Observation 1 | Schools and school systems are missing an opportunity to re-design the practice of teaching/learning. Web3 technologies will be an integral part of that re-design. Schools are re-opening with the mindset of “getting back to normal”. The reality is “back to normal” isn’t coming back. A new normal needs to be created and a new version of the internet can help. One of the first steps for schools is re-learning how to build and engage with a community. Web3 does an amazing job at this. I was stuck at the amount of affiliation and connectivity that’s shared online in spaces like Twitter and Discord. These are feedback rich environments that are highly participatory. The next iteration of the web will only be more inclusive if projects intentionally on-board historically underrepresented communities.

Observation 2 | Schools and school systems are terrible at getting feedback from their communities. Too few schools actually have a method or mechanism for asking specific questions to audiences (ex. Did you fill out a FAFSA? to 12th grade, Latino, Males). How might we get better at drilling down who needs what services in our school ecosystems?

Observation 3 | Web3 technologies like crypto wallets and smart contracts live on the Blockchain. To participate in these web3 experiences, participants need to create a crypto wallet. This “Step Zero” is important to consider as it precedes every other web3 experience.

Observation 4 | Schools and school systems can incentivize participant feedback through the use of crypto wallets and community or stable coins. The feedback loop can be summarized by: A) school question (to specific audience) → B) participant feedback (binary y/n) → C) school awards participant for feedback in form of “coin” → D) school asks another follow up question to participant.