The Benefits and Application of Blockchain Technology

Let us explore the various ways in which blockchain can be applied in education, including student record management, grading and assessment, and credential verification.  

Improved Data Security: 

One of the main benefits of using blockchain in education is the increased security of student records. Since blockchain is a decentralized platform, it is much more difficult for unauthorized parties to access the data. This is especially important in the education sector, where sensitive personal and academic information is often stored. One possible application of blockchain in education is in the area of student record management. Currently, student records are often kept in centralized databases, which can be vulnerable to data breaches. By using blockchain to store student records, the risk of data breaches can be significantly reduced. 

Enhanced Credential Verification: 

The authentication of credentials is another potential use for blockchain in education. Currently, the process of validating school qualifications generally entails getting in touch with numerous institutions and manually scrutinising paperwork, which can be time-consuming and error-prone. Due to the data’s accessibility and immutability, the verification process can be automated and streamlined with blockchain. Employers and educational institutions can both benefit by saving time and costs and ensuring that credentials are correctly validated. 

Increased Transparency: 

The use of blockchain in education can also increase transparency in the grading and assessment process. By storing grades and assessment data on a decentralized platform, students can easily verify the authenticity of their grades. This can help to build trust and confidence in the education system, as students can have confidence that their grades are accurate and have not been tampered with. 

Improved Access to Education: 

Blockchain technology has the potential to improve access to education for individuals in underserved or disadvantaged communities. For example, blockchain-based systems could be used to verify the credentials of individuals who may not have formal documentation or who may have lost their records due to conflict or disaster. This could help to create more equitable opportunities for education and employment. 

Customization of Educational Programs: 

Blockchain technology has the potential to enable the customization of educational programs to better meet the needs and goals of individual students. For example, blockchain-based systems could be used to track and record a student’s progress and learning history, allowing for the creation of personalized learning plans that take into account the student’s unique strengths and challenges. 

Verification of Non-Traditional Education: 

There are many other sorts of education and training available than conventional degree programmes that might be helpful for people wishing to advance their professions. Online courses, workshops for professional growth, and other non-traditional forms of education may be among them. Given that the data is maintained on a safe and decentralized platform using blockchain, it may be simpler to confirm the validity and worth of various sorts of schooling. 

Streamlined Transfer of Credits: 

The procedure of transferring credits between educational institutions can be time-consuming and difficult for students. The transfer of credits can be simplified by storing and verifying educational records on a blockchain since the data is easily accessible and unchangeable. For both students and educational institutions, this can result in time and resource savings. 

Increased Efficiency and Cost-Savings: 

For educational institutions, using blockchain in education can also result in greater efficiency and cost savings. Institutions can spend less time and money on administrative activities by automating the authentication of credentials and expediting the transfer of credits. Additionally, the adoption of blockchain can assist lower the possibility of mistakes and fraud, enhancing efficiency and reducing expenses. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use of blockchain technology in education has the potential to bring numerous benefits, including increased data security, transparency, and credential verification. The adoption of blockchain in education can also enable the customization of educational programs, improve access to education for underserved communities, and verify the authenticity of non-traditional forms of education. In addition, the use of blockchain can streamline the transfer of credits and lead to increased efficiency and cost-savings for educational institutions. However, it is important to consider the challenges and limitations of using blockchain in education, including concerns about privacy and potential misuse of data. As more educational institutions begin to adopt blockchain technology, it is likely that we will see further development and innovation in this area. 

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Throughout history, technology has surpassed human capabilities time and again. Since the Industrial Revolution people had been outsourcing the labor work to machines- leaving the “thinking” work to humans. Consider the influence of inventions such as steam engines or the telephone on the lives and livelihoods of people. But this time it’s different; today’s technologies like AI/ML, Blockchain, or IoT in fact have the potential to virtually replace people’s jobs across domains.

