Communication Badge Icon

About

Communication is one of the 21st Century Skill badges. This badge can be earned while working on another project as long as the work you’ve done fulfills the requirements for this badge.

To earn a Communication badge, you’ll need to complete the requirements below and demonstrate that you have these skills in your responses and final project(s). Specifically, you will need to create a final project in any content area that uses the skills below. You will also need to be able to respond to the questions and prompts below to demonstrate your knowledge.

Overview

Communication: Developing and presenting effective messages, and contributing to groups through appropriate interactions and active listening.

This badge has a set of competencies that you’ll need to demonstrate in a project and the application. The application is where you’ll provide evidence linking your project to the competencies and skills required to earn the Communication badge.

Competency Requirements

To earn a Communication badge, you’ll need to complete the requirements below and demonstrate that you have these skills in your responses and final project(s). Specifically, you will need to create a final project in any content area that uses the skills below. You will also need to be able to respond to the questions and prompts below to demonstrate your knowledge.

You can submit an application for any project that you’ve done that meets these requirements. On the application you’ll need to demonstrate and provide evidence for how you’ve met these competencies in the project.

The requirements for the Communication badge are broken into two categories: message development and group interactions. To earn the badge, you’ll need to complete the requirements for both skill categories and demonstrate that you have these skills in your responses and final project(s).

You’re encouraged to use one of the projects that you’ve submitted for another badge as long as you’re able to demonstrate and document that you’ve met the following competencies:

Message Development

  • Organizes presentation of ideas to appropriately inform and engage others.
  • Chooses effective modes and methods of presentation to most effectively convey ideas.
  • Evaluates information for credibility, bias, and interpretations, and seeks data and evidence to enhance understanding.
  • Analyzes messages from others for implicit or explicit meaning to inform own approach.
  • Seeks guidance to refine technique/approach to enhance effectiveness.
  • Adjusts presentations based on anticipated and unanticipated challenges and/or feedback.
  • Writes with appropriate clarity, grammar and punctuation, and necessary information.

Group Interactions

  • Initiates opportunities to communicate, interact, and work positively with individuals and groups.
  • Uses appropriate tone, clarity, and styles of interacting with individuals and groups based on purpose and audience.
  • Builds on or synthesizes the contributions of others in a way that facilitates the work.
  • Evaluates and adjusts own level of active engagement and degree of participation in group settings.
  • Offers alternative solutions that build on the ideas of others where appropriate.

Application

Once the project is complete, the next step is to submit an application for review. In this, you’ll need to submit a description of the project and provide evidence demonstrating for each competency.

Please refer to the Communication badge summary and make sure that your project includes the necessary skills.

Communication Skill Badge

This is the application for the Communication skill badge.
  • Please enter the URL for your project submission that demonstrates the required Communication skills. This can be a URL to a Google Docs link.
  • Please enter a description of your project - make sure to include a brief explanation of how your project meets the badge requirements.
  • Describe the path that you took to come up with this idea and any other ideas you considered early on.
  • If you have any that are separate from your project URL, upload documents (charts, pictures, videos, or audio) demonstrating your path.
    Drop files here or
    Accepted file types: jpg, gif, png, pdf, mpg, mp3, wav, mov.
  • How did you determine how to organize and present your information?
  • Provide examples of how you had to analyze messages from others and evaluate the information for credibility and bias.
  • Reflect on how your submitted project demonstrates the following communication skills 1) Building on or synthesizing the contributions of others; 2) offering alternate solutions that build on the ideas of others; and 3) adjusting presentations based on anticipated or unanticipated challenges and feedback.