It had to happen, right? There’s so much hype around blockchain that colleