The blockchain is a decentralized ledger. The technology behind blockchain creates a permanent record that is clear and unchangeable. If used correctly, the blockchain can create a timeline of events in a student’s progress over the course of a school year.
Paper records have implicit lack of reliability. Paper records can be lost, damaged, altered, and fall to forgery. The blockchain solves these weaknesses. Like the way blockchain authenticates NFTs, educational electronic ledgers can create reliable, unchangeable academic profiles tied to one person’s identity.
Examples of Blockchain in Education
Recent innovations from Sony Global Education and IBM created a platform that enables access by multiple institutions. Access by multiple institutions helps solve the problem of the education sector with many diverse systems. Sony Global Education used the blockchain powered platform to host a Global Math Challenge. The participant records were stored on the blockchain; the permanent record will continue to be helpful. Institutions can continue to post records for future references such as education or employment.
In another use case of blockchain in education, Massachusetts Learning Machine partnered with MIT Media Lab to create Blockcerts. Built on an open standard platform, Blockcerts creates issues and verifies certificates. Documentation for the blockchain- backed certificates can remain on the platform along with academic records including grades, transcripts, and diploma awards. The collected information presents an opportunity for insights into the student’s development over a period of academic years
Cryptocurrency can be a source of funds to pay for school tuition. The use of cryptocurrency offers opportunity for students with limited educational budgets. Romanian college students will soon be able to pay university tuition fees with cryptocurrency. Starting in July 2021 an initiative between the blockchain startup Elrond and a Romanian university, enabled student payments in cryptocurrency.
Starting in July 2021, eleven thousand students at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu got the option of paying tuition fees in cryptocurrency. Student tuition payments came in the form of Elrond( EGLD) the native token of the Elrond platform.
Elrond is a startup that aims to improve the operation of Ethereum and Bitcoin platforms by using regular computers. The older system at Bitcoin and Ethereum platforms used energy intensive computing mining machinery to seal blocks on the respective cryptocurrency blockchains. The use of normal computers creates the possibility of using idle computer capacity and dispersing and lowering the energy consumption.
The connections between the university and Elrond are favorable. Students and faculty participated in creating Elrond. The university supports the development of blockchain technology. While not supporting a particular cryptocurrency, the university approves the expansion of blockchain and cryptography for many uses.
Blockchain Can Be an Education Asset
An education sector is broad and contains has diverse systems. The overall impact of the systems is essential top preparing the student for role in the workforce. Blockchain can provide a clear record of academic performance and avoid issues of authenticity. Today, blockchain has a small early stage role in EdTech, the prospects are strong that blockchain will have a positive long-term impact on system of education .
Laila Azzahra is a professional writer and blogger that loves to write about technology, business, entertainment, science, and health.