Blockchain technology has been a revelation and has recently gathered quite a bit of popularity, which can be attributed to the spike in bitcoin currency. Blockchain tech has taken the stage by storm and expanded its use in many settings. Blockchain tech stores the data in a manner that makes it hard for anyone to hack or tamper with data. This makes the tech a secure option for highly personal work, so much so that the education sector has started using it to store students’ academic records to shield the data from tampering with hackers. Great strides have been made in both Blockchain technology and Edtech and there is far more scope for improvement.
The first and foremost thing to understand is that a blockchain is simply a database; just that the way information is stored in a blockchain database differs from that of a traditional database. New data is entered into a new block when it becomes available and the data is chained together chronologically once the block is complete with data. The blocks are marked with a timestamp when added to the chain, making it easier to track which adds another layer of security.
The academic records are valuable to people since it holds a history of years of their labour getting an education and the means to obtaining employment in future. So, it only makes sense to store the data of these documents as safely as possible to avoid any tampering or to lose the physical copy. Observing the success of blockchain technology in other professional fields, the same tech is getting used to store the academic records and education transcripts of students in digital form.
In 2018, students’ personal information attending Australian National University in the past 19 years was hacked and stolen. ANU happens to be one of the leading universities which should mean that their security for holding the data must have been strong, but even then hackers manage to get through. The hackers have free reign over the stolen data and might misuse the information or even sell it on the dark web. This goes to show how important it is to maintain the strongest and highest level of security relating to the academic information of the students, and blockchain is one of the foremost solutions.
Leading universities worldwide have started to use Blockchain as a means for maintaining academic records since it offers higher security while being cost-efficient. The system offers transparency since there are timestamps for every action that takes place in chronological order. Furthermore, many students have started requesting their universities to simply give them a digital transcript and credentials. This is a much simpler manner of keeping track of important documents without worrying about losing them or getting them falsified. During interviews, sharing a digital copy of the credentials through blockchain tech allows employers to review and verify your credentials without the fear of falsified information.
Blockchain technology has been revolutionary in the education sector, offering benefits like reducing unnecessary workload. The application of blockchain in education can reduce data costs for institutions, increase learner ownership, and eliminate the need for paper records. The use of blockchain in education has been growing steadily, with initiatives from the government. Soon, most universities will depend mainly on this technology to maintain student records and academic transcripts.
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