Can Blockchain Technology Bring any Value to Education?

Abstract

Blockchain has been developed as a distributed database technology with potential business values, moving away from centralized approach to data representation and anonymity. In the digital technology market, there has been a series of discussions and critiques about the use of blockchain for good. Business professionals are still uncertain that blockchains provide any real value in the business context as much as others have claimed advantages, such as trust, decentralized structure, improved security and privacy, and cost reduction. Educational administrators may not immediately see the relevancy of this technology in education. This article presents a new perspective, called "learn-to-earn" model, as to how blockchain could be used in the educational administration context, and what possible future research direction in educational research can be foreseen. Educational administration and management could explore with educators how students may benefit from the blockchain technology behind their teaching and learning.