The education sector has experienced significant advancements in recent decades, largely driven by technology. The adoption of technology-enabled solutions have revolutionized the way we teach and learn.
When the COVID-19 pandemic compelled schools worldwide to shut down, remote learning technology emerged as a lifeline, enabling students and teachers to gather safely within virtual classrooms and maintain educational continuity. Similarly, many corporations swiftly implemented work-from-home policies, leading to a surge in the usage of platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Slack, Mural, and other collaborative software, which played a vital role in supporting the new work paradigm and fostering workplace collaboration.
Amid the considerable challenges faced by educational institutions during this period, we have also gained valuable insights into creating an accessible learning experience with the aid of technology. As we envision the future of education, it becomes increasingly important to explore other ways in which technology can further support this critical institution.
This article aims to highlight the potential of blockchain technology in alleviating the administrative burden on educators and corporate training departments. By introducing decentralization and stability into education credentials, tracking competencies, and record keeping, blockchain holds the promise of streamlining these processes and enhancing efficiency.
Understanding the Role of Blockchain in Education & Training
When most people think of blockchain, they often associate it with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even Dogecoin. While it’s true that cryptocurrencies utilize blockchain technology, it is essential to recognize that blockchain has far more practical applications beyond digital currencies.
One of the remarkable capabilities of blockchain technology lies in its ability to create verified ledgers that facilitate the transparent, traceable, and immutable storage of information. Unlike centralized databases, blockchains can be decentralized and distributed, making it exceedingly difficult for records to be lost, destroyed, or stolen.
In contrast, conventional record keeping heavily relies on centralized databases. These centralized systems present several limitations, especially when employees or students transition across different institutions. This increases the risk of unauthorized tampering by those with access to the records. Consequently, educators and corporate training teams find themselves spending a significant amount of time on record verification, time that could be better spent engaging with their students or corporate learners.
Practical Applications of Blockchain Technology in Education & Training
Now let’s explain how blockchain technology can practically be used in education leveraging a few real-world concepts. These few examples simply scratch the surface of what is possible and what could be created in the future.
Employee Training
Traditional corporate training records are typically stored in various HRIS systems, LMS platforms, or internally within organizations’ siloed employee files. Unfortunately, these records are rarely portable across different employers, limiting their accessibility and usefulness. While badges and certificates have gained popularity as a means for employees to showcase certifications on platforms like LinkedIn using digital credentialing platforms like Credly, this practice is not standardized across industries, and not all individuals may have a LinkedIn account or the desire to use it.
Blockchain technology has the potential to significantly enhance employees’ ability to make their training records and history available to future employers. By leveraging blockchain’s immutable and verified nature, industry-standard safety training such as OSHA certifications, health-related training like CPR, and other industry-specific training can be securely written to the blockchain as individual, timestamped records. These blockchain-based records can even include expiration dates for certifications requiring recertification. When an employee starts a new position, they can provide access to their previous training history via the blockchain, enabling employers to access their current training background and customize the onboarding process and overall corporate learning experience accordingly.
Blockchain technology, in conjunction with tools like xAPI and other learning technologies, can offer a more comprehensive view of an employee’s skills and strengths. By integrating these technologies, companies can gain insights into an employee’s continuous learning activities and subject matter expertise, facilitating enhanced internal career path opportunities and providing a richer employee experience.
Student Records
Report after report confirms what all educators know too well: the administrative burden they face is getting worse. Unfortunately, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that many educational recordkeeping practices offer limited value due to the fragmented nature of record storage.
When a student transfers to a different school, their records must undergo manual verification and data entry from one system to another. This process is not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, as a single mistake can have significant repercussions.
However, blockchain technology presents an opportunity for schools to break free from isolated record silos and embrace interoperable and cryptographically verified ledgers. By storing school records in a blockchain, the verification process becomes streamlined, requiring a simple click to confirm their authenticity. Furthermore, the beauty of blockchain lies in its inherent flexibility, as transferring records to a different blockchain is just as straightforward.
Digital Diplomas and Certificates
In 2019, the National Universities Commission in Nigeria exposed around 100 professors with fake diplomas. Unfortunately, incidents like this are all too common, occurring across various sectors due to the inefficiencies and manual processes involved in diploma and certificate verification.
The good news is that there are already some institutions that are experimenting with blockchain-based digital diplomas and certificates. For example, a group of 111 students received blockchain-backed diplomas from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) back in 2017, and Maryville University became one of the first institutions to implement blockchain transcripts and diplomas in 2019.
Blockchain-based digital diplomas and certificates can’t be damaged, lost, or forged, and their verification is just as effortless as the verification of any other records stored in a blockchain. By transitioning to digital formats, the need for printing diplomas and certificates on paper is eliminated, benefiting both the environment and the administrative staff involved in education.
Roadblocks to Blockchain Adoption in Education
As you can see, blockchain technology has the potential to solve some of the biggest problems plaguing the education sector, but there are several roadblocks that stand in the way of its broad adoption, and they include:
- Resistance to change: The education sector is resistant to change because there’s so much at stake, and it can take some time to achieve standardization. Blockchain technology is closely associated with cryptocurrencies, so it’s understandable that many educators and policy makers alike are dismissive of it.
- Security and compliance: Blockchain technology makes it possible for records to be stored in a transparent, traceable, and immutable manner, but that doesn’t mean it is invulnerable—its security ultimately depends on how well implemented it is. There’s also the issue of compliance with data privacy laws and regulations all schools and corporations must follow.
- Cost: As unfortunate as it is, education institutions are underfunded, so finding the money to implement any new technology can be difficult to say the least. While the cost of blockchain adoption keeps decreasing, it will take a while before all schools and corporations have easy access to interoperable blockchain based platforms —and not just leading institutions like MIT—who can afford to experiment with it.
Overcoming these roadblocks to blockchain adoption in education and training is certainly worth the effort because the benefits it can unlock are too good to ignore.
Conclusion
Blockchain technology has a lot to offer educational institutions and corporate HR, from smarter record keeping to instant verifications of digital diplomas and portable certificates. To reap these and other benefits, education institutions and corporations will have to overcome several roadblocks, and they can draw inspiration from industries with high rates of blockchain adoption, such as finance. Overcoming resistance and fostering a deeper understanding of blockchain’s capabilities is essential to unlock its full potential in revolutionizing education and ensuring its efficient and secure future.
