This dissertation consists of three journal articles about using open digital badges to improve learning performance and facilitate students' goal setting processes. In the first study, we investigated the impact of instructional ODBs on pre-service teachers' perceived technology capabilities and their actual learning performance in a large undergraduate technology integration course. A positive relation between using ODBs and academic learning performance was found in the study. The second study conceptually argued that the use of ODBs can positively impact learning because it helps optimize the effects of goal-setting on learning which then indirectly impacts learning performance. In the third study, we explored college students' experiences of using ODBs as an innovative approach to facilitate their goal-setting processes in a large undergraduate technology integration course. We found that ODBs could support college students' goal-setting processes by helping students connect different types of goals, improving goal commitment, controlling task complexity and providing prompt personalized feedback. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]