Education enterprises (e.g., schools, universities, online platforms) seeking digital transformation require careful evaluation of their strategies and transformative capabilities. Although transformation of teaching routines is slowly evolving into student-centric learning, individual-oriented learning routines (assess, evidence, credentials) are complex to manage compared to established teaching routines (define, engage, and enhance) using existing digital learning management systems. This has resulted in poor tracking of 21st century skills (21C) of learners, which are highly sought by teachers, learners, and employers. Based on reviews of blockchain use cases from the education literature, this study proposes a blockchain for education learning ledger (BELL) model to capture and track 21C skills demanded by Industry 4.0. The BELL model includes an innovative assess skills chain for developing strategic learning capabilities and enabling reconfiguration of learning outcomes.
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Digital learning management systems enable effective communication and interactive information flow between students and learners (Al Amoush & Sandhu, 2020), thereby contributing to the development of learning strategies in education enterprises. In the education domain, learning is a transformative process of gaining knowledge and skills and occurs predominantly at an individual level. The costs and implications related to the complexities in the process are reflected in the graduate recruitment and training expenses incurred by employers, which include employee selection, hire, and training. This creates additional pressure on developing hyper-dynamic innovations for the digital economy as well as developing 21st Century (21C) skills (Rotherham & Willingham, 2010) demanded by Industry 4.0.
Industry 4.0 is described as a global transformation of the manufacturing industry with the integration of digital innovations such as the cloud, Big Data, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. These transformations are considered revolutionary improvements in the design and manufacturing processes, operations, and services of products and services (Tjahjono et al., 2017). The impact of Industry 4.0 on human labor and work organization identified the need for continuous learning, training, and education so that the future workforce can effectively adapt to work routines (Bonekamp & Sure, 2015). A recent review of 21C skills development in education enterprises shows that content related to 21C skills (communication and collaboration) is largely under-reported (van Laar et al., 2020) compared to technical skills such as problem-solving. Therefore, digitization of learning is necessary to ensure that the development of necessary skills and competencies address the skills gap (Jagtap & Adhikari, 2019).
Based on the above, this study posits that strategic learning is required by both individuals and organizations, given the increasing embedment of robotics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning algorithms in Industry 4.0 jobs.
Education enterprises are key contributors to the development of skills for all learners. These enterprises are digitally and strategically transforming their core delivery models. Digital education enterprises that offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) have witnessed a significant increase in users (i.e., learners) who want to pursue their studies at their own pace and time. For example, learners of Coursera, a leader in online education, grew from 26 million in 2017 to 40 million in 2019. In addition, worldwide outbreaks, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, have triggered traditional education enterprises (e.g., schools and universities) to deliver their teaching content online through digital platforms such as Zoom. Thus, education enterprises have been active in transforming teaching capabilities through the hyper adoption of cloud services and are leveraging the flexibility of such online mediums (e.g., 24/7 access and ease of use) through micro-credential offerings. However, the ongoing digital transformation of teaching in traditional universities and the MOOCs platforms (e.g., Coursera and Udemy), in developing skills and capabilities of digital natives’ (i.e., 21C learners; Prensky, 2001) and their learning routines, is largely under-researched and not clearly understood.
Recent studies on strategic renewal of learning models by universities identified six distinct themes viz., specify, engage, assess, evidence, credential, and enhance, which address the lifelong learning needs of 21C learners (Oliver, 2015, 2019). These are also deemed important for building learner’s readiness for Industry 4.0 employment. Our study selected assess, evidence, and credential as core themes, as they focus on the development and measurement of skills. Besides, they also cover the transactions associated with the learning processes through assessment evaluands such as, for example, declaration of the learning outcomes, design of assessments, assessment evaluation criteria, and the evaluation of learning outcomes. The scope of activities covered by the chosen themes are:
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Assess: Create authentic tasks, create artifacts that demonstrate graduate capabilities.
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Evidence: Curate and communicate relevant artifacts to demonstrate graduate capabilities.
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Credential: Demonstrate warranted achievement in trustworthy and meaningful ways.