Ed3 Weekly Issue #129: Wen Web3?

Hello Ed3 Community,

This is a good time to take a step back. For all the enthusiasm for web3 implementation, it is a technology still primarily unknown to most people.

This week’s deep dive outlines several reasons for this:

• Complexity
• Limited Use Cases
• Intimidating Terminology
• Lack of Familiar Integration
• Need for Improved User Experience

This can be frustrating for those fully immersed in blockchain and web3. Especially when we constantly see interesting use cases like the ones outlined in our resources this week.

Whether blockchain innovation in Canada, education grants to fund learning, or VR learning in North Dakota, there’s evidence that this technology is alive and well.

So what is the holdup?

Besides those things outlined above, blockchain and web3 are still too…visible.

We need to be blockchaining without saying we are blockchaining. Web3ing without saying we are web3ing. Mass adoption will remain a challenge until this technology becomes fully functional and seamlessly integrated into everyday life.

This may seem like a classic chicken-and-egg scenario, but it's more complex than that. I wish it were as simple as creating more blockchain products, which would naturally lead to increased adoption.

What we need are simple, user-friendly, and seamless solutions that work quietly in the background, so users don’t even realize they’re interacting with blockchain technology.

I hope that by continuing to share about blockchain in education it can inspire the next generation to accomplish that.

Enjoy the articles for this week, see the links and summaries of the resources below.

?? Blockchain News

Ava Benesocky: Driving Blockchain Innovation in Canada

?? Ava Benesocky leads the Canadian Blockchain Consortium, focusing on education and collaboration to boost blockchain adoption across Canada. Read

?? Crypto News

Bitwave Receives Educational Grant from Arbitrum to Launch NASBA-Licensed Course Series for LATAM Finance Professionals

?? Educational initiative to provide Continuing Professional Education (CPE) credits for finance leaders managing on-chain activity. Read

?? Metaverse News

North Dakota School Districts Sign Multi-Million Dollar VR Learning Contract

?? CareerViewXR helps kick off a $9.9 million contract to deploy XR learning solutions for youth and adults with disabilities. Read

?? Weekly Deep Dive

Web3 charts a challenging course on the long road to mass adoption

The weekly deep dive explores topics outside of education to help contextualize innovations in the web3 space. What better way to understand web3 than to understand the challenges behind mass adoption? This article from Cryptoslate examines what is holding the web3 space back. With an anticipated market reach of $177.58 billion by 2033, why haven’t we seen the rapid changes that blockchain enthusiasts have predicted?

It’s important to understand the current state of this technology before we as educators can be empowered to implement it. This article outlines the key limitations to web3 adoption that were mentioned at the start of this issue. What is consistently mentioned as a way to overcome these limitations is increased education. I hope to see more schools adopting blockchain, crypto, and web3 education as pathways to increase the accessibility and awareness of these technologies. Read

Thank you for stopping by for another issue of my newsletter on emerging technology in education. You can join over 1000 others across LinkedIn and SubStack. You can also listen to the podcast on Spotify here, with a supplemental episode on each issue. Learn more about me by visiting my website.