Credly is the integration your organisation can use to provide your team members with beautifully designed Badges, as part of gamifying learning for your Users, or in other words, simply encouraging them to complete learning and earn a Reward for it.
If your organisation already uses Credly, then you can integrate it with HowNow, to share Badges you created, directly from within your HowNow workspace.
To get started...
Activating the Credly option
Admins can activate Credly for use across the entire workspace, by selecting the option from within the Apps page.
Use the search option, or select Credly from the All Category. From here, select Connect to begin the set up process.
There are two quick steps involved in this setup process:
Step 1: Activating your Credly Authentication token.
Step 2: Activating the Credly Webhooks.
Step 1: Activating your Credly Token
After clicking Connect, on HowNow, the Authentication token pop-up will appear, where you’ll need to insert your Credly token. For this, head over to your Credly account.
Go to the Developers page, and select the Authorization Tokens tab. From here, select the Copy option for the appropriate token displayed.
Back in HowNow, paste and submit the token - Credly is now connected.
Once connected, you’ll have the option to notify your Managers and Contributors, about the integration being put into place for your organisation’s workspace. All Admins will automatically receive an email notification explaining what Credly is, that it’s been integrated and that the Badges are now available for use.
Step 2: Activating the Credly Webhooks
The next step in the setup is to ensure updates of Badges are being tracked by HowNow. This involves the following...
Copy this URL, replacing 'subdomain' with the name of your organisation's workspace: https://{subdomain}.hownow.app/webhook/credly
Take the full URL and copy it into the Callback URL box, shown on the page. This includes the 'https://'.
So for example: https://skills4life.hownow.app/webhook/credly
Under the Event Types tab, make sure to select the checkbox for all of the following badge updates, for tracking:
✅ badge.created
✅ badge.deleted
✅ badge.privacy.changed
✅ badge.state.changed
✅ badge_template.changed
✅ badge_template.created
✅ badge_template.deleted
Note✨: When connecting Credly, there are a few points to remember…
On Credly, only active and public Badges will be imported to HowNow. Badges that are set to draft or private will never be imported.
Once a badge’s status changes to public or published it will automatically be imported to HowNow.
Connecting Credly with HowNow – but with no Badges existing within your Credly account – will open a reminder pop-up message, and will result in Credly not appearing in the following places, where Credly Badges or their data, will be found on HowNow…
Content Editor > Rewards section (final Step)
User Profile page > Rewards tab (Credly section)
Content Assignment > Custom Rules
Anywhere in the Dashboard
Disconnecting Credly
If there’s a need to Disconnect the integration, this can be done by clicking the same button on the Apps page.
By removing Credly from your organisation’s workspace, there will be a series of affects. These include the following…
🚫Credly Badges will be deleted from HowNow, if not awarded to at least one User.
🚫Authors won’t be given the option to create Credly Badges, from within the usual Reward-creation section of the Content Editor.
🚫Credly Badges won't feature in the Rewards page data table: a hyphen (-) will appear in the Content column.
🚫and in all Dashboard pages in US-8 below.
🚫Custom Rules ('Achieved' option) for Credly in a Course’s Assignment step, will no longer have Credly showing as a selection.**
Tip for Custom Rules💡: Authors who've used the Custom Rule Credly option, can use the Tags column on the Dashboard > Content page, to make note of any Users who've gained or not, access to the next content in the learning journey. For example...
The first Course: "Design Accessibility 101" gives a Credly Badge, upon completion.
The second Course: "Design Accessibility Vol.2" uses the Custom Rule giving access to anyone who's earned said Badge.
Credly is removed from the entire workspace.
Author of the second Course uses the Tags column to note that Gus Jones had achieved the Reward (prior to the removal of Credly).
This allows the Author from the first Course (plus other senior team members) to be aware that the remaining Users won't achieve automatic access to the second Course, as the Custom Rule no longer exists.
🔒Any Badges already rewarded to Users, will remain associated to its content (the name, description and thumbnail).
🔒Badges that are associated with any content or awarded to at least one User, will still appear…
In the Content Editor’s final step (Rewards section).
Rewards page.
All relevant pages within the Admin/Manager Dashboard.
In the User Profile.
In Filters on the Dashboard where the Credly Badge option applies.
🔒**Where Users are already assigned to any content via the Achieved Custom Rule - where Credly is the Reward earned - the Credly option will remain.
On the Apps page, while the Credly integration is being processed, the Disconnect button won’t be clickable, to prevent other Admins from cancelling the process, by mistake.
Viewing your library of imported Credly Badges: Rewards page
All imported Credly Badges will be found within the Rewards page, by using the desired filter: Type > Credly Badge. Expect to see the logo within the Reward Name column.
Credly Badges can only be associated with Courses (see more in the FAQs section of this article). Some Rewards may be featured in multiple Courses, across your organisation’s library of content.
The Content column will show the number of Courses where your Credly Badge has been featured. Clicking on this value opens the slide-out screen, listing all of this content.
Note✨: Depending on the Org User Role you hold, you'll only see the assignees who've achieved the Reward via the content, where you're either an:
Author
Collaborator or
Verifier
For example, a Credly Badge assigned to 10 different content items, could show for each user, like this...
Contributor - Sees 3 content items.
Manager - Sees 5 content items.
Admin - Sees all 10.
This is the same for the data on the Rewards sub-page.
