Benefits of Introducing the Blockchain System in Education

In order to understand the benefits that the blockchain technology can provide the education system, we will first have to understand what the blockchain technology is.

Blockchain is a new innovation in computer science and information technology, that has a world-wide reach as well as interdisciplinary applications. Its disruptiveness has already made its way into the economic sphere. By the year 2025, 10% of the world’s GDP will be managed by Blockchain technologies, of which half will be in the form of cryptocurrency, according to The World Economic Forum.

Blockchain simply put is units of value or pages of a ledger that are distributed/shared by a community. In this community, each participant keeps his or her own copy of the data or info. The information could contain transactions (a currency or other unit), agreements (contracts to move assets, funds, or information), or nearly everything else that can be put into a digital form. Each modification or addition of a unit of some kind will become a “block” added to the end of a “chain.”

The questions that need to be answered now is how can this system be used in education and how will it be beneficial?

Student records are limitless, and with blockchain technology, resources like attendance, courses, expenditures toward tuition if they attend a private school, scores, assignments, projects and even their diploma certificate can become part of their private blockchain record. Since these units of data cannot be erased, it helps with data safety. It also belongs to the student, rather than to the school. With blockchain, no member can meddle with a record after it has been saved, if a record has an error, a new record must be added to correct it, and both the improper and precise records will remain visible. Today, many state educational establishments are in the preparatory stage for applying blockchain-based tools.

The benefits of blockchain can only be realized through “open applications” of the technology.

Blockchain uses open source software– which is a type of computer program, whose source code is unrestricted under a license, in which the copyright holder allows users the right to study, change, and dispense the software to anyone and for any purpose (St. Laurent, 2008).

According to the EU Report of Blockchain in Education, “Further development of the technology in the educational field should be considered as a shared competence of the market and of public authorities, to ensure an appropriate balance of private sector innovation coupled with safeguard of the public interest.”

Furthermore, the main beneficiaries of the adoption of blockchain-based technologies in education are likely to be networks of educational organizations and learners.  Charter Management Organizations who manage many schools inside a system, that are already open to trying novel ways of educating and advising their students, may be the perfect group to try to apply this tech in the near imminent future.