2021 saw a rocky start as the effects of the pandemic seemed to have crippled the education system. However, with blockchain’s irrefutable ledger technology records a chronological list of events that occur in real time. This is useful for authenticating transcripts and showing a complete and honest report of the students academic progress.
Japan-based Sony Global Education teamed up with IBM to develop a blockchain platform that enables multiple institutions to add individual academic achievements. This allowed Sony to host a Global Math Challenge where they issued participation certificates to competitors. This stored on Sony’s block platform is a permanent record, which can be helpful for future education or career applications.
Paper certificates are prone to tampering and forging. However, digital certificates stored onto blockchain systems are tamper-proof and impossible to forge. Blockchain technology supports protection against counterfeit certificates and simplifies authentication of the certificate with fewer resources.
In Massachusetts, Learning Machine in partnership with MIT Media Lab created Blockcerts. It is an open standard platform for creating, issuing and verifying blockchain-backed certificates. In fact, academic achievements such as grades, transcripts and diplomas can be stored on the Blockcerts platform for more insight into the students academic history.
The potential benefits of using cryptocurrency to pay for school tuition looks bright for students who wish to further their education on a tight budget. In Romania, students will be able to use cryptocurrency to pay for their university tuition fees in July. This initiative is part of collaboration between the university and blockchain start-up Elrond. The Sibiu-based company hopes to improve existing blockchain platforms like Ethereum and Bitcoin. Elrond also added that the company uses average computers instead of high energy processors.
The education sector encompasses different systems. As such, these systems are essential in grooming a student for future employment. Blockchain technology is essential to gear up against the issues of learning and ensure authenticity of academic qualifications. Although blockchain in EdTech is still at an early stage, there is no doubt of the positive impact blockchain can have on our education system.
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