The One0x protocol: Powering the supply chain of education

Education as an institution, is subject to persistent change. It has paralleled the development of innovation and technology right from its inception. The present-day technological growth has altered the face of education in many ways — learning is no longer restricted to the classroom portals. It is digital, growing and accessible everywhere.

Manifold advancements in tech have assisted in building a supply chain of sorts for education that facilitates easier, faster, and more accessible learning for all. From MOOCs to blockchain, here is a track of the complete development of the education supply chain.

Beginning of Education Supply Chain with MOOCs

One of the first strides made towards digitizing education was the introduction of the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). The concept behind this initiative was to create online learning spaces that extend the affordability as well as accessibility of education. Without restrictions on the choice of courses and attendance, MOOCs are aimed at establishing individual autonomy in education. This inventive idea endeavoured to change the means of delivering education to the masses, thereby, initiating the supply chain process in education.

MOOCs primarily enable students and professionals with hectic schedules to pursue their educational interests through online courses. They provide audio-visual presentations that are equivalent to the length of classroom lectures. Despite substantial flaws in the concept, it generated significant changes towards creating a supply chain of education.

Outsourcing Education to Online Platforms

The expansion of education technology has opened many opportunities for online learning platforms. LinkedIn’s ALISON and Lynda are two portals that offer courses on a wide range of subjects. With the increasing popularity of the supply chain approach introduced by these websites, educational institutions, including Stanford, Wharton, and more, have started to deploy them within their framework.

Harvard Business School’s digital learning platform, HBX is aimed at digitizing the institution’s teaching methodology through this virtual classroom.

MIT and Harvard launched EdX in 2012. The platform today holds partnerships with several top schools such as Columbia University and UC Berkeley, among 85 others.

A number of other websites such as FutureLearn, Udacity and Coursera serve a similar purpose. In essence, these online platforms enable educational institutions to adopt new channels of delivering education to the masses.

Empowering the Supply Chain with one0x Blockchain

The promising blockchain technology has created prospects of disrupting a wide range of industries, and the education sector is really no exception. The advent of blockchain has remoulded the education technology into creating a better and more powerful supply chain for learning.

One0x is a blockchain-powered platform that seeks to empower the supply chain of education by building a global ecosystem of students, teachers and employers. It brings together schools, apps, coaching institutions and online learning platforms to provide students with multiple sources of learning.

The platform utilizes a combination of Karma, its reward token and Gyan, a standard measure of value for knowledge to incentivize learning and participation on the platform. It attempts to tokenize education, thereby, converting it to an easily shareable commodity. With the commodification of education, it is easy to steer the supply chain process.

Incentivizing Learning

One0x, with its proof of concept mechanism, seeks to create a standardized framework for the supply of education through the process of incentivization. It builds a knowledge ledger for every participant to track their learning experiences and knowledge scores.

The quality of education supplied on the platform is spurred by the incentive offered to the tutors for creating the study materials and courses. At the same time, it allows students to earn reward tokens through greater participation in classes, gigs, and communities thereby, stimulating students’ learning. Every peer stands an equal chance of winning the weekly rewards based on the Gyan balance. This process of incentivization propels commodification and further develops the supply chain of education.

The EdTech sector today is witness to multifaceted technologies that provide impetus to the supply chain of education. The On0x protocol capitalizes on the blockchain technology to build a network of tutors and learners in order to drive the supply of education. It proposes to add to the potential of the prevailing learning management systems.