Will the future of learning take place on the blockchain? The edtech industry has made great strides in recent years, but there is still a long road ahead.
Thankfully, technologies like blockchain are helping speed up the process. Ledger tech, along with AI, smartphones, and tablets, is rapidly replacing bulky desktop computers and antiquated textbooks as the preferred method of teaching — giving the education industry a much-needed upgrade.
How Is Blockchain in Education Used?
Blockchain’s immutable ledger technology creates a chronological list of events that have transpired in real-time. These academic records are useful for verifying transcripts, diplomas, and test scores. In addition, teachers, university administrators, and students can use smart contracts to agree on assignment due dates and even deploy student loan payments.
Plus, it may not be long before academic institutions can incentivize students to pay student loans on time and teachers to motivate students by awarding cryptocurrency to those who perform highly or complete a certain major. The gamification aspect of education created by tokenization has been tremendously beneficial.
Although it’s still at an early stage, blockchain has proven to help increase transparency, improve accountability and incentivize student engagement and learning. As a result, educators are relying on technology to give education a long-awaited overhaul.
Below are four examples of how blockchain is being implemented in education.
BLOCKCHAIN FOR CRYPTO INCENTIVES
- BitDegree
Founded: 2017
Location: Fully Remote
How it uses blockchain for education: BitDegree combines blockchain ledgers and tokenization on its tech-focused online education platform. The company offers both free and paid online courses on topics like cryptocurrencies, blockchain implementation, and gamified coding to help more people learn about DLT and eventually enter a blockchain-oriented career. The platform also incentivizes learning by offering tokenized scholarships for successful course completion or certain achievements.
BLOCKCHAIN FOR ACADEMIC CREDENTIALS
- LutinX
Founded: 2018
Location: Fully Remote
LutinX created the Global Blockchain Services Infrastructure (GBSI), a global project developed under the “EdVerso International” protocol in more than 20 countries. The LutinX platform aggregates educational and social communities and increases healthy competition among schools, colleges, and universities with the ultimate goal to provide the best level of education. From the heart of Europe, Switzerland, they are moving worldwide, creating a simple and powerful ecosystem where everyone is KYC identified. Inside this verified world Identified Educational Structure can issue an entire set of Digital Credentials and Digital Certificates.
Benefits of LutinX technology are: 1) Save Time; 2) Reduce Costs; 3) enhance security; 4) Simple to use; 5) A public global verification system, directly on https://lutinx.com public search.
BLOCKCHAIN FOR PERSONALIZED LEARNING
- Sony Global Education
Founded: 2015
Location: Fully Remote
How it uses blockchain for education: Sony Global Education, in partnership with IBM, developed a blockchain platform that enables multiple institutions to add individual academic achievements and other pertinent student information on a ledger to maintain irrefutable records on students who have transferred or furthered their education. The blockchain helps educational institutions keep a clear digital transcript, a ledger of records, and payments for each student.
BLOCKCHAIN FOR LEARNING DEVELOPMENT
- ODEM
Founded: 2017
Location: Fully Remote
How it uses blockchain for education: ODEM is a decentralized marketplace for educational products and services that connects educators, students, and professionals to relevant courses and resources with blockchain technology. Using smart contracts, professors and students agree on specific courses that will help further students’ education and bolster their professional backgrounds. The ODEM ledger then recognizes each course a student has taken and a professor has taught, which boosts the reputations of both on ODEM’s platform.