The notion of Artificial Intelligence and the thought “can machine think?” crossed minds back in the 20^th century. Fictional characters like the humanoid robot, Gort, or the ‘heartless’ Tin Man gave us glimpses of the capabilities of machines to think and act or even outsmart humans. Alan Turing, the British logician and computer pioneer marked the beginning of AI. He explored the mathematical possibilities and gave the logical framework of his 1950 paper, Computing Machinery and Intelligence in which he discussed how to build intelligent machines and how to test their intelligence. Since then, AI has progressed from simply defeating humans in games like chess and board games using essentially memory and computing power, to becoming a part of our daily life, using more human-like skills such as speech recognition, image recognition, spatial judgment, conversational ability and so on.  Many of these capabilities are already built into, the now commercially available and ubiquitous, digital assistants like Apple’s Siri, Google Now, Amazon’s Alexa, and Microsoft’s Cortana. From problem-solving logic to understanding and influencing human emotions and decisions, AI has come a long way. This journey has been accelerated by forming a synergetic relationship with big data, in order to gain better clarity and a deeper understanding of the factors that influence our decisions.

According to Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the rise in artificial intelligence will help society to be able to do more with less. “AI is just the latest in technologies that allow us to produce a lot more goods and services with less labor. And overwhelmingly, over the last several hundred years, that has been great for society,” says Gates.

Redefining work to restore humanity

Despite recent claims that AI would soon surpass human intelligence, this idea can be disproved by analyzing what AI cannot do in comparison to natural intelligence. Our existing work process, as we know is systematic and standardized with a data-driven approach, which artificial intelligence can clearly perform more efficiently than humans. Having the technology to take up the rigorous and mundane tasks, people have a significant opportunity to rethink the fundamentals of “value creation” “meaningful work” and “work-life culture” across industries. Therefore, the potential of AI to perform automated tasks allows us to explore unique human characteristics like imagination, creativity, curiosity, morality, ethics, and emotional, cultural, and social intelligence. However, the fact that AI is growing at an electric speed also creates a lot of challenges for us to acclimatize and be ready for future transformation.

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai made a bold statement on AI, saying “It’s the most important thing humanity is working on. It is more profound than, I dunno, electricity or fire”.
Perhaps that statement isn’t as far-fetched as one might believe, given how AI is already assisting humans in combating climate change, exploring space, and developing cancer treatments, among other things.

Collaborative Intelligence of Humans and AI

The key question “Can AI get dangerously out of control, and can it turn against humans?” is a difficult one to answer- yet.

We first have to discover whether AI can develop emotions, judgment, imagination, and all of those intangible abilities that make us human; only then can we decide whether we have created the best thing for the human race or our own worst enemy. Might it be too late by then- who knows?
But having a single global governing body/regulatory authority that oversees how AI is developing, and how that might impact humans using a common framework is not a bad idea. In addition, some other questions of crucial importance are how transparent is the AI algorithm? What can we do about the AI biases? Because AI algorithms are completely data-driven, it may simply replicate the existing biases in data representation. For instance, when Amazon was developing an AI-based recruiting system, they discovered a flaw: the AI was favoring male candidates over female candidates based on data from their previous hiring procedures. While humans are striving to eliminate biases from society, AI appears to automate the process without even realizing it.

Elon Musk stated that “If AI has a goal and humanity just happens to be in the way, it will destroy humanity as a matter of course without even thinking about it…It’s just like, if we’re building a road and an anthill just happens to be in the way, we don’t hate ants, we’re just building a road.”

The future might probably see the collaboration of AI and humans, closely working and improving each other’s capabilities. Human talents and the technical prowess of AI together can bring greater developments than the world has seen before. Instead of eliminating our jobs, AI can create the opportunity to make our work more humane. Many existing work processes will be disrupted, updated, and transformed. Organizations can be more concerned about their people, resulting in a more compassionate work environment. While AI can take care of desk-bound manual jobs, there are several fields such as social work, psychotherapy, or critical customer service that require natural human traits of empathy and emotions are likely to find profound importance for the betterment of society and the world.

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