QualiChain to Decentralize Education

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After a long day working on the computer and (finally!) with the robot and samples, I watched another ALT 2021 session entitled “Decentralising Education Using Blockchain Technology” by Dr. Alexander Mikroyannidis, a research fellow from The Open University. I don’t know much about blockchain technology and listened to a podcast that discussed it. Further, I just finished the second week of the RIOS Social Justice and Gateways workshop to think about OER sustainability… and I am curious about this as a potential sustainable model for some projects. Mikroyannidis began by stating that “the centralised education model is no longer sustainable” because learning happens outside the lecture halls, learning is more international. The vision Mikroyannidis and colleagues have is that of an education model in which validation qualifications are no longer awarded by an employer or institution and a system in which students take ownership of the learning experience and its outcomes. Mikroyannidis defined blockchain… I am glad because I am not sure I understand it. Blockchain was defined as “a cryptographically secure, shared, distributed ledger.” The QualiChain project has been going on for several years ending this year. They are targeting lifelong learning, smart curriculum design, public sector staffing, and hr consultancy and management services. The lifelong learning pilot that Mikroyannidis leads is investigating smart badges that are verifiable accreditation and they are offer recommendations about jobs and courses. The blockchain contains data on the skills the learner obtained. I learned that the learner can control the access to their data: who can access smart badges and in what ways. They are also organizing a themed issue in a new special issue that will be in a new blockchain Elsevier journal. The attendees asked several questions about the technology and getting interpretable data to improve the use of blockchain for education. During the activity, participants created an account on the QualiChain platform and took or quickly reviewed the resources. You can enroll in the mock courses and then receive awarded badges. The idea is really neat and I wonder if we can award to undergraduate MORE students? From their website, it does look like they are still in the pilot phases with only a handful of collaborations. I find this intriguing and along with badges and “open” badges it is appealing to think about the use of smart badges. I am not sure about users receiving recommendations based on skills achieved: I wonder if that is a feature users can disable? For a while I have been thinking about ways to incentivize and credit participants in professional development activities that we offer. I had not considered blockchain technology.

Three bitcoins and a chain
How can blockchain technology be used in higher education or professional development? Photo by Roger Brown on Pexels.com