Blockchain Transforming Industries: Education
Blockchain has emerged from the shadows as a revolutionary technology that has proved itself in recent times as a big disruptor of industries across the globe. With the attributes of decentralization and transparency firmly forming its core, it goes to say without a doubt that Blockchain is truly an invention that is not only addressing several key issues that have been facing industries and businesses the world over, but it is becoming the kind of big change that once dawned upon us with the advent of the Internet.
The incorporation of the digitized public ledger of the Blockchain to existing systems and processes offers companies countless ways and means to make full use of the concepts of trust, accountability, transparency and immutability to not only adapt and reinvent their existing operations, but makes the end product more scalable on an open network whilst overcoming reliability and security issues.
In this special series of Blockchain Transforming Industries, we take a look at how this cutting edge technology is revolutionizing industry practices as well as functions and how implementing it can pave the way towards robust solutions.
Previously, we covered two very interesting and influential industries:
Music
Blockchain Transforming Industries:Music || Blockchain Transforming Industries:Music (Part 2)
Health-Care
Blockchain Transforming Industries:Health-Care || Blockchain Transforming Industries:Health-Care (Part 2)
Today we take a look at a very special as well as massive industry, which is arguably one that nurtures and shapes minds of millions of youths all over the world - Education. What impact can the inclusion of Blockchain bring to this multi-billion dollar industry?
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Blockchain in Education
The education industry has seen a massive transformation over the years - from the usage of hard copy textbooks and learning materials to the adoption of e-learning modules and digitization of course discourse, the transition has been impactful. The global education industry, which is valued at 7 trillion dollars, has been touched by the internet in a great way over the past few years with many institutes starting to focus on online instead of offline resources.
Blockchain could be the next step in transforming this industry and addressing the various issues and bottlenecks that plague it from disseminating education to the masses.
Education is essentially concerned with data mining in the form of courses and educational content and its global distribution. Not only does the education sector produce a massive amount of data, but there is a growing demand for the same. The inclusion of Blockchain's public ledger paves a way to handle the multitude of data and at the same time securing and scaling up its accessibility.
What Are The Challenges And How Can They Be Addressed?
Education can mostly be a costly affair, which is not easily affordable to certain strata of society. Additionally, the education industry is certainly not free from corruption - with the funding from government being inadequate or in most cases misused. The need of the hour is an open system of education, with clear transparency in grading, fund allocation and the focus shifting to all type of courses, vocational and extra-curricular included.
And getting a proper education is just one aspect of the coin; once an individual completes the course, the person should be employable. Education should impart a mindset to people that is entrepreneurial, which will allow them to be world ready and suitable for working in the diverse industries across geographic regions.
Not to forget the lecturers and professors that impart the course, they not only need to be qualified but should be appropriately incentivized. Many teachers are not only inadeaquately paid, there seems to be a rising want for suitable competency and skills in teachers. The age and maturity of teachers does not necessarily correlate with their skill-sets and competencies which can led to deterioration in the quality of education that is being imparted, negatively affecting several impressionable young minds.
The inclusion of Blockchain could truly create an open, traceable, standardized and transparent system in education that provides a means for easier accessibility without the need for resorting to increasing the number of physical schools and training centers. An online network can be created that is both collaborative and decentralized.
There are so many potential benefits that can be had:
A system can be created that does not differentiate between individuals and sections of society and creates an inclusive system of education that is open for all. This does not only take education far and wide as a means for people to bring a change in their lives, but also helps overcome the alarming problem of discrimination that can be clearly seen existing today.
The need to be physically present in classrooms can be eradicated with the possibilities of education reachable to individuals across geographies. This will allow to divert the funds allocated for building physical locations to more deserving areas of education.
Transparent allocation and use of funding to eliminate corrupt practices, and immutable digitized records of transactions and certificates to help audits and compliance, will ensure an unbiased and reliable system of education.
Decentralization of recruitment and training, as well as an incentive structure that encourages the growth and up-skill of educators will create a healthy environment of growth and progress.
And so much more...
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The future could see a collaborative environment of education that is interconnected across the globe and peers from different countries can interact with each other and get access to the best instructors, courses and content with the option to choose their own learning and self pace it in a manner that benefits both educators and students.
It is right to assume that entities with questionable vested interests in the education sector would be against a transparent system and oppose it, but the very fact that Blockchain could be used for the right purposes adds weight for its adoption. It can eliminate the possibility of frauds, eliminate the need to be dependent on paper based systems, automate a bevy of processes without the need for manual intervention and digitize records easily accessible to all stakeholders including educators, students and authorities.
To conclude, the adoption of Blockchain technology can vastly improve the present scenario in an ever growing Education business. Transforming and gaining adoption in such a vast and diverse industry cannot be done overnight, and there shall certainly be several challenges that would need to be addressed and overcome. But with various scenarios and use-cases being implemented by reputable institutions and educational boards across the globe, it is only a matter of time before we see widespread usage.
Each and every industry needs to keep themselves updated and up-to-speed with the latest developments and technologies at the risk of becoming outdated. Blockchain based transactions will allow the Education industry to imbibe a system that is transparent and fosters authenticity and innovation, which will assure growth and advancement of the industry as a whole.
The myriad possibilities that Blockchain opens up in different sectors across the globe is astounding. What are your thoughts?
Tune in to our next blog as we continue to showcase Blockchain tech transforming and benefiting the various industries.
Authored by: @jznsamuel
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