Technology developed alongside the digital
cryptocurrency bitcoin may provide colleges and universities with an
inexpensive and secure way to handle student records. Blockchain makes it
possible to deposit information to a global network that is both publicly
available and secure.
“Because of the design of the blockchain-distributed
database, it cannot go down and cannot be altered, making the data always
available and secure … the blockchain does this free of charge,” Sylvain
Kalache, co-founder at Holberton School in San Francisco, said in a report for CNBC. The software engineering institution was established as a
project-based alternative to college and plans to share academic certificates
on blockchain starting next year.
Universities can use blockchain to provide microcourse
and microcredential verification, as well as to track and record student
coursework. The technology also makes it possible to easily control who views
student transcripts and to securely transmit the data.
“The technology has the potential to realize an
entirely new infrastructure for sharing records securely over the network in
any number of ways, opening new doors of possibility for academic records and
how they are assessed,” Sony Global Education said in a press release last
February announcing plans for its own blockchain service.