The technology ecosystem is bringing new changes and shifting trends in the education sector. The technologies like AI and Augmented Reality have already bought in a lot of developments in the sector, and the blockchain is another add-on to technological advancement, which is all set to redefine how blockchain development in education will emerge greatly.
Blockchain technology has the potential to revolutionize the education industry by providing a secure and decentralized platform for storing and sharing educational data. It can largely integrate authenticity, traceability, and transparency in the education industry. This blog will cover use cases to help you understand the positive and negative aspects of Blockchain development in Education.
Challenges in Education and Why Blockchain Development in Technology is Needed?
Before we proceed into how blockchain development in education and technology can change the educational landscape, it is critical to understand the challenges currently faced by the educational industry:
- Issues in Validating Trust & Identity of Certificates & Educational Credentials: It is quite tough to examine and validate the degree or certification without any added layer of verification. Currently, the educational industry is facing issues with forging degrees and certifications to a large extent.
- Data Sharing: Data sharing between institutions is another critical factor that can leak the private information of students in the public domain. This will inherently pose concerns related to privacy.
- Duplicacy in Research: Educational research is prone to duplication, which can impact the students’ hard work and contribution. Apart from plagiarism, the unauthorized possession of research is also a negative factor in the industry. It includes reports, research papers, white papers, etc., which can be easily copied or compromised.
Blockchain Development in Education – Use Cases and Pitfalls Businesses Must Know
- Record Keeping: It is one of the old practices in the educational industry, and it may offer inconsistencies in validating the identity. The blockchain can integrate a smart contract solution through which the degrees, certificates, and educational documents can be generated authentically and trusted manner, which can also validate these documents whenever required. Currently, employers face a lot of challenges while validating documents. Blockchain development in education can make it a hassle-free process.
- E-Transcripts: This is manual-intensive work that needs to be done when it comes to generating academic content. It needs to be uniquely verified and checked as it is widely prone to error. Through blockchain development in education, these e-transcripts can be consistently checked with case-by-case interpretation. This can be done with a smart ledger which can also ensure the security of educational content.
- Decentralization of Institution: Blockchain technology has the potential to create new economic models and infrastructures for institutions that are more trustworthy and reliable. Blockchain-based systems can facilitate online courses by utilizing smart contracts to coordinate and execute agreements or payments between students and instructors, offering students cost-effective tuition and reliable education.
- Creating a Transparent System for Finances
Blockchain is widely used in the FinTech ecosystem, and when it comes to Blockchain development in education, a system can be developed to ensure that wages, student scholarships, and financials get executed on time with strict agreements and systems. This all can be done conveniently through blockchain technology.
- Tackling Copyright & Plagiarism
Plagiarism and theft of academic work is a common problems in the educational industry, and there needs to be a reliable system in place to ensure this. Since it may have serious implications on the quality of academic assessment and result in lower grades for students, a mechanism can be developed using blockchain technology to tackle such issues effectively.
- Efficient System for Grading
When it comes to grading, school and college students face many issues as they usually might not get fair grading due to manual processes, which can result in partiality towards different students. The grading system can become more efficient through blockchain development in education and enabling smart contracts. In such conditions, all the grades are stored in a public ledger, which can be accessible to all the parties ensuring transparency, fairness, and authenticity in the grading process.
Pitfalls in the Adoption of Blockchain in the Educational Industry
Here are various pitfalls that businesses might face while adopting blockchain in education:
- Low Rate of Adoption
Blockchain might not be a new thing, but in the education industry, it is a relatively new concept as the solutions are not being used in a large scale. The blockchain can only become successful in the education industry when more and more people start to use it, as it can then bring in a great shift in the educational ecosystem, which will enforce benefits for all.
- Scalability
As educational institutions have a vast amount of data about their students and graduates, blockchain scalability may be a challenge. As the volume of data grows, the peer-to-peer verification process for each transaction increases the number of blocks required. This can slow down the speed of blockchain transactions.
- Cost
blockchain development in education can become a costly affair, and educational institutions might become adamant in terms of implementing blockchain on a scale. However, this notion may change as the industry evolves.
Conclusion
Blockchain can be a boon to the education industry as it might implement unique ways of authenticity, trust, and reliability in the educational process. Since there can be a large number of problems that could be easily solved through blockchain development in education, there are still some aspects that may become hindrances to its mass adoption by institutions. If you are the one looking to get blockchain applications for education, connect with experts at Alphonics.
