How the Education Industry Can Utilize Blockchain Technology?
Introduction
Most people think about blockchain when they think of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. As the material is kept in blocks linked together in chronological sequence, tracking its sources and establishing its legitimacy is a pretty simple task. Now, what is blockchain technology all about? Blockchain innovation is characterized as a decentralized, disseminated record that records the provenance of a computerized resource.
Due to these
characteristics and the fact that it is decentralized, blockchain technology
has been used by many businesses, including the financial industry. According
to the International Data Corporation (IDC), investing in blockchain technology is expected to rise from more than $4 billion in 2020
to over $14 billion in 2023.
Education is one field
where blockchain has yet to make an impact. Only a small number of educational
institutions have embraced blockchain technology. There are just 2% of higher
education institutions now embracing blockchain, and another 18% expect to do
so in the next two years, according to a Gartner poll in 2019.
Academic data and
certificates are a primary use case for the universities that have used
blockchain. Research suggests that smart contracts and other features might
improve efficiency for instructors and give students more control over their
academic records. Constraints such as data security, scalability, and cost will
have to be overcome before blockchain can be widely used in education.
Role of blockchain technology in education
Blockchain is expected
to play a more significant role in education as technology develops. A
bachelor’s degree in computer science is necessary to grasp the numerous
applications of blockchain in education and other businesses, a bachelor’s
degree in computer science is necessary.
Inquiry on the use of blockchain technology in education
Despite these numerous
hurdles, groups like the Education
Blockchain Action Network and the American Council on Education’s Education
Blockchain Initiative (EBI) are actively studying the application of blockchain
in education and how it might change the sector.
The Education
Blockchain Action Network (EBAN) brings together educators, administrators,
students, and technology developers to examine how blockchain might alter the
educational landscape of the future. Open-source project creation and debate
are facilitated by the network’s role as a “shared community-driven
environment” for the blockchain industry’s key players and stakeholders.
EBI is primarily
investigating how blockchain might ease the exchange of records between
institutions and companies. With the use of blockchain, the EBI aspires to
offer students more control over their digital identities while also
facilitating lifelong learning and enhancing economic mobility around the
globe.
It recently gave
$900,000 to firms including Student1, which offers complete and transferable
educational records for Nebraska K-12 kids, as well as UnBlocked, which is
developing an open market to facilitate college credit transfers.
Benefits of blockchain in education
Through the use of
cryptocurrencies, blockchain is already transforming the financial services
sector. While streamlining record-keeping and information exchange, increasing
security, and fostering more trust, this technology has the potential to
revolutionize the hiring process, as well as give students control over their
academic records for the long term.
The importance of Blockchain in reducing the cost of education
By opening up new,
more affordable learning options and disrupting the current connection between
schools and students, blockchain can alter the educational environment. Many
parties are involved in keeping track of student tuition payments, including the
students themselves, their parents, scholarship funds, and private lenders, as
well as the many departments inside universities tasked with keeping track of
the often-massive paperwork that goes along with it. Using blockchain technology, this process may be streamlined, resulting
in decreased administrative expenditures and perhaps cheaper tuition rates.
Pay-as-you-go courses
and other open learning scenarios have already been implemented utilizing the
technology, which relies on smart contracts and cryptocurrencies as a payment
mechanism. Several institutions, both in the United States and internationally,
now accept cryptocurrencies in payment of tuition. A college education may be
more accessible and cheap for millions of individuals given the $1.7 trillion
in student loan debt that currently exists in the United States, according to
the Federal Reserve.
There are several ways
that blockchain technology might be
utilized for educational purposes. For example, it can be used to enable broad
access to open educational resources, which include books, podcasts, and films.
In a public network, these resources may be shared at a minimal cost and in a
secure manner.
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