This will be the first in a series of posts reviewing the different platforms that are available for issuing Open Badges.

Youtopia is designed specifically for instructors to add some gamification to their classrooms. Instructors are able to create all different kinds of activities and award their students with points and badges for completing the activities. It even incorporates leaderboards!

Pros:

• The badges earned on Youtopia are compliant with Mozilla’s OBI (Open Badge Infrastructue)
• Easy to create and customize a challenge and reward badge system
• works very well in small, classroom settings
• Supports social media integration so that students can share their badges on any social media site of their choosing
• Lots of customization options to fit into any classroom
• able to create badges directly within the system

Cons:

• Will not work well in larger classrooms since it will be harder for one person to keep track of more students
• Not for individuals who are looking to just issue badges to other people; solely oriented for classroom like settings and other organizations
• Limited options unless you sign up with one of the paid accounts
• unable to issue badges through mobile devices
• students cannot create or issue their own badges