Blockchain in eLearning is becoming a hot buzzword today. The education sector has already passed through a massive digital transformation after the Covid-19 pandemic hit. Now a new phase is gradually evolving in the form of the combination of blockchain and eLearning.
Most people assume blockchain is only meant for cryptocurrency and bitcoins. But the fact is, this decentralized technology is set to bring new innovations to the education sector.
Today, online educators and e-learning service providers are looking for an effective solution to make robust and engaging Learning Management systems (LMS), education apps, playful learning, interactive encyclopedias, and more.
And with the growing influence of blockchain technology on multiple industries, it is worth considering how blockchain affects the education industry. Here, we will try to understand the role of blockchain in e-learning sector. How the education industry can benefit from this popular technology.
Why is Blockchain and eLearning a Powerful Combination?
Covid-19 brought a dramatic shift in the eLearning sector. It forced Universities, schools, and other educational organizations to go digital and embrace online methods of learning. This shift opened a new way for other technologies to merge. Blockchain is a decentralized, distributed, and public digital ledger technology that records information in the form of blocks across various networks. It has good potential to make a perfect combination with eLearning solutions.
How?
In the eLearning system, a large amount of important student data and digital resources are shared among learners, educational institutions, teachers, and third parties. Today, when data security and online fraud in education have become a necessity, blockchain here stands out as the effective solution that gives the eLearning application of the system more security and features to perform advanced functions. Blockchain gives the capability to the eLearning system to share information across different networks privately and confidentially.
Benefits of Blockchain Technology in the eLearning Sector
Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that is primarily built for recording and tracking data in a decentralized form. This unique feature makes blockchain a highly beneficial technology to be used in the eLearning sector. Here are the benefits that stakeholders of the education sector can take-
1. Secure Digital Badges and Certificates
In the modern digital age where companies look for certified professionals, they need a robust and reliable solution to validate the authenticity of the certificate and badges that learners and candidates earn from various online courses. Blockchain developers here can help you create secure digital badges and certificates which can be verified and displayed on any digital portfolio without any manipulation.
This will help online education companies and online learning platforms to provide a reliable certificate for learners once they passed the course successfully. It will not only reduce the chances of creating false or copied certificates but also give secure accessibility to verify the certificate and digital badges.
2. Protect Student Records and Data
Today, when more educational institutions depend on the internet and digital technologies to provide online e-learning services, it increases the risk of cyber attacks and hacking. A hacker may try to alter grades and add unearned certificates or badges. Blockchain empowers educational institutions with better data security ability. It helps them protect student records and sensitive information. Blockchain also assists in the funding of education and awarding the students for higher performance.
3. Secure Intellectual Property
In the education field, individuals have to put a lot of time and effort in researching and producing papers as intellectual property. So there is a need for safeguarding intellectual property to make the education system more secure, reliable, and transparent. In the present time, when governments are enthusiastically adopting the digital-first approach in education, blockchain helps agencies and stakeholders to safeguard their intellectual property.
4. Transforming Higher Education
There is a huge need for a borderless and globally open education system. With the increasing globalization, students and education stakeholders need a worldwide eLearning system that is independent of any national boundaries. By using blockchain in eLearning, you can create a new educational model with high-end verifying features. Many organizations have already started embracing blockchain development services to generate easily and securely verifiable credentials and certificates.
Apart from this, blockchain enables stakeholders in
- Validating the legitimacy and authenticity of certificates
- Credit transfer among educational organizations
- Verifying legitimacy and authenticity of accreditations
- Updating and sharing educational resources through a private blockchain-based application
- Verifying transactions and payments for content services
5. Tracking Management in eLearning
Exchange of information and sharing certificates is one of the most important and common practices in a learning process. In some cases, learners have to carry or show their certificates to different locations for many purposes. This conventional process consumes considerable effort and even makes it risky because this information is accessible on the web.
But by using blockchain technology, a new online mechanism can be created where employers and companies have access to the blockchain and verify the candidate’s biometric identification. Through this system, companies can verify any confidential credential from any part of the world.
6. No Intermediaries
Many digital education platforms and eLearning applications have to rely on third-party plugins, tools, and services to enable some specific function. This approach opens the exposure to risk and makes the system a bit unreliable among learners as their information is shared through an unknown medium. But as we know, blockchain is a decentralized, distributed, and ledger technology, it eliminates the need for intermediaries.
7. Blockchain-Based eLearning Platform
Blockchain offers many features to make a fully secure, reliable, and dynamic eLearning platform, or Learning Management System (LMS). Universities, schools, and private educational institutions can create a blockchain-based learning platform to bring tutors and students on a common integrated platform with advanced learning and tutoring features.
For example, NTOK (New Tokens of Knowledge) is a popular P2P learning platform built on the Ethereum blockchain that utilizes digital tokens and cryptocurrency. It is a common platform for tutors and learners that gives them a high-quality learning environment.
Conclusion
Blockchain is a disruptive technology which has the power to bring innovations and advancements to the education industry. Its usage is wider than we can imagine. However, blockchain in eLearning is in the evolution stage and taking more pace gradually. Here, we have just tried to scratch the surface of what blockchain has to give for education’s growth.
There are many possibilities for the use of this technology in the near future. If you want to leverage the full potential of this powerful combination, you should collaborate with an experienced blockchain development company that can guide you in how to intelligently and effectively use its advantages for eLearning solutions.
Author’s Bio
Peter Handscomb is an expert blockchain developer at MobileCoderz, an established blockchain development company. With more than 17 years of professional expertise, he has worked with all different types of businesses. Apart from the app industry experience, he is a philanthropist and works for homeless people.
