What is an Open Badge?

A guide for learners, employers, and anyone who has received or been shown a digital badge

An Open Badge is a digital credential — a verifiable, tamper-proof record of an achievement that a learner can share online. Unlike a PDF certificate or a screenshot, an Open Badge carries cryptographic proof of who issued it, when, and to whom. Anyone can independently verify it hasn't been faked, altered, or revoked.

What's inside a badge?

Every badge issued through Creatio is an Open Badges 3.0 credential — a digitally signed document that contains:

  • Who earned it — identified by a cryptographic identifier linked to the learner's email address
  • What was achieved — the qualification or unit name, criteria, and any units completed
  • Who issued it — the awarding organisation, identified by a public DID (Decentralised Identifier)
  • When it was issued — and when it expires, if applicable
  • A digital signature — produced by the issuer's private key; undetectable if tampered with
  • A revocation status — a live check against the issuer's public status list

This data is baked into the badge image file (PNG or SVG) and embedded in PDF certificates, so the proof travels with the badge wherever it goes.

How is this different from a PDF certificate?

Feature PDF certificate Open Badge (OB3)
Can be independently verified ✗ No — relies on trust in the document ✓ Yes — cryptographic proof
Tamper detection ✗ Not detectable without the issuer ✓ Any modification breaks the signature
Can be revoked and checked live ✗ No mechanism ✓ Real-time revocation status
Shareable on LinkedIn ✗ Manual / screenshot only ✓ Direct LinkedIn profile integration
Embeds in wallets ✗ No ✓ Google Wallet, Apple Wallet
Human-readable share page ✗ No standard ✓ Public URL with full credential details

How the trust chain works

Open Badges 3.0 uses the same public-key cryptography that secures the web. The trust chain works like this:

Awarding organisation
Holds a private signing key
→
Creatio Badges platform
Signs & publishes credential
→
Learner
Receives & shares badge
→
Employer / verifier
Independently verifies

The issuer's public key is published at a stable, well-known URL (a DID document). Anyone can fetch that key and use it to check whether the badge's signature is genuine — without contacting the issuer. This is what makes Open Badges independently verifiable.

Frequently asked questions

Use the badge verifier. Paste the link and you'll get an immediate result showing whether the credential is authentic, who issued it, and whether it has been revoked. You don't need an account to do this.

Not without access to the issuer's private signing key. The digital signature is computed over the full credential content — changing any field (the name, the date, the qualification) would invalidate the signature. The verifier would immediately show this as invalid.

An issuer can revoke a badge at any time — for example if a learner's award was cancelled or issued in error. A revoked badge shows the credential as it was originally issued, but clearly marks it as no longer valid. The verifier will always show the live revocation status.

Creatio Badges are "baked" — the signed credential is embedded directly into the PNG or SVG image file, and into the metadata of PDF certificates. This means the proof travels with the file even if it's downloaded, emailed, or printed. The verifier can extract and check the credential from any of these formats.

Open Badges 3.0 (OB3) is an open standard published by 1EdTech (formerly IMS Global). It defines a common format for digital credentials based on the W3C Verifiable Credentials standard, enabling badges issued by any compliant platform to be verified by any compatible verifier — regardless of vendor.

No. Verification is entirely public and requires no account. Just visit the verify page and paste the badge link, or upload the badge file or PDF certificate.

Ready to verify a badge?

Paste a link, upload a badge image, or upload a PDF certificate — results in seconds, no account needed.

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