Summary of Blockchain in Education Credentials & Finance Webinar
Introduction to blockchain and cryptocurrencies, their use in education, and possible ways forward for various areas.
Video Webinar and Discussion Here:
Download the Whitepaper and CrowdFund Slides Here:
The webinar was approved by MIT careers services and sought to inform students, graduates, higher education faculty and staff, investors and those caring about education what the potential is for cryptocurrency and blockchain in education.
*Note that there is no financial or legal advice given during this webinar by any of the participants and the opinions or ideas expressed are used solely for academic and practitioner dialogue.
Summary
The first 15 minutes includes brief descriptions and explanations of digital assets, tokens, NFT, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hyperledger, decentralized/centralized, protocol, application, and other important terms like "whitepaper" that people involved in education and considering blockchain or cryptocurrency for various purposes.
Then Dr. Lange and various stakeholders look at ways universities and companies are using blockchain (distributed ledger technology) to improve their work. These include administration, costs, fees, records, transcripts, payments, benefits, recruiting, and many more.
The two focus areas for the discussion for the remaining part of the webinar include credentials and financial inclusion.
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Blockchain and verifiable digital credentials
Dr. Lange and others give information and examples of how blockchain creates verifiable credentials (badges)(digital credentials) used standalone or within any LMS or VLE such as Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, etc. The possibility for digital badges to be connected to cryptocurrency and other 'virtual' or 'digital assets' such as NFTS is explored, with particular reference to the GETS system developed by Dr. Lange where "Sponsors" can create non-fungible digital badges (NDBs) connected to cryptocurrency and award these badges to "Students". This at once 'burns' the badge into the ownership of the student in a verifiable, immutable, transparent way, and pays for some of the tuition, debt, or other education fees for a student of their choice.
Blockchain, cryptocurrency, and student debt
Although stimulating on its own, the "badge to token utility" and other blockchain-based student finance solutions doesn't account for existing student debt or default, which is over 1 million people in the US per year. We discussed how a "No-Loss Student Debt Lottery" enabled by blockchain and using the profit generated from the badges could start to reverse debt while lowering the repayment terms of existing student-family borrowers. This is already in place within the GETS system on Ethereum. Another idea emerged from one participant to use blockchain "oracles" as an underlying technology behind "Education ROI" so that students would have a clear idea of the debt-to-salary ratio before choosing majors, and in real-time throughout their higher education journey.
The final suggestion was to "read the whitepaper." If you are unsure about whether taking a blockchain or cryptocurrency approach would suit your students or clients, look for these five key things in a whitepaper:
In sum, there are many uses of blockchain in education, we have only begun to look at the most promising developments and possibilities.
Contact and further discussion
If you would like to discuss blockchain in education, reversing student debt with crypto, digital badges as financial rewards for achievement, or any other related topic please sign up for a 30 minute video or phone call with Dr. Josh Lange by clicking "book a consultation" at the link below:
https://legalwriting.eu/contact/
Sign up for updates: https://get-smart.net
Connect with Dr. Josh Lange: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/dr-josh-lange/