Arizona
State University is working with local community colleges on using
blockchain to innovate data sharing for academic records. The
development was reported by university news site Inside Higher Ed on July 9.
Arizona
State aims to use blockchain to establish whether students who transfer
from community colleges have already earned enough credits to be
awarded an associate’s degree — an intermediary qualification between a
high school diploma and a full-fledged bachelor’s.
Tracking
credits during this process — known as a reverse transfer — becomes
complex and time-consuming to navigate: in addition to mere data
exchange, colleges are required to interpret academic records that are
not homogenous and establish whether the credentials are equivalent to
their own.
In partnership with cloud software firm Salesforce and
its central enterprise unit EdPlus, Arizona State is thus developing a
blockchain-based student data network that would allow participating
institutions to securely exchange and verify academic credentials.
A
key focus is reportedly to make the process of data exchange
bi-directional — so that community colleges can continue to be updated
on their former students’ progress at Arizona State. EdPlus CTO Donna
Kidwell told reporters:
“We want to optimize those
pathways back and forth between us [...] so that we can support students
who are creating their own path towards a degree.”
Kidwell
reportedly added that such individualized — “DIY” — student choices may
also feed back into universities’ understanding of how to develop and
tailor their program opportunities.
Kidwell said that the system
aims to better evaluate and share data so as to avoid students missing
out on full accreditation for their learning: “saying you have 86 credit
hours towards a degree isn’t very meaningful on a résumé.”
Many
of those involved believe that students awarded an associate’s degree
are more likely to proceed to complete their bachelor’s after transfer,
and that blockchain can provide a robust mechanism to manage complex
individual routes through higher education. As one community college
coordinator remarked:
“Blockchain is going to be the
future of academic records.The technology would certainly provide for
greater fluidity. It will also allow students to own their own academic
records.”
Nonetheless, another consultant emphasized
that interoperability across institutions remains a significant hurdle
for optimal blockchain adoption, noting that Arizona State would:
“...
have to do the very difficult political work to get others to buy into a
shared chain. They’ll face questions about sustainability, management
and ownership of the information and technology, as well as the
challenge of mapping knowledge from different courses at different
institutions.”
Meanwhile, many top-ranked universities globally are offering a host of blockchain and crypto-related courses and accelerators: a group of Oxford professors have even been seeking full-degree granting powers in the EU for what they dub the world’s first “blockchain university.”
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