How Blockchain is already transforming EdTech and future prospects

Blockchain’s many benefits put it right in the spotlight many years ago. Experts write and talk about how it can transform all industries and sectors, from finance to manufacturing. And while they do, startup owners and developers are proving that this technology is not just useful – it’s a game changer.

Education is no exception here. The benefits of technology – immutability, security, verifiability and decentralization – make it a great tool for preventing fraud and forgery. (But don’t worry: even though blockchain will be the new standard in EdTech, you can still google “I need Essaypro writers to write an essay for me” if necessary. No one needs to know!)

Do you still think that such projects are still in beta, at best? Think again! Several companies and platforms have already gone online – and are transforming EdTech as you know it.

So, what projects are there? And what is the future of this special technology in EdTech? Let us answer these two questions.

Part 1: 5 EdTech Blockchain Projects You Should Know About

First of all, let’s take a look at the five projects that are already here. They are more than just proof of concept. They have found their users and proved their worth – they are the success stories of this technology’s application in education.

Blockcerts

This project is the result of a collaboration between MIT Media Lab and Hyland Credentials (Learning Machine at the time). The two developed the first prototype, but the project has been open source since then.

What do Blockcerts do? In a nutshell, it allows schools to issue blockchain credentials to their students. This means that employers (or anyone else) can easily verify that the credentials are authentic. All they need to do is check the record of the immutable ledger.

MIT has offered digital diplomas generated on this platform to its students since 2018. In the project’s debut year, 600 students chose to receive a diploma on an immutable ledger.

ODEM

ODEM stands for On-Demand Education Marketplace. And that’s exactly it – a marketplace for teachers, employers and students. But there is a twist: it runs on the Ethereum blockchain, is powered by smart contract technology and has its own coin (ODE).

Here is just a brief overview of what ODEM has to offer its users:

• Around 400 online courses on business development and crypto, including both free and paid programs;
• A full-fledged learning management system;
• Certificates, skill badges and other credentials are stored in an immutable ledger.

Similar to the previous entry on the list, ODEM also collaborated with SAIT (Southern Alberta Institute of Technology). The aim of the collaboration was to issue blockchain-supported credentials to their students. Over 4,800 SAIT students received their certificates in ODEM’s ledger that year.

Sony Global Education

Sony Global Education, a subsidiary of Sony Group, joined forces with IBM to develop its own blockchain education project. The purpose of the project is simple: provide a secure way to issue and store digital prints.

However, Sony Global Education’s ledger is not here to just store diplomas and certificates. It is able to store student learning history, current and past grades, online test scores and more.

This not only prevents the possibility of tampering with such data. Schools may share this data, anonymously or not, with other schools. This can greatly simplify credit transfer.

Discipline

Disciplina is an Estonian EdTech startup that has recently launched the alpha version of the platform. Nevertheless, it is an ambitious project: it aims to streamline and unite all academic records for universities.

But that’s not all. Discipline comes with a proprietary decentralized algorithm. This algorithm evaluates students’ progress and qualifications and assigns a score based on it. That score can then be used to create an individual learning path for the student.

Right now, the Alpha version of the platform consists of four elements:

• Crane – it provides access to some free DSCPL tokens;
• Ariadne – it works like a crypto wallet;
• Block Explorer – it allows you to look at the entries in the general ledger;
• The Educator app – it is made for the school’s administration and teachers.

BitDegree

BitDegree is an EdTech learning platform that is here to make learning about blockchain and software development easier. To achieve this goal, it serves its purpose as a marketplace and learning platform for experts in these fields with their students.

In 2019, just one year after launch, BitDegree passed 500,000 student registrations. Now it boasts over 2 million registered students. These students can choose between both free and paid courses and learning paths. Topics range from DeFi and GameFi to web and iOS development.

But that alone does not give BitDegree a place on this list. What makes BitDegree innovative is the way blockchain is integrated into the platform itself. For example:

• Scholarships issued by BitDegree are powered by blockchain;
• The start-up capital was crowdfunded via an ICO;
• All certificates are stored in the platform ledger.

Part 2: What the future holds for Blockchain in EdTech

As you can see, blockchain-supported academic records and certificates are no longer science fiction. It is already the primary application of this technology in education. After all, it has the power to act as a global notary.

But that’s not all this technology has to offer. So how else can it transform the education sector in the near future?

Digital brands

Few projects have the branding function today, but it is still promising. Like other academic records, if stored on a blockchain, there is no way to tamper or falsify it.

But what makes skill brands useful? Well, there are plenty of skills that most people can achieve on their own. Even software developers can be self-taught!

So one way to make your skill set verifiable for future employers is by taking online tests designed for it. So, if these tests are integrated with the blockchain, your results will remain on it forever.

Credit transfer

Let us imagine that a student wants to change schools. And there’s a caveat: these schools use different blockchain platforms to store academic records. But separate chains cannot easily move information between each other. It can make credit transfer cumbersome.

The existing solution is to create an identical record on a new blockchain and burn the old one from the original chain. But it results in data loss: you can not “backdate” a record, so the chronology of events will not be the same.

This is the problem that the developers are already working on. In education, it represents a special challenge. So credit transfer simplification solutions are likely to find users fast enough.

More affordable education

Just as ICOs help startups fund their projects, crypto fundraisers can fund teacher training courses. This is the idea behind making education cheaper and thus more accessible. It can be implemented in open source micrograde platforms that drive such fundraisers.

But that’s hardly the only way blockchain can make education cheaper. If it replaces labor-intensive processes, schools could cut their administration costs. That cut could lead to lower tuition fees.

What processes can it automate? The obvious answers include record handling and payment processing. The not so obvious is accounting, in part – that is, if smart contracts are adopted.

To conclude

This technology has every opportunity to gradually become integrated into your everyday life. Then one day you may find yourself living in a blockchain-driven system. And it can happen faster than you think. Many EdTech products have already launched their main network.

As for the future of this technology in education, one thing is certain: it will not come any way soon. And you may well have your academic records stored on a blockchain over the next decade!