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Forbes
Blockchain: A
Revolution For STEM Education
Andrew B. Raupp
These days, it seems like everyone is talking about blockchain
technology. News about bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is hard to
resist, especially when their value shoots up and everyone wants to
know how the blockchain can make them rich. But the real value of
blockchain isn't necessarily just the alternative currency component.
It also lies in how this technology could transform and streamline
transactions and recordkeeping in all sorts of fields — specifically
education.
Blockchain For Beginners
If you're not familiar with how blockchain technology works, it's
helpful to compare cryptocurrency with the way your regular bank does
business. Banks basically have all your account data on one digital
spreadsheet to keep track of your transactions. That's fine, but a
highly centralized data system is vulnerable to hackers, and you can't
send money to a family member without going through an intermediary
(the bank). Cryptocurrency, on the other hand, depends on a totally
decentralized network of users to store information about all
transactions. There's no bank as a gatekeeper, but information (the
block) is added to a permanent chain that no one can change. It's safer
because everyone in the network has access to the information at all
times, so if someone is trying to change the record, everyone can see
that happening — and stop it.
An Educational Revolution
Last year, MIT delivered its first blockchain diplomas to graduates —
on their smartphones. It was more than just a digitized certificate:
Unlike a paper diploma, which could be easily lost or falsified,
blockchain ensures that this important piece of data is never lost. It
also cuts out the university or traditional clearinghouse as the
intermediary needed to issue transcripts. Instead, students have direct
access to their educational records right on their phones. Whether
their house burns down or they move across the world, their diploma is
secure.
This is more than just a matter of convenience. If other credentials
like certificates and badges are also stored on the blockchain, it will
become much easier for students to move between universities and
dictate their own educational trajectory because barriers to
transferring credits would begin to fall away. In this world, MOOCs
could also be more easily completed for meaningful credit that leads to
a degree. A person's entire educational record could be accessed at the
touch of a button.
If individual educational records were encrypted in this way, I believe
K-12 assessments could be better coordinated as well. Instead of annual
high-stakes tests that vary by state and grade level, one could imagine
a more longitudinal assessment system that tracked achievement over
time. For example, if an eighth-grade student passed a tenth-grade
geometry test, she would carry that accomplishment on her record
wherever she went, allowing her to continue her math education at the
appropriate level for her as an individual, rather than having to
retake the same test for the next several years. In this way,
blockchain could help revolutionize personalized education.
Read this and other articles at Forbes
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