Blockchain is the trendy buzzword of the moment. Powered by Blockchain, the education sector is being revolutionized through Educhain, an app that enables secure issuance, sharing, and verification of blockchain-enabled records. One of the greatest Blockchain applications is in the education sector. Students and administrators both benefit from Educhain, the world's leading verifiable digital record Blockchain app.
Understanding Blockchain Beyond the Hype
First, you might ask "what is Blockchain?" You might have heard of it floating around, in relation to "get rich quick" schemes like Bitcoin and Ethereum or in connection to big tech millionaires like Elon Musk and Tesla. It may seem distant and far away, in the indecipherable world of tech but blockchain has its place beyond cryptocurrency, tech bros and NFTs.
As a new form of information storage, it will be incredibly useful for any industry that requires a fraud proof verifiable authentication and storage system of digital records. Blockchains are incredibly useful and versatile, allowing multiple across platform uses for its technology.
Fraud-Resistant
Immutable records prevent tampering and ensure authenticity
Instantly Verifiable
Eliminate third-party verification delays and costs
Globally Accessible
Access records anywhere, anytime with proper permissions
The Digital Revolution in Education
The modern world is fully digitalized and our everyday ordinary life is negotiated and processed through our iPhones and apps. It has seeped into our daily interactions like paying for a coffee with Apple Pay. We now go online to watch lectures online, parents learn how to cook new things on Youtube, and selfies are now de rigeur and everywhere.
Technology has sped up communication, information exchange through chat apps like WhatsApp and WeChat. Everything is available in an instant, in real time, over the internet. The internet has made the world smaller and interconnected and offers worlds of convenience, streamlining complicated processes. While spaces like retail have been early adopters, other institutions like academia have been slow to catch up.
"The educational system still mostly uses an archaic paper-based system for informational storage and transference of transcripts and other authenticated papers. This is no longer a sustainable useful method. To compete, the conservative academic sector must progress and adapt to our technologically advanced world."
What is Blockchain?
Blockchain: A Digital Ledger Technology
Think of blockchain as an unbreakable chain of digital records
Blockchain technology may seem intimidating and inaccessible at first, solely in the realm of hackers and digital technologists armed with an army of computers mining for "bitcoin." Yet, Blockchain is the next step in the evolution of human technology as a Data Ledger Technology (DLT), a new twist on historical ways of informational storage.
From an oral tradition to a written language, the printing press and the Internet, Blockchain is the next step in the evolution of information systems. Blockchains, as a distributed ledger technology (DLT), are essentially, a digital ledger of data. This is a basic building block that can be distributed and transferred between different online members of a community.
How Blockchain Transforms the Registrar's Office
It provides a more efficient, streamlined and safe transference and secure organization of student records and transcripts. Traditionally, paper stored systems are slow, inefficient and require a lot of man power to administer and process. A student would be required to order by mail or in person, a transcript to complete graduation.
Records That Can Be Stored on Blockchain
Through educhain, a student would request and access their transcripts digitally through the blockchain. It would eliminate third party authenticators that can be costly for universities. The information could easily be transferred and accessible in one digital passport and it would be verified on the spot, rather than go through the tedious process of in person verification and authentication.
Real-World Benefits and Use Cases
Streamlined Course Transfers
One medical student had a course content of 700 pages that had to be compared, signed and stamped by one person. This process would be streamlined on a blockchain where the contents would be verified online instantaneously through a few clicks.
Fraud Prevention
Hypothetically, Blockchain would have prevented the "Operation Varsity Blues scandal." Identity, high school transcripts, digital student credentials would have to be verified through the Blockchain and any red flags would have indicated false test scores.
Cost Savings
Approximately 1000 documents or diplomas can be uploaded to the blockchain for the affordable price of $10. It reduces overhead and administration work and streamlines business processes.
The One-Stop Academic Passport
It also creates a one place academic passport where all academic experience is recorded, from varied things such as independent courses, transferred accounts, lone credits, internship experience, academic references; all of which can all be accessed in one place. That way students aren't chasing down disparate and lone pieces of transcripts and other such academic records, creating a tenuous, frustrating and delayed expensive experience.
Educhain eliminates such need and places the power back in your hands. This blockchain can contain information as varied as student attendance, grades, coursework and diploma as part of their blockchain records.
Save Time
Instant access to all academic records 24/7
Save Money
Reduce administrative costs by up to 90%
Student Empowerment
Self-sovereignty over academic achievements
Self-Actualization and Student Experience
Perhaps, one of the biggest changes is the concept of self-actualization through the concept of Blockchain. Since the passport is literally in the student's hands, it turns the onus away from a centralized institutional proffering of credentials, where the student must request paper transcripts, references and other pertinent information. It becomes easily accessible in their hands.
"It improves the student experience by empowering them to take charge of their own academic career. It is all in one place, and they can individually access the info and give permission to transfer or to show their records to prospective schools, graduate programs and employers. By returning the focus on the student, rather than positioning the academic institution in a paternal stance, it might provide a gamification of self-achievement and 'self-sovereignty.'"
Future Applications in Academia
As we have seen during covid and the pandemic, education teaching and lectures have moved online. There are a fair bit of open source, online based lecture courses from coursera and even traditional institutions like MIT now offer short intensive diploma certificates. Higher level education is no longer barred and relegated to one location.
Students from all over the world attend courses remotely, view online lectures and could in the future, receive a digital badge for courses completed. Employers now stress the technical proficiency of a student. As the world accelerates, students want a way to demonstrate their hireability immediately to future employers.
Lastly, blockchain could provide a new model for exam taking and smart contracts for teachers and students. A teacher could upload test questions up to the blockchain and the student could access test questions through tablets and computers and the questions and answers would be verified in a safe fraud free manner. Having exams and testing on the blockchain would free up resources, allowing teachers and students to focus on what they do best: teaching and learning.
The Path Forward
Educhain is currently dominant in the Middle East, with 7 major Universities as their clientele. This is just a start, the Middle East plans to have at least 50% of government data on the Blockchain in the near future, leading as an early adopter technologically forward nation. By offering an on premise customized private Blockchain at universities, it not only respects privacy laws, but it is also the only one of its kind in the world. Educhain will expand on a global scale, taking educational information storage and transference to the next level.