Automating Trust Between Education Providers

The impact of modern education is not just limited to individuals. It now affects economies and social landscapes on a global level.

While we acknowledge the crucial role of education in living a healthier and wealthier lifestyle, the role played by the education system itself is an equally important factor to observe. Without a proper and reliable means to deliver and spread knowledge, the goal of giving better education to all is simply unfeasible.

The Transformation of Education System

Today, we’re in a digital era where electronic devices and the internet have become a potentially inseparable part of our lives. The rise in technological advancements have touched upon every industry, education included. Over the years, the education system has dramatically transformed into its current state where learning is facilitated through Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Google Classroom, Blackboard, and Moodle.

In spite of all the progress and advancements, the education system around the world still retains some core practices of learning and teaching from ancient times — such as the traditional classroom environment, textbooks and other methods of learning. However, this transformation is an ongoing process and is likely to continue in the coming times. The most prominent changes we can see in the current scenario is perhaps the emergence and increased adoption of platforms like Coursera, Udemy, Udacity, and edX, that adopted the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) model.

The Problems with the Current Education System

Regardless of all the benefits and improvements by the digitization, the whole education ecosystem has fragmented more than ever. Many universities and institutions are gradually transitioning in favor of e-learning platforms, while some still seem hesitant towards undergoing such changes and adopting new methods of learning.

To meet the requirement of current knowledge economy, educational institutions are needed to constantly improve upon their fundamental teaching methods along with raising the standard for recruiting teachers. On a closer look, it becomes evident that many nations across the globe still lack the basic educational structure to teach the 21st century human in the digital era.

The lack of a common vision and a common model for providing education has created an environment of distrust among various education providers, which in turn, affects the access to better education. This naturally leads us to look for a learning solution that embodies the principle of incentivized learning to attract the learners, while equally benefiting the educators. The potential solution must also be able to bring together education providers on a platform which automates the entire learning and teaching process in a trustless manner. This is where one0x enters the play.

one0x: A Trustless Solution

To build a truly trustless and unbiased learning platform, we need a technology that is decentralized and is able to facilitate the exchange of knowledge in a transparent and accountable environment. one0x intends to build a common ecosystem for learners and knowledge providers where it is possible to quantify the actual learning by a learner along with verifying the authenticity of every learning or teaching activity. The one0x platform works towards tackling root causes behind major issues in the current education system.

The goal to create such a platform has been achieved by one0x by leveraging a distributed immutable ledger on the Ethereum blockchain. This is used to record all knowledge exchange activities for the entire lifecycle of your learning or teaching activity. oneOx uses the blockchain to create a decentralized database that embraces the vision of a knowledge economy and motivates the exchange of knowledge through rewards incentivization.

The incentivization on the one0x platform is implemented through two reward tokens called Gyan and Karma.

• Gyan is a measurement of knowledge earned by a learner through various sources on the one0x platform. Each unit of Gyan measures at least an hour of learning in any particular subject.
• Karma is a standard Ethereum-based ERC-20 token. It is required by the students to access courses on the platform.

How does one0x Automate Trust?

All the learning and incentivization activities on the one0x platform are automated via one0x smart contracts that are deployed on the blockchain. These smart contracts are built with the best industry standards in mind, to enable access control and fall-back functions. Additionally, every record stored on the blockchain ledger is permanent and is beyond any possibility of tampering. And since the entire blockchain is decentralized, there is no single point of failure.

one0x has adopted the proof of work model to ensure that all learning that gets recorded on the blockchain is quantified in the most transparent manner. The platform requires teachers to select an assessment model as part of creating a teaching contract. There are three assessment models on the one0x platform — teacher assessment, peer assessment, and third-party assessment.

Similarly, through an accreditation process, one0x will allow building instructor trust within the ecosystem. The platform will enable any peer to be accredited by others who themselves could have been accredited by a higher authority. This paves the way for building trust among students and teachers.

one0x also deploys a API stack to further increase the automation of its operations. The API stack holds various APIs that are designed to perform certain functions. The one0x API stack handles the following functions:

• User account registration
• New learning activity
• Student participation
• Knowledge score issuance
• User Profiles
• Upvote and Review
• Scholarships
• Questions
• Other functions

Through the use of blockchain technology, one0x has further increased the value of all existing education platforms or Learning Management Systems. It has created a common ecosystem for learning where education providers can finally set aside the distrust and build a reputation for themselves in a transparent manner.