Blockshiksha

Blockchain based credential and profile management for online learning

What is the problem that you are solving?

The new knowledge economy requires constant learning-unlearning and relearning. One of the major reasons for the massive layoffs and unemployment is the gap in skills. But how do people already in the workforce reskill themselves. A software developer in mainframe computing can’t possibly go back to university and reskill in machine learning. The only avenues available to him are online courses and MOOCs. MOOCs and Online education have disrupted higher education. They have led to greater modularization allowing hybrid approaches to education. However, they face a credibility crunch. Workers who reskill themselves using these online courses are often placed at a disadvantage compared to those who have a university degree for the same course. University degree is still a gatekeeper to opportunity.

Online courses are not taken seriously because of two reasons-

Credentialing- There is no way to judge the seriousness and the level of dedication a course taker has put in to complete the course. There is a need for streamlining of course evaluation

Profiling and Identity management- Multiple sources of these courses and there is no single source of truth to profile and ascertain validity. There is a need for profile creation and maintenance of course history of learners

 2. What is the solution you are proposing?

A blockchain based advanced data analytics platform to analyze, track and capture more than 100 parameters across the user’s MOOC course duration. These parameters will be used to ascertain credibility. This will be community vetted and consolidated to provide a score/marks to the learner for that course. Each course undertaken by the user (which can be on different platforms like Udacity, Coursera, etc.) will be recorded on the ledger which will serve as the single source of truth for all of the user’s online learnings. This ledger can be shared with any stakeholder and will effectively provide more acceptance to the MOOCs.  

The ledger is planned to be expanded to include all of the user’s academic record right from his university education to the constant learning-unlearning-relearning he has done throughout his career.

This effectively solves the two problems outlined- one of credentialing and the other of profile management.

 3. How will your solution change the world?

Greater acceptance to online learning and re-skilling via such means. This will lead to removal of taboo and adults can effectively reskill themselves and stay relevant.  This will also contribute to sustainability as already employed people who run the risk of being unemployed can effectively reskill themselves helping them maintain their economic lives as well as mental well-being

Capturing of well researched data to determine user's seriousness while taking a course and feeding it into a learning model to come up with a consolidated score. We use advanced machine learning techniques to standardize scores and then store this on top of a blockchain based ledger to provide the user with a profile which can be shared

Blockchain provides non repudiation.

Machine learning helps in categorization and calculation of user's commitment during the course.

We aim to test our pilot solution with universities providing distance learning and work integrated programs. This will provide the ground for testing both our credential and profile management. . 

Over the next 3-5 years we aim to partner first with MOOC platforms and outbound hiring organisations to create an environment for greater acceptance of our solution. Our early adopters would be freelancers for whom we aim to provide better credibility

Our first customers would be Universities providing distance learning and we would reach them via partnerships. 

The solution will be a plugin which needs to be added to the courses you are taking. This will require partnerships with the course providers.

After the recording of vital stats and profiling is done, the ledger will be a verify all ledger which can be verified for given identities

Yet to pilot

Start off with distance learners and freelancers and gradually expand to organisations internal learning mechanisms and MOOCs and online courses. 

We expect greater acceptance of these courses because of the strong credentialing and profile management.

We are a team comprising of technical coders and subject matter experts. We also have a HULT finalist and an experiential learning guru.

Cost- 

1.Infrastructure cost(AWS hosting and storage cost)

2.Sales & Marketing cost (or cost of customer acquisition)

3.Employee cost.(Development and support)

Revenues-

Utility based pricing.

1.No charge for free MOOC course.

2.5%  of total MOOC course cost in case of paid.

We think solve can provide us with the right mentorship and feedback mechanism required for ours solution. It can help us connect the dots. The problem we are solving helps achieve sustainability and Solve can help us get the right partnerships and value streams

Hiring perception which we are trying to overcome.

Course providers participation.