Managing lifelong learning records through blockchain

Abstract

It is a common practice to issue a summary of a learner's learning achievements in form of a transcript or certificate. However, detailed information on the depth of learning and how learning or teachings were conducted is not present in the transcript of scores. This work presents the first practical implementation of a new platform for keeping track of learning achievements beyond transcripts and certificates. This is achieved by maintaining digital hashes of learning activities and managing access rights through the use of smart contracts on the blockchain. The blockchain of learning logs (BOLL) is a platform that enable learners to move their learning records from one institution to another in a secure and verifiable format. This primarily solves the cold-start problem faced by learning data analytic platforms when trying to offer personalized experience to new learners. BOLL enables existing learning data analytic platforms to access the learning logs from other institutions with the permission of the learners and/or institution who originally have ownership of the logs. The main contribution of this paper is to investigate how learning records could be connected across institutions using BOLL. We present an overview of how the implementation has been carried out, discuss resource requirements, and compare the advantages BOLL has over other similar tools.

Smart Contracts Based on Blockchain for Decentralized Learning Management System

“…Patrick Ocheja et al [12] have developed a frameworkbased blockchain for managing lifelong learning records. The learning records and activities are stored in the form of digital hashed.…”

“…Access rights to the records are maintained through smart contracts of blockchain. This framework helps the users to move their academic record from one institution to another in a secure and verifiable manner [12]. In another study, Patrick Ocheja et al, presented blockchain based learning analytics platform.…”

ESR white paper: blockchain and medical imaging

“…Blockchain may be used to document and keep track of learning achievements by maintaining digital hashes of learning accomplishments and managing access rights through the use of smart contracts on the blockchain [ 29 ]. Ocheja et al described a blockchain of learning logs (BOLL) that enables learners to move their learning records from one institution to another in a secure and verifiable format [ 30 ]. Nasseem et al analyze the potential use cases for blockchain deployment in medical education ecosystems, to improve the efficiency, security, functionality and effectiveness of existing infrastructures.…”

Exploiting Corporate Governance to Evaluate Blockchain Applications: A Comprehensive Framework

“…This agency relationship inevitably affects blockchain applications' governance and has to be considered when integrating the business on the blockchain. Ocheja et al (2019), for example, hypothesize the reason behind the choice of bitcoin blockchain for many government and academic applications is due to the stability of the community, although the costs to operate on the bitcoin blockchain are higher. A comprehensive example of the agency problem on the blockchain comes from Dapps running on public blockchains (e.g., Ethereum, Tron).…”

“…For that reason, the initial characteristic or purpose of the blockchain has to be evaluated when choosing a specific blockchain. For example, even if Ethereum is meant to be the "world computer," for the traceability of documents, the bitcoin blockchain is preferred (Ocheja et al, 2019).…”