Fireside chat at ODEM.io and Designing for Blockchain

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been doing a professional exploration on blockchain and education. My primary focus was to understand:

• One of the most innovative and world-changing technologies and its implications.
• The ecosystem and the touch-points to help build new applications.
• How to guide people through this transition and educate them.

To understand how to approach the design process of such a complex system, I reached out to Jan Bass, who has been in marketing for many years. He is currently the creative director at ODEM.io, a blockchain startup that “aims to make quality education more accessible and affordable to a broader audience.”

We had a lengthy discussion on the current state of the system and the future state of Education they are trying to create. On-Demand Education Marketplace [ODEM.io] is a platform that connects students, educators, and service providers. The platform is built on the Etherium blockchain. However, the interactions between different stakeholders happen face-to-face.

Currently, the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have an average 5% completion rate. Many service providers, such as the Udacity, struggle to keep people motivated. As much as MOOCs pioneered the age of online learning platforms, they neglected one of the most essential elements that create the learning experience. That is, learning through face-to-face interactions. What was essentially missing in this equation was the human touch.

ODEM aims to address the weakness of the MOOCs by making the classroom learning experience accessible, as well as creating indelible records of the education provided by the educators. Immutable network records enable your education to be secured amongst the network. Imagine a Malaysian citizen who was affected by the Sabah Earthquake and has served as a brain surgeon for decades. In 30 seconds, all records of his education and proof of work are wiped out. Now imagine what it would be like to recover this data to get another job somewhere else. The blockchain technology, and to be more specific ODEM.io, wants to solve this problem by enabling people to secure their data through a digital identity which is safely stored in the blockchain.

They are introducing a decentralized education ecosystem where the power of institutes and other third parties is spread amongst the network to make it safe, flexible, and affordable. At the core of the system, ODEM uses proprietary AI algorithms to filter data and meet the needs of the student. It acts as a funnel and gives you the best results based on what you want to learn and where you want to learn. It gives you the opportunity to create a custom schedule that will allow you to take, let’s say, astrophysics and painting on the same day by efficiently connecting you to instructors in your area. This non-traditional approach enables students to get to get a high quality, in-person education experience.

By using smart contracts, educators create a course curriculum that lives in the blockchain and enables students to interact directly with the educator and service providers.

The process works in the following way:

Once a student is verified on the ODEM platform, they can search for a course and make a request to the provider.

Once a request is made, the educator can approve or reject the application.

Each step of the interaction is recorded and verified among the blockchain.

Once the course is completed, a final certificate of completion is recorded on the blockchain, which can be accessed by the student. This final certification can be obtained by employers if a request is made by the student.

Every step of the transaction of knowledge is recorded throughout this process. The technology and the designed system allows students to take ownership of their education, participate in a variety of courses by addressing diverse needs, reducing costs, creating transparency, and making it accessible all around the world.

After an hour of discussing the education system and the offerings, not only I walked out with a better grasp of the technology but also a deeper understanding of the application of design within the process. Today, as designers, we have 3 important tasks to help scale the technology and the system to distribute knowledge, power, and welfare.

Trust + Communication

We have to be able to communicate and help people visualize the technology to create trust. The first step for this is educating oneself.

Become System Thinkers

There are so many entities interacting with one and another when designing for blockchain. It is our job to envision these entities at a large scale, then condense the information to make it digestible to empower people and not overwhelm them. (Aim to make it digestible enough for a 10-year-old to understand)

Trust+Research

The network accommodates highly sensitive data, and as designers, it’s our job to provide guidance across a product to create a positive experience and engage them. The user needs to be able to understand the difference between using a DApp and apps that they are accustomed to. The only way to build this trust is by engaging with your target audience and interviewing and observing them. Once you understand their needs, design to make your user feel at ease; guide them, and give them feedback.

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You could find out more about ODEM.io on their website and their technical white paper.