Clicking on the name of a Reward, opens the Reward’s sub-page. From here, you can see the list of Users who have achieved the Badge, from which Course it was achieved, and the date it was earned.
Viewing individual User’s Credly Badges: Users Sub-page
You can view Credly Badges earned by Users, via their sub-page and select the Achievements tab. Within the data table, all Credly Badges will have the logo appear next to them, and can be filtered, so that only these types of Badges are shown.
Data Table Reporting: What to expect when the status of content or Badges changes
The following tables explain what happens when the featured actions are done to Users (who've earned a Credly Badge) and to Content (that has the Badge as its Reward).
USERS
Pages | Deactivated or Deleted | Reactivated | Badge removed from content (where the User achieved it) |
Rewards main page | Achieved by column count, goes down | Achieved by column count, increases again | Achieved by column count, remains the same |
Rewards sub-page | Record is deleted | Record is restored | Record remains |
CONTENT
Pages | Unpublished | Republished | Deleted | Badge removed from content | User Profile |
Rewards main page | Content column count, goes down | Content column count increases again | Content column count, goes down | Content column count, goes down | Users assigned |
Rewards sub-page | Record is deleted | Record is restored | Record is stored | Record is deleted |
|
Assigning a Credly Badge to content
Credly Badges can be assigned to the following types of content: Courses, SCORM Courses, HowNow+ Courses and EasyGenerator content, just like the other Reward types available. With your organisation’s account connected, Credly Badges can be added using the following steps…
On the final step of the content editor, select the Add Reward button > Credly Badge. This will open a pop-up showcasing the library of Credly Badge designs available to you. You can add up to 10 Credly Badges per content item.
Once you’ve selected and added your Credly Badges, you’ll be able to preview them, or remove them if need be, but only before they’ve been achieved by at least one User.
Credly Badge option with Custom Rules (a deeper look)
When applying the “Achieved” Custom Rule - automatically assigning Users to content, based on them having achieved a specific type of Reward - there will be a Credly option, allowing Authors to give Users access, once they’ve completed a Lesson or content allowing them to receive a Credly Reward.
Users accessing their Credly Badges
Users can access the Badges they’ve achieved by heading to the Progress tab, on their Profile page. From here, the Credly Badges section will allow them to see their current collection achieved.
Users will need to accept their Badge directly on Credly - this is done by clicking on the toggle button: “See Badges pending acceptance”. From here, the User's Badge page will open on Credly (in a new tab), where they can view their full collection, manage visibility on Credly, share via their social media accounts and see other Credly Badges available via HowNow.
Note✨: In order to accept a Credly Badge, Users must be using the same email address for HowNow, as they do for Credly.
On Mobile
On mobile, Users will be able to view their Credly Badges via the Settings options.
Click on the 3-dot menu > select Achievements > Credly tab. Here all such Rewards will be shown, allowing Users to keep track of their Credly Badge earnings, on-the-go.
You can view the Credly Badges that Experts, from across your organisation hold, by clicking on their Experts profile card. This opens the slide-out screen, whereby you can see the full list of their achievements.
FAQs
We've given answers to some of the most commonly asked questions surrounding Credly x HowNow...
Why are Credly Badges only associated with Courses?
By default, Nuggets, SCORM Courses and Pathways don't have a Reward feature, while other content types such as Live Classes, Webinars, and Events, don't have a defined start-finish time for tracking. This means it's not possible to track completion in the same way, to then trigger Credly Badges.
Will Users need a Credly account to accept and display their Badges?
Yes, Users will need a Credly account for this, otherwise, they'll be prompted to create an account, when attempting to accept their Badge(s) on Credly.
Can Admins remove or revoke a Credly Badge if issued in error?
Any Badges that need to be revoked, will need to be actioned directly via Credly by the admin/creator.
Is there a limit to the number of Credly Badges that can be associated with a Course?
Currently, there is no limit. However, this may be considered as part of future improvements, down the line.
Can the Badges be issued to Users who have completed Courses prior to the integration being set up for your organisation's workspace?
No - Credly Badges can only be awarded/earned by Users for Courses that were published after the integration was set up.
How long can Admins expect Credly to be integrated to HowNow, and Badges to be imported?
This depends on the number of Badges within the Credly account. To give an indication: Integration and importation has taken 2-3 mins for approx. 60 Badges.
How often will HowNow and Credly sync to show newly created Badges?
This would occur approx. every 15 mins. Updates can be things such as new thumbnail images, or name changes. Once again, dependent on the load of Badges, it could take up to 60 mins.
If one Credly Badge can be associated with several pieces of content, can a User get the same Credly Badge several times?
Yes they can. Within Credly, if the "Duplicate" option has been turned on, then Users can receive the same Badges multiple times, if it's been associated with multiple Courses.
Is there a HowNow web app notification, prompting Users to accept their badge?
This is not part of the feature, but it's recommended to promote the habit of accepting pending Rewards, by sharing regular comms with teams.
Will Users receive both Credly and HowNow emails prompting them to accept their Badge(s)?
No - HowNow won't be sending such emails. Any prompts/reminders to accept Badges will come from Credly separately. Again, do set aside comms to remain your Users to accept their Badges once achieved. You may prefer to do this weekly or fortnightly.
Can Credly Badges be linked to individual Lessons inside a Course?
This isn't an option for earning the Reward. Credly Badges can only be earned based on completion of the entire Course.