Blockchain Education 2018
Blockchain Education
Blockchain technology is revolutionising education as we know it, how this is transpiring is multifaceted, and can be broken down into these areas; learning about the technology, using the technology, and future thinking about decentralised technologies.
What is blockchain?
Simply, a blockchain is a decentralised public ledger, which stores permanent ‘blocks’ of info. The blockchain is stored on a network of nodes or computers, meaning that no one individual has control of the data. Blockchain technology is commonly associated with cryptocurrencies like NEM, however it has many other applications — The most exciting being education.
Learning about the technology — learning about creating distributed and decentralised network topologies has allowed students at Wooranna Park Primary School (WPPS) to explore some of but not limited to the following areas. Financial Literacy, DApps, ICOs, Full Node building, Mining, and Hardware Wallets.
Financial literacy is the possession of the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources. It is something that we never explored in the legacy education system due to the lack of understanding. Blockchain technology has allowed students to explore the difference between fiat and authenticated finance in very deep ways, including building their own computers and getting paid in cryptocurrency. more here
A decentralized application (Dapp, dApp or DApp) is an application that is run by many users on a decentralized network with trustless protocols. They are designed to avoid any single point of failure. They typically have tokens to reward users for providing computing power. Students at WPPS have been exploring a number of DApps in an agnostic manor across a number of distributed networks, including NEM and the IPFS (RocketShoes and Textile being two of the most exciting DApps) {more here}
ICO is the abbreviation of Initial Coin Offering. It means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies. With The help of a developer from flexdapps, a group of students at WPPS calling themselves the “technomites” learned how to code their own mock ICO! {more here}
A full node is a program that fully validates transactions and blocks. Almost all full nodes also help the network by accepting transactions and blocks from other full nodes, validating those transactions and blocks, and then relaying them to further full nodes. WPPS students have built several nodes for different blockchains including NEM, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Storj, Steem and IPFS using all types of hardware and software from Raspberry Pi’s and linux to NUC’s and Windows OS. {more here}
cryptocurrency mining is a process in which transactions for various forms of cryptocurrency are verified and added to the blockchain digital ledger. … In order to be competitive with other cryptominers, though, a cryptocurrency miner needs a computer with specialized hardware. Students have been learning about mining different types of cryptocurrency, and more recently a group of devs from Sydney, Australia have embarked on creating a game with the students at WPPS to teach the skills of mining in a fun way. {more here}
A hardware wallet is a special type of bitcoin wallet which stores the user’s private keys in a secure hardware device. They have major advantages over standard software wallets: private keys are often stored in a protected area of a microcontroller, and cannot be transferred out of the device in plaintext. {more here}
Using the Technology — Nem.Education is a platform where students can vote (consensus of content) on what content they want to learn with regard to Blockchain Technology. {more here}
RocketShoes is a digital asset platform for education designed for a learner-centric approach and providing powerful tools to manage content in a decentralised way. Learners are able to produce and track their own learning materials, including assignments, notes, and digital assets. WPPS is the first school in the world to use this type of technology. {more here}
Textile DApp is a digital wallet for your photos. Textile Photos is a mobile app to sync, share, and secure your personal photos using private encryption and the decentralized web. Textile is built with open source code, the IPFS protocol, and a mission to improve the future of our data. Students at WPPS have been beta testing this DApp in an educational setting {more here}
Future Thinking — Students at WPPS have developed 3D printed sustainable houses using TinkerCad. After completion of the CAD files this week, the students utilised RocketShoes to store and prove ownership over their work. {more here}
