IIT Kanpur operates the blockchain technology to award digital degrees that have been developed in-house. It is being lauded as a revolutionary technology for the education sector. The technology is already being operated in the financial sector.
The three key doctrines of blockchain technology are transparency, decentralisation and accountability.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday established a system to award blockchain-based educational degrees in digital structure to students. According to the IIT Kanpur director, these digital degrees can be ascertained globally and are unforgeable.
The institute has devised the technology under the National Blockchain Project. Later, addressing the convocation, PM Modi said that technology is the future and getting priceless gifts from eminent institutes like IIT Kanpur. Here is everything you need to know about the blockchain-based digital degree and how it will affect the education sector in the future-
Decentralised technology
The blockchain system works on the principle of decentralisation. This implies that the control is not in the hands of a central agency but a distributed network of nodes. This will help keep the data safe even if any specific node is compromised. Also, the information in a blockchain is recorded and stored successively along with an exact timestamp. The preliminary information can't be altered, only amended by counting a new block. This makes tampering with a transcript very challenging.
Maintaining student records
Blockchain technology can simplify the tiresome task of sustaining students' records by digitising them. Also, the students will be capable of accessing their records remotely.
According to Maryville University in the United States, Blockchain technology can help with verification. In the case of transfer students, sharing information with companies, or giving degrees, any institute may do so with a few clicks instead of going through many paper documents.
Assist in curriculum development and grading
Teachers can also use blockchain technology to execute a certain curriculum when certain criteria are satisfied, thanks to its algorithms. The professors can enter blockchain lessons, courses, and programming jobs. The algorithm can then verify that each task has been completed and assign the next assignment to pupils until all of the tasks have been completed.
The same technology can help teachers grade their students. Students can be graded using blockchain technology based on their exam responses, with the algorithm taking into account questions, answers, and scoring factors.
Cost-cutting
Blockchain technology has the potential to reduce expenses by making learning more accessible. It will require less manual intervention, resulting in fewer employees being hired to handle processes. The technology is already in use in the financial sector, and it is used to digital power currencies such as bitcoin.
Challenges
Security is, ironically, one of the most difficult aspects of adopting blockchain technology for any reason. Increased security does not rule out the possibility of a security breach. It also makes it impossible to change student records for genuine reasons.
There is also a limit to how far the system can be scaled beyond a certain point. Increasing the network size necessitates the addition of more blocks, which slows transaction performance because each transaction necessitates peer-to-peer verification.
