Future innovative educational applications using blockchain technology
Blockchain technology can be applied to education in many innovative ways beyond just diploma management and achievements assessment. For both learners and teachers, blockchain technology has a great potential for broader application prospects on formative evaluation, learning activities design and implementation, and keep tracking the whole learning processes. Some innovative applications of using blockchain technology in the field of education are proposed as follows.
A Smart Contract running on the Ethernum blockchain network is essentially a computer protocol that simulates a real contract (such as economic transactions, employment, etc.) (Kosba et al. 2016). It can facilitate contract negotiation, simplify contract terms, implement contract execution, and verify contract fulfillment state. It marks the unique and precise identity of parties in a transaction (contract subjects) through a digital way and stipulates the rights and obligations of both sides (contract terms) by code. The smart contract not only reduces “third party costs” in traditional transactions but also dramatically guarantees the transaction security and reliability. For example, in the context of car-installment, the buyer negotiates with the seller directly rather than loans from the bank, saving any additional processing fees. If buyer breaks the rules, the code will be executed, and the smart contract will be terminated. The smart contract greatly improves executive power and fairness than the traditional one. Therefore, if teachers and students carry out instructing and learning activities based on a smart contract, some of the educational issues would be solved.
From the perspective of students, there are still some negative subjective or objective factors causing poor learning outcomes, such as the lack of motivation and financial pressure. Due to the trait of currency property, blockchain can be used to motivate students by implementing “learning is earning” (Sharples and Domingue 2016). The smart contract between teachers and students can be applied to the educational scenario. Real-time awards can be given to students through some simple clicks by the instructors. Students will get a certain number of digital currency according to smart contract as rewards. This kind of money can be stored in the education wallet, used as tuition, even exchanged with real currencies.
Evaluation is also a problematic issue in the education system. Formative assessment has been advocated for a long time, and yet it is still not ripe because it is not easy to track every detail of teaching and learning. Applying blockchain and smart contract can cope up with this challenge. Notably, the immutability, traceability, and reliability of blockchain mean that the data recorded on blockchain are more specific, authentic, and anti-theft. Take the “collaborative learning” for instance, which is regarded as an excellent way to carry out constructivism instruction and cultivate students’ ability to work with others. However, it is often accompanied by the problem of free-riding hindering fair evaluation. Blockchain technology can mitigate this phenomenon. Each student submits his/her work to the learning platform through his/her unique account, the smart contract running on it will review student’s performance, and the results will be recorded into blocks. All behaviors during collaboration will be saved into blocks as evidence for evaluation as well. Moreover, public blockchain has the trait of decentralization. It means that the distributed ledger ensures the consistency of most nodes. Thus, as nodes in blockchain network, students’ opinions would be taken into consideration when assessing them. In this context, blockchain ensures the fairness of the evaluation.
From the perspective of teachers, the instruction is sophisticated and artistic so that it is difficult to evaluate. The traditional method based on students’ feedback tends to be one-sidedness, lacking subjectivity and is hardly helpful for teachers’ improvement. A new assessment system can be constructed based on blockchain network and smart contract. First, teachers need to submit preplanned instructional activities as a smart contract to the schools. During the teaching process, all teaching activities will be recorded in the blockchain network. The smart contract will verify the consistency of the teaching design and practice, which is going to be an important instruction evaluation indicator. What’s more, a smart contract between teachers and schools, as well as the one between teachers and students can be verified and supplemented with each other. Teachers who meet the standards will get digital currency as a reward. It serves as both an appreciation and encouragement for teachers’ teaching skills.
From the perspective of student development, supervisor or academic advisor is directly responsible for the supervision of the student’s program. They have the responsibilities of assisting the student in planning study programs and staying informed of student’s research activities and progress. However, in practice, these issues are not checked and supervised, so it will be controversial to distinguish the responsibilities if something negative happens in the future. This situation will be changed if smart contract and blockchain technology is used in this area. All details should be monitored by smart contract platform and recorded into blockchain ledger. Such as how many times has the supervisor discussed with students in the past semester? How many times has the supervisor reviewed the thesis both in draft and final form? Whether they provide appropriate guidance to the students in course selection and research design? Thanks to the traceability and immutability of blockchain technology, both students and supervisors’ behaviors will be recorded in the blockchain ledger. This innovative application can protect the interests of both parties.
Overall, blockchain can be used to construct a balance to measure learning process and outcomes. It is a reliable and an equal proof of value for everyone. Theoretically, blockchain can solve the problems of information asymmetry and trust among strangers because of its decentralization and immutability. It ensures the authenticity because the information and value are published and maintained collectively. It provides a trustworthy way for talent investment. The user with more education on digital currencies has much chance to win the appreciation and investment. Blockchain ledger tracks everything you’ve ever learned. Employers can use this information to offer you a job that matches your skills. On the other hand, the user who wants an excellent employee can also resort to the blockchain ledger. It will greatly decrease the risk of investment bias and failure. In a word, blockchain maximizes the interests of both parties.
Potential issues of applying blockchain technology in education
It is undeniable that there are potential drawbacks of applying blockchain technology in education.
If an educational blockchain system were put into use in schools, all students’ educational data would be integrated into blockchain ledgers. The immutability feature of blockchain technology would act as a double-edged sword. It removes the possibility of modifying educational record for legitimate reasons for some students.
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Conclusion
Blockchain is essentially a distributed ledger technology, which uses the cryptograph techniques and distributed consensus algorithms to create the features of decentralization, traceability, immutability, and currency properties. It’s currency properties has the potential to trigger many innovative applications for education. For example, by realizing “learning is earning,” blockchain technology can foster students’ learning motivation. It can store a complete, trustworthy set of record of educational activities including the processes and results in formal as well as informal learning environments. It can also record teachers’ teaching behaviors and performance thus providing a reference for teaching evaluation. In a word, for both learners and teachers, blockchain has great potential applications in instructional design, behaviors recording, and analysis as well as formative evaluation. At the same time, it brings challenges and opportunities to researchers, developers, and educators.