Block chain Technology application in education field
One of the rising tech trends in current times is Blockchain technology. It is defined as a distributed ledger that provides a way for information to be recorded and shared by a community. The information is stored in digital form as transaction, contracts, assets or practically anything that can be stored digitally. One of the earliest use of blockchain technology includes bitcoin, the cryptocurrency which currently values at approx. $15,000 per coin.
Blockchain works on the principle of peer to peer networking. In this network, the information is centrally connected network or is completely decentralised, with no central node. The interconnectedness and shared information make all entries permanent, transparent, and searchable, which makes it possible for community members to view transaction histories in their entirety. Each update is a new “block” added to the end of a “chain.” A protocol manages how new edits or entries are initiated, validated, recorded, and distributed. With blockchain, cryptology replaces third-party intermediaries as the keeper of trust, with all blockchain participants running complex algorithms to certify the integrity of the whole.
The benefit of application of blockchain technology can be summarised as follows:
• Self-sovereignty: users identify themselves while maintaining control over the storage and management of their personal data;
• Trust: infrastructure that gives people enough confidence in its operations to carry through with transactions such as payments or the issue of certificates;
• Transparency: conduct transactions in knowledge that each party has the capacity to enter into that transaction;
• Immutability: records written and stored permanently without the possibility of modification;
• Disintermediation: removal of the need for a central controlling authority to manage transactions or keep records; and
• Collaboration: the ability of parties to transact directly with each other without the need for mediating third parties.
The idea of blockchain technology in education field can be key to end paper-based transaction and verification. It holds promising solution to end paper-based certificates, transfer of credits, details verification and automate the awards, increase learner ownership and control over their own data, reduce institutional data costs and risk. It can also help to bridge the skill shortage in industry and promote better hiring practise by organisation in shorter period of time.
Blockchain applications for education are still in their infancy. Benefits will only be achieved through open implementations with solutions whose fundamental components include: a) recipient ownership; b) vendor independence and c) decentralized verification–and that will take public private partnerships.
Blockchain technology is one of most disruptive innovation in tech space. But, for its successful implementation we need to figure out new learning crediting model, enhanced participation between education institution and industries to defines market desired skill, creating parameter as to creating and granting certification, and most importantly how to better corelate machine scoring and human judgement observation in accessing and validating skill.
