One of the major challenges that the education industry is facing today is the urgency to collect, store, and analyze data on every student’s academic expedition. The data mentioned involves student portfolios, learning outcomes of individual students, and academic development.
The application of blockchain technology has several advantages and disadvantages in the education industry. When the data is efficiently organized across platforms, it will help the institutes to improve retaining students and increase the number of graduates. However, the primary challenge is understanding the procedure of incorporating blockchain technology into the present education system.
Conventional education degrees hold a high value for employers and businesses specifically in the growing economy. The role of blockchain technology is to transform the present educational system and make it a secure, robust, and accessible ecosystem to the public. For now, blockchain is an emerging technology, and the potential benefits of architecture in the education industry are yet to be known.
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One of the popular and first cryptocurrencies that were introduced in 2008 using blockchain technology is bitcoin. Since people were not keen on cryptocurrencies back in the time, blockchain technology was undermined.
Blockchain technology is a network that is traceable, transparent, and immutable and does not require any third-party permission to conduct transactions. There are several other uses of blockchain technology in the education sector. Students can develop math skills or poetry before starting high school. Educational tools built on blockchain architecture can help to recognize the skills and reward the students.
Blockchain technology in education helps to grade students using smart contracts. It will also help the examiners to set up the entire program in the network. The students can take the test online, and the grades will be updated and stored in the form of digital ledgers using cryptography.
To improve the quality of online education, blockchain technology plays an important role. After the global covid-19 pandemic there has been an increase in the number of unaccredited online institutions. This is where the technology will help to prevent illicit activities and record the licenses and accreditations online.
Another use of the technology is in building the reward system in the online education system. The use of cryptocurrencies will help students and teachers to receive special credits for their good work.
The possibilities with blockchain technology in the education industry are endless. Here are some of the benefits of incorporating technology.
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Blockchain technology is widely popular in the fintech sector and has brought up a wide range of solutions and products for the industry. The main features of the technology that makes it attractive are immutability and traceability.
Any changes or updates made in the network require verification from the participants of the community. The technology has also applications in identifying data, tracking ownership, and authorizing users. Similarly, technology has huge potential in transforming the education industry.
The Blockchain Chamber of Commerce has initiated educational and economic development by acknowledging the gaps in talent, skills, and knowledge in the growing technologies. The goal of the technology is adoption, awareness, and advocacy to improve the quality of education.
There are several blockchain development companies working with ed-tech companies to improve the quality of online education. The technology will help the students to share their academic progress online and be open to anyone present in the network. The institutions can utilize the technology to share the data securely.
Incorporating blockchain technology in the education sector can bring a number of benefits to students, teachers, and educational institutes. Technology can also improve the security and efficiency of the entire education system.
In a recent report, the potential of blockchain-underpinned applications providing intellectual property management, easing the process of degree verifications, and digital credentials. All the features can save a lot of expense and time for students, employers, and educational institutes.
The technology securely stores student data and education records. This helps to save time for the institutes and the students to verify their educational degrees and academic credentials. The technology simplifies the process of verification by permitting the institutions to program the lessons, and courses directly on the blockchain network.
The students can directly sit for the exam on the network as their scores are stored safely as ledgers on the network. Moreover, technology can make education quality better. Since there is a growing number of unaccredited online institutions, blockchain provides transparency, and security by enabling students to check the same on the network.
The technology is also used in collaborations. There are many authors who fear not being credited for their work especially the pones from open educational resources. The technology allows the users to check the changes made as any new information in the network is stored in the form of blocks with time and date stamps. The authors like on any other conventional site, cannot alter the data or information they already provide.
To ensure zero plagiarism of the author’s work, the open educational resources will be block-encapsulated and absolutely incorruptible. With the authors providing proper credit to their works, the blockchain will look into the matter of copied content.
One of the best ways to store syllabi and course curricula digitally is by incorporating blockchain technology into the university education system. Traditionally, universities use pen drives to store syllabi digitally.
Blockchain technology not only provides storage but also keeps your data secure. Moreover, technology is the best way to store important information and data of educational institutes, and universities with high-end security online.
For teachers, blockchain technology is the best way to implement digital ledgers and smart contracts in their classrooms. The lessons and courses within the blockchain network can be utilized by the students, and the smart contracts can check the assigned crypto tokens to the teachers, and students are the course completion.
One of the important applications of blockchain technology is that it saves a lot of money. Since the technology features sharing records with its “transparent” character, it lowers the expense of education in the course.
Blockchain technology also enhances the verification procedure such as transactions between institutions and states. It is also used for course record verifications which are very important when the student changes schools.
By incorporating technology into the education sector, universities and institutions can provide teaching qualifications, verify accreditation, and organize services that reduce the cost of administrative services.
The digital wallets on blockchain technology help students store their learning data. The professors present in the network will help in the learning process and they can claim ownership of their very own information.
Since blockchain is an online network, it eliminates the need for paper transcripts which saves a lot of expense. This will help to keep the file storage empty and reduce the expense of education. With the help of educational tokens, the elimination of mediators, and irrelevant regulations to improve the quality of education.
While there are several benefits of integrating blockchain technology in the education industry, here are some of the key challenges that the institutes are facing utilizing it.
One of the major barriers standing between blockchain technology and the education sector is the lack of trust. Unlike a distributed data management system, an unchangeable ledger authorizes peer verification and immutable record-keeping. This helps to prevent any kind of illicit activities in the network and assures the credibility of the information. Moreover, there is no involvement of third parties or a centralized authority.
The ledgers are relevant to the education sector allowing private and small providers, to challenge educational institutions. With control over credentials and ownership, distributed ledger technology premises students with a better quality of education in comparison to the traditional education system. The present limitation to the application of blockchain technology in the industry includes crypto-based monetary transactions, attestation of degree certification, and authentication of identity.
One of the best solutions for educational institutes to solve online class problems is blockchain technology. However, lack of financial resources has become one of the major barriers for educational institutes to implement the technology. Unless more and more institutions invest in the infrastructure, expertise, and training, the implementation of the technology is impossible.
Lack of awareness and knowledge about technology has turned up to be another major barrier. Since the majority of people believe blockchain technology revolves around the fintech sector, it is hard to make them believe in the potential benefits of the technology in the ed-tech industry. Therefore, it is important for institutions to prepare awareness programs showcasing the benefits of technology in the future of the education system.
Blockchain technology in the education sector is still in its primary stages and has already created a buzz in the industry by opening doors to new opportunities. Both the teachers and students can equally benefit from the transparent, and immutable nature of the architecture. However, the mass adoption of this technology in the education sector is still a hope given the awareness issues and financial problems.
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