By harnessing blockchain technology, non-fungible tokens offer students and teachers valuable credit, recognition, and career merit.
Non-Fungible Tokens, more commonly referred to as NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens), entered the market to add originality and value to certain digital assets. They have since found uses outside of artistic applications; including education which relies heavily on NFT resources in order to improve academic quality.
NFTs, also known as non-expendable financial tokens (NFTs), are digital objects with guaranteed authenticity of ownership. NFT Development uses blockchain technology — commonly referred to as blockchain — similarly used by cryptocurrencies, creating an immutable token distinguished from its copies by creators and distributed. OpenSea is the leading online marketplace for NFTs which utilises this blockchain layer. According to their creators and according to OpenSea itself “The blockchain provides users with ownership and management permissions on these assets”.
The blockchain system grants interoperability when moving assets across ecosystems, as well as being recognized in their NFT storage providers and auctionable markets. But how does the presence and implementation of non-fungible tokens contribute to education?
Issue and Management of Certificates
NFTs provide an effective alternative to diplomas, awards or certificates as evidence of academic excellence due to their secure nature and verification features. Furthermore, using tokens reduces any likelihood of forgery while helping manage student records and credits effectively while tracking learning progress over time and protecting educational data.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is among the most innovative institutions when it comes to NFTs. To facilitate implementation, MIT established the Digital Credentials Consortium — an international network of universities with shared systems for digital academic credentials that are verifiable, traceable, and available for review by employers — providing employers access to accurate records about graduates’ credentials.
But NFT may be more applicable than many realize; Pepperdine University professor Beau Brannan even used NFT as an incentive at the conclusion of each course he taught. So that students could easily view an overview of their academic achievements online, he asked them to submit assignments from a curriculum in order to demonstrate their mastery of each subject matter. Brannan requested his students present him with an NFT token as a review of his performance as an instructor, explaining that “the token can serve as something public or private to display and can open doors for jobs or opportunities”. Furthermore, token sharing as credential sharing can further legitimize and elevate teachers and courses on all kinds of platforms worldwide, making education more accessible while increasing its quality.
Some universities also utilize NFTs for graduate degrees. In 2019, Tec de Monterrey became the first Mexican university to offer digital degrees validated via blockchain network validation for recent graduates.
Rights Protection
Another key advantage of non-fungible tokens is attributing authorship of works. Students spend much of their time creating new content, much of it original. According to Peter Thomas, Director of the Royal University of Melbourne Institute of Technology, copyright in student work and projects often isn’t acknowledged in education — for this reason, NFTs allow creative recognition through sharing achievements by giving credit.
Researchers or inventors who cannot patent their discoveries often lose recognition of them; to help acknowledge this fact, the University of California at Berkeley developed non-fungible tokens from two Nobel Prize investigations that it auctioned off to fund further study. James Allison won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for cancer immunotherapy research conducted under his cancer immunotherapy research protocol; Jennifer Doudna received hers two years later for CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing research conducted through CRISPR-Cas9. James Allison held his auction through the Ethereum blockchain platform which enabled participants to bid; proceeds go toward innovative education and research at Berkeley including supporting educational and research initiatives like Center Campus Blockchain research programs within Berkeley campuses such as that of campus blockchain for educational initiatives as Center Campus Blockchain development at UC Berkeley campus.
As with Brannan’s class, some teachers can utilize non-fungible token technology to verify their work. Preply is a language learning platform that uses non-fungible token technology to reward its top tutors by registering three NFTs on OpenSea in 2021 and awarding them using Crypto wallets. Amy Pritchett from her student success manager Amy Pritchett said this helps create a digital “trophy case” which could later be shared with potential clients, employers, or college admissions officials.
Christin Bohnke, a freelance writer specializing in EdTech and East Asia, suggests that blockchain is an invaluable way for non-fungible tokens to store data securely. Therefore, when students lose academic records or certificates due to conflict zones or another country’s educational records system collapsing, their credentials can still be verified easily on the blockchain; custom nft development further allows displaced individuals to continue their professional lives after a dislocation.
Bohnke highlights another advantage of NFTs is the verification of non-formal learning. Through NFTs, information such as research experience, projects, skills development, and tutoring may be added to a student’s portfolio file; massive open online course (MOOC) attendance could also demonstrate knowledge acquired outside higher education institutions.
Bohnke also raises some concerns with introducing NFTs into education, particularly around privacy control. Even though NFT information is digitally secured and difficult to alter; any changes must be collectively validated before being made permanent records. If students change their minds about disclosing some data from their learning paths or select what information would go into permanent records?
Audrey Watters, an educational technology writer who specializes in blockchain technology, raises similar concerns. She questions whether blockchain will enable students to maintain control over their privacy when adopting it and offers as an example: What would happen if someone wanted a gender confirmation surgery or had someone harassing or stalking her whom they want to hide their identity from? Essentially, designing educational strategies so as to protect privacy by default becomes paramount.
Adopting non-fungible tokens into education provides benefits across a range of areas, from protecting content creators’ authorship and rights to making achievements measurable, recognizable, and verifiable for students and teachers. Furthermore, non-fungible tokens make lifelong learning efforts visible while protecting a record; yet certain questions need to be asked in order to determine the optimal route towards this objective.
