Both badges and certificates recognize achievements in professional development. Badges are typically awarded for smaller, "stackable" achievements, such as a course or workshop where learners master a specific skill. In ION, badges are awarded per course. Certificates are awarded when learners complete an entire program, or a series of courses that lead to certification of expertise in a certain subject area. ION certificates and badges are issued through Credly.

Earning CEUs (Continuing Education Units)

When you complete one of the ION eight-week courses you will receive 8 CEUs and 4 CEUs for a four-week course.

Earning an ION Professional eLearning badge

When you complete one of the ION eight-week or four-week courses, you will be awarded a digital badge. You will be notified via e-mail of your achievement and provided a link to follow to claim your badge. If you want to, you may copy your badge (and its link) into your e-mail signature, your personal homepage, or faculty webpage. The link information will allow others to authenticate your badge.

In other words:

Complete any badge sequence
Follow the link to claim your badge
Copy the badge icon in a suitable size then paste it to where you wish to show it (i.e. your email signature)
Apply the hyperlink to the icon you pasted

Now, when someone sees your badges, they can verify the authenticity by clicking the link.

Earning an ION Professional eLearning program certificate

When you complete a sequence of courses in the ION eLearning Program (e.g. all courses in the Master Online Teacher program), you will be awarded a certificate of completion. It will contain the number of CEUs awarded, along with your name, date issued, and signature of certifying staff. You will be notified via e-mail of your achievement and provided a link to follow to claim your certificate. You can download your certificate and share it to LinkedIn, if desired.