‘Three day’ research project on blockchain in education shows Kabuni ecosystem value
A research campaign into how blockchain can benefit education completed in three days shows the potential of the Kabuni ecosystem.
For any doubters questioning how blockchain can have real life utility, this was demonstrated on a global scale as the Kabuni community came together for a project specifically looking at the benefits and costs for businesses of using the new technology for education.
Three day campaign
During a three day process, surveys were handed out with volunteers providing responses from 25 different countries providing crucial diversity which is groundbreaking in itself — but on top of this the people participating were paid in Kabuni COIN.
“The reason we tested this was because it was a three day campaign where they needed a 100 surveys filled out with 27 questions and what was magical was that it was managed to be done in three days,” said Kabuni founder Nimesh Patel.
“They were shocked that it happened that quickly and it was also very diverse — people from all over the world. When researchers do projects they need diversity to get a better understanding and so when we talk about campaigns for research it can be testing a product or a medicine.”
The study involved researchers from Dunarea de Jos University of Galati and the University of Constanta in Romania as well as the University of Reading in the UK and the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
“Our first paper evaluated the perspective of educators around the world in the context of the effectiveness of specific outcomes on using emerging technology in the education sector,” said Nina Jane Patel, President of Research and Safety. “We highlighted the transparency of blockchain that was enabled and decentralisation of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activity.”
‘Providing an immersive learning experience’
Professor Alexandru Capatina, of Dunarea de Jos University of Galati, who also worked on the project told how he is researching the value of metaverse platforms for education including CSR.
“This ongoing research explores the drivers and the outcomes of the blockchain enabled CSR investments in the metaverse for education and we are trying to highlight the role of stakeholder interests and social control dynamics in shaping the CSR strategies in Web3 technologies,” he said.
“The Kabuni platform aims to target schools, parents and children providing an immersive learning experience in order to increase the speed of learning and the retention of knowledge with the engagement level of students also higher on this kind of platform.”
The paper entitled ‘Elevating students’ lives through immersive learning experiences in a safe metaverse’ was published in the International Journal of Information Management. It states: “Metaverse platforms devoted to educational purposes are becoming increasingly popular among educators worldwide due to the benefits they offer in elevating students’ lives. This study explores how immersive platform features, blockchain features, a safe learning environment and new learning models contribute to the educational outcomes.
“Emerging literature on educational Metaverse platforms has been used to develop a genuine conceptual model. The model was tested using data collected from 100 educators located in different countries from worldwide. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM), Random Forest and other different feature importance methods, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), thematic content analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA).
“The application of PLS-SEM outlines that immersive platform features and safe learning environments positively affects educational outcomes. Random Forest and feature importance methods investigate the predictive power of items included in the model, fsQCA reveals the combinations of these factors that lead to high educational outcomes, while the qualitative insights reveal the key themes emerged from educators’ perspectives on the use of Metaverse platforms. This study contributes to Metaverse literature, which is relatively understudied in the educational sector.”
Alexandru continues: “Kabuni tries to connect companies with schools with this innovative approach, companies are incentivised to invest in CSR focused on education and after that they will donate to schools, technology, hardware, Kabuni software and all the other equipment. It is not only for schools, it is also for homeschooling for parents who would like it.”
Blockchain for CSR activity
And Nina explained how their work in this field is unique. “It is the early days of the technology on a global scale and we are developing the evidence to show the effectiveness and the capability of the technology to benefit many different industries,” she said. “I don’t think there is a company in the world that is using blockchain for its CSR activity other than collecting crypto donations. Globally, culturally it is a very interesting discussion to have on the perspectives and the views of new technologies and making use of them, we could write several papers on that alone.”
Meanwhile, Nimesh also highlighted that the volunteers for the paper were paid 10KBC for their efforts which brings a whole new incentive to the research arena.
“The magic was that 140 got 10KBC for their time and effort which is unheard of in university research and if you amplify that into charities, who have the largest school of volunteers in the world — what if a charity onboards their volunteers onto our platform and now they are not doing it for free, they are being rewarded,” he said.
“They can also track the campaigns and quests they have taken part in — so they can go to donors who buy Kabuni COIN to donate to us because you can track the last mile — where it actually goes, what you are donating… it becomes a really good platform for charities. A global community comes together — Romania and London, professors, researchers, technology and education and 144 people in 25 countries contributed.”
Kabuni Quests with 10KBC rewards for participants
People can take part in Kabuni research and claim rewards through Quests where theyanswer questions in a survey with an emphasis on a straightforward user experience. The Quest ‘Shaping the Future of Education: Join Our Blockchain & CSR Study’ is being run on AirLyft, that takes only around five to 10 minutes to complete yet can have a big impact in the research and participants can claim 10 KBC.
Kabuni began life in 2016 with the message “to inspire and empower every person to tap into their unique capabilities, bringing transformative solutions for a better life”.
It is focused on providing funding for the three pillars of research, charities and startups.
Volunteers who invest into the ecosystem are called ChangeMakers who are rewarded with Kabuni COIN which they can stake, spend or donate to projects that can make a real change to people’s lives.
“We are looking for a charity to do a study on. On the research side we have got Drivyx and the Sustainable Squad which are two projects that our community are helping us to scale, said Nimesh.
“We have done the first research campaign, charities because I think they are important in enabling the right outcomes and then on the project side, startups that are in effect driving new utility and giving renovation to the world.”
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