How NFTs Will Revolutionise Education
Unless you have been living under a rock, you probably have been bombarded with the internet’s new favourite buzzwords — NFTs, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
For those of you who don’t know what NFTs are, they are short for Non-Fungible Tokens. In essence, an NFT is a piece of data stored on a blockchain that certifies a digital asset as unique and thus, non-transferable. So, if you own an NFT, the blockchain prevents your digital asset from being forged or copied, unless you sell or rent it.
NFTs have already taken the world of art by storm. Big businesses in almost every industry are devoting a huge amount of resources to create and sell NFTs. So, will this also revolutionise education? Let’s see how.
Marks cards and certificates work flawlessly as NFTs. Documents can be easily stored and any modifications done can be easily traced, thanks to the way blockchain works. Students’ data, along with marks cards and degree certificates, can be readily transferred from one school/college/university to another and viewed anytime by anybody. There will be no more data loss, tampering or waiting.
2. Homework & Assessments
Hate homework? Fear assessments? Not if you could make money from it! Your next art class homework or the essay in English class about your favourite Marvel superhero can be a million-dollar NFT! It’s time to start acquiring some entrepreneurial skills, take up a course on marketing, public relations and cryptocurrency apart from just Science and Maths.
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3. Scholarships
It is possible for universities to issue NFTs that offer benefits such as free online courses, exclusive event tickets, resource access or tutoring sessions. These NFTs can be made as prerequisites to be placed in a pool for available scholarships. This opens up doors for universities to create a marketplace for their course offerings.
4. Course Content
Schools or individuals can sell or rent courses, lessons or video lectures as NFTs. Unlike in the real world where non-digital content lacks secondary sales value, every transaction in the blockchain is tracked. Hence, NFTs can be a potentially unlimited source of money as you can get a royalty from every reuse of your NFT.
5. Learning Experiences
They say you can’t buy time, but with NFTs, you can! CNN sold ‘moments’ in history as NFTs last year (anyone buying 2020?) and your learning experiences count as moments that can be turned into NFTs. A large part of learning is experiential and these ‘experiences’ add value to your digital profile. It can be especially helpful if your profile is part of the blockchain and your assets — marks cards, certificates and university data — are linked.
It may sound strange right now but blockchain will definitely redefine education — either for the better or for the worse. Will NFTs democratise education or widen the digital divide? Will your academic worth be measured by the NFTs you own?
Time will tell. Unless Elon Musk buys it!