bulb Digital Portfolios is giving all teachers bulb+, the company’s premium account, at no charge. 

With a free bulb+ account, teachers can:

• Create personal collections, curriculum and resources. 
• Track professional development and display badges and credentials earned.
• Establish professional learning plans to meet goals and standards.

bulb also announces that free “bulb” accounts will have more features, including:

• Use and create templates.
• Embed audio and rich media files.
• Gather comments and feedback.
• Showcase work in presentation mode. 

Students can create a free bulb account to capture ideas, express knowledge and display skills. Or they can purchase a bulb+ account for $3/month. 

bulb is a secure, ad-free tool; user data is never mined. Visit sign-up for an account at bulbapp.com. 

Today at ISTE19, bulb Digital Portfolios announced that embedded Google files will replicate as PDFs and be stored for life in their bulb Asset Library. The company also released updates to commenting, analytics, badging and credentialing.   

Launching later this summer is bulb’s newest Google integration, which will replicate and store embedded Google Drive files as PDF’s in their bulb Asset Library. It will allow users to keep content after losing access to a school-based Google account. Existing integrations include single sign-on, access to Google Drive for embedding documents and loading photos from Google Photos. Using the new Google Classroom integration, students create in bulb and turn-in work via Google Classroom, documenting learning over a lifetime. For an overview of bulb’s integrations with Google, you can watch this video. 

New features added include:

• Private and public feedback: Comments can now be set to public or private. This nurtures dialog essential to learning, while giving users full control over the privacy of their work. 
• User insights and analytics: Page views, likes and comments will lend users more intelligent insight into how others are interacting with their content. 
• Badging and credentialing via Badgr: Educators can now showcase badges and credentials earned via Badgr, amplifying their professional development efforts.

National nonprofit AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) today announced an expansion of their digital badging. Educators who participate in AVID’s Digital Teaching and Learning program will earn digital credenials that can be used online to help showcase their skills on popular social and professional networks.

[15+ Ideas to Try Now or this Summer!]

Over one thousand educators will receive this badge by the close of the AVID Summer Institute season, which will include professional development for 40,000 educators. Earlier this year, 1,000 Staff Developers were granted badges as the first step in this initiative which responds to growing demand for digital certifications.

Chalk & Wire announced today that its learning recognition network, MyMantl, is now fully available for students, educators, employees and employers. MyMantl’s verified digital badging provides a way for learners, as early as high school, to chronicle their skill development and demonstrate proven credentials.

MyMantl can also integrate digital badging with Chalk & Wire’s CWPro, the company’s ePortfolio-enabled student educational assessment platform. This enables institutions to award badges automatically when learners achieve specific levels of competency across assessed work samples and records of experience.

For more information and pricing details, visit https://mymantl.com/.