A Blueprint for a Blockchain-Based Architecture to Power a Distributed Network of Tamper-Evident Learning Trace Repositories

Abstract

The need to ensure privacy and data protection in educational contexts is driving a shift towards new ways of securing and managing learning records. Although there are platforms available to store educational activity traces outside of a central repository, no solution currently guarantees that these traces are authentic when they are retrieved for review. This paper presents a blueprint for an architecture that employs blockchain technology to sign and validate learning traces, allowing them to be stored in a distributed network of repositories without diminishing their authenticity. Our proposal puts participants in online learning activities at the center of the design process, granting them the option to store learning traces in a location of their choice. Using smart contracts, stakeholders can retrieve the data, securely share it with third parties and ensure it has not been tampered with, providing a more transparent and reliable source for learning analytics. Nonetheless, a preliminary evaluation found that only 56% of teachers surveyed considered tamper-evident storage a useful feature of a learning trace repository. These results motivate further examination with other end users, such as learning analytics researchers, who may have stricter expectations of authenticity for data used in their practice.

Blockchain-Based Applications in Education: A Systematic Review

“…Due to the high efficiency of blockchain, several applications could measure and evaluate the students' performance based on qualitative and quantitative parameters. For instance, Farah, Vozniuk, Rodríguez-Triana and Gillet [22] built a system to trace the performance of students for their multi-learning activities. It adds up independently with all traces for each given activity into a block.…”

“…The beauty of blockchain relies on securing the data itself and verifying that it has not been tampered with. To illustrate, the blockchain was used to sign and validate learning traces and records [22]. Each learning block is composed of various types of data related to a learning activity.…”

Privacidad y gestión de la identidad en procesos de analítica de aprendizaje

“…Educación [2], [3], [5], [8], [9], [10], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [23], [24], [27], [28] Seguridad [1], [4], [6], [7], [11], [20], [21], [22], [26], [30] Privacidad [18], [20], [26], [30] RGPD [12], [25], [29], [30] Se procede a dar respuesta secuencial a las preguntas de investigación para continuar con un resumen y análisis de la situación actual y unas reflexiones finales. La Tabla 18 a continuación relaciona los trabajos seleccionados con cada una de las preguntas de investigación a las que puede dar respuesta.…”

“…[2], [3], [5], [8], [9], [10], [13], [14], [15], [16], [17], [18], [19], [23], [24], [27], [28] RQ2 [1], [4], [6], [7], [11], [20], [21], [22], [26], [30] RQ3 [12], [20], [25], [29], [30] RQ4 [7], [12], [18], [20], [24], [26], [30] II.8.3.1. RQ1.…”

“…Dima et al (2018) La preocupación para proteger la privacidad y datos de los estudiantes en procesos de Learning Analytics con tecnología blockchain es extensible más allá de los esfuerzos de Ocheja et al (2018). Farah et al (2018) proponen con sus sistema que los alumnos tomen el control de sus datos incluso escogiendo el lugar de almacenamiento. Con En general, las soluciones propuestas son trabajos en progreso que adoptan el presupuesto de que la tecnología blockchain es segura, privada y de bajo coste.…”