Smart contracts are automatable and enforceable agreements, allowing for trackable and credible transactions on the Blockchain without the need for verification via third parties.
Published in Chapter:
Blockchain Applications in Lifelong Learning and the Role of the Semantic Blockchain
Alexander Mikroyannidis (The Open University, UK), Allan Third (The Open University, UK), John Domingue (The Open University, UK), Michelle Bachler (The Open University, UK), and Kevin A. Quick (Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University, UK)
Copyright: © 2020
|Pages: 26
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-9478-9.ch002
Abstract
The emergence of the blockchain promises to revolutionise not only the financial world but also lifelong learning in various ways. Blockchain technology offers opportunities to thoroughly rethink how we find educational content and tutoring services online, how we register and pay for them, as well as how we get accredited for what we have learned and how this accreditation affects our career trajectory. This chapter explores the different aspects of lifelong learning that are affected by this new paradigm and describes an ecosystem that places the learner at the centre of the learning process and its associated data. This chapter also discusses the possibilities that will be afforded by the combination of trustworthy educational data enhanced with meaningful web-accessible linked data, and what these developments will mean for learners, educators, and the employment market.