativity while seeking out new challenges; and examining positionality while working to advance the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and decolonization in the workplace and community.
To access the RECAP modules and begin working on this digital badge, please follow the link above.
