Home
Ways to Learn
Badges
Want to elevate your skills? There’s a badge for that. Show family, friends, future employers, schools, and colleges what you’re made of with these digital credentials.
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?
Whether you’ve known the answer since kindergarten or are still exploring your options, VLACS is here to help you achieve your dreams with badges to help you apply your interests to future careers.
How It Works
Choose Courses
Choose from 100+ courses that give you a taste of what it’s like to be an EMT, a digital photographer, a graphic artist, a sports psychologist — and so, so much more.
Earn Badges
Earn badges when you complete lessons and activities related to a career.
Collect Badges
Collect badges for fun or earn a series of badges related to a career objective, such as applying to a competitive nursing program or obtaining an EMT certification.
Demonstrate Your Qualifications
If you decide to begin working right after high school, you can use your badges to demonstrate your qualifications for a job, like a freelance gig in graphic design or the launch of your own startup.
What’s Inside a Badge?
Badges have data embedded in them that contain essential information about what you did to earn it. While a traditional transcript shows the courses a student has taken and the grades they received, badges tell a more complete story. These in-depth details allow others to verify your credentials. Any time you share your badge, the recipient can click on it to view this information.
Why are Badges Valuable?
Every badge comes with a unique digital signature that provides an in-depth description of your career-related accomplishments. Think of it as a modern-day transcript — but while transcripts only provide a subject and a grade, badges detail everything that goes into earning it, such as hands-on experiences or industry-specific skills. Watch the video to learn how to use badges to promote your accomplishments.
Show What You’ve Learned
Whether you choose to collect badges that align with your career goals, or you just want to explore your interests while building job-related skills, badges certify your accomplishments in a digital format that’s widely recognized by employers, colleges, and trade or technical schools.
I Earned a Badge! Now What?
After you earn your badge, you can manage and share it on a platform called Badgr.
Badgr allows your to embed your badge in various places, including:
LinkedIn Profile
Recruiters use social media sites like LinkedIn to scout new candidates based on the information featured on profiles. Including your badges on your profile is a great way to show recruiters why you are an excellent fit for their jobs.
Email Signature
You probably send dozens of emails a week, so why not showcase your accomplishments in your email signature? Sign off your emails with your badge to show friends, family, teachers, colleges, and employers your achievements.
Resume
When applying for jobs, there could be hundreds of applicants competing for the same position. You want your resume to stand out! Including your badges on your resume will show prospective employers your practical skills and further prove why you are a qualified candidate for the job.
Portfolio
Whether you are creating a digital portfolio to include in your college application materials, or you decide to create a professional website featuring your work, don’t forget to include your badges so the world can see your skills and talents.
Be Prepared to Take on the World
With thousands of career-related learning experiences available, you’ll have fun exploring the fields you’re interested in. Beginning in middle school or high school, you can start developing a plan to achieve your career goals. You’ll graduate with experience and qualifications to pursue entry-level job opportunities, pursue a skilled trade, attend college — or even start your own business!
Earn Badges for:
Career Courses
Career courses connect classroom learning to career possibilities. Throughout each course, students will complete assignments focused on the exploration of careers related to the subject.
Career Exploration
Start charting the path toward your future and explore careers that align with your strengths, interests, and goals. Then, meet professionals who work in those fields through live and pre-recorded Career Connections webinars.
Job Shadows
Take a peek into a day in the life of a professional in your field of interest. By observing a professional in action, you’ll gain valuable insight into the workplace setting, even if you don’t yet have the skills or expertise to perform the job functions. Earn credits and badges, and build important networking connections that may help you find work opportunities in the future.
Micro-Internships
“Learn by doing” with short-term work experiences that give you a hands-on taste of a job you’re interested in — without a long-term commitment. You’ll gain new skills and experiences to add to your resumé, along with academic credits and badges. Highly interested and motivated students might qualify to transition into longer-term internships.
Design-Your-Own Experiences
While the options may seem limitless, our students never stop innovating. You’ll have the opportunity to design career-related activities of your own and submit your ideas for credit approval.
How Many Badges Will You Collect?
To get started, visit our learning catalog and look for offerings with a “Digital Badge” label. You will be awarded a badge upon completion of any of these offerings. You can also visit our Badgr page to browse our badge catalog and career pathways.
Course Completed
You’ve earned a Digital Design badge!
Visit Our Knowledge Base
Have a VLACS question? Search our Knowledge Base for instant answers about our programs, courses, admissions, and more.