Strategic Planning and Policy Framework for Implementation of Blockchain Technology in Education in India

Importance Of Blockchain Technology In Education Sector

In the field of education, the University of Nicosia in Cyprus has been reported to be the first University in the world that issued academic certificates with authenticity verification through the blockchain technology (Sharples and Domingue, 2016). In addition to issuing certificates, it has been suggested that this technology can be applied in educational institutions for various purposes such as administering academic activities, administering MOOCs all the way through actual degrees, recording learners’ acquired competencies, learner evaluation and assessment (Clark, 2016), effective and efficient recognition and management of certification and accreditation as well as monitoring the mobility of students, educators and professionals (Gatteschi et al., 2020). Apart from these areas, three potential domains of learning and instruction for future use of blockchain technology include Formative assessment, learning activities design/implementation, and records of learning processes (Chen et al., 2018). Also, blockchain technology can execute other tasks in educational administration and management through its shared ledgers such as staff hiring via smart contracts, continuous professional development (Clark, 2016), performance assessment and payments right from the first day of work to retirement pensions.

This technology due to its capacity in allowing stakeholders to validate learning records and identity management makes it suitable for applications in higher education where a huge amount of data is exchanged among the institutions in terms of certificates. In addition, its distributed ledger without the need for a trusted third party can improve smart contract based protocols that automatically enforce a contract in students throughout multiple levels of administration, which is a major advantage of blockchain technology for higher education (Arndt, 2018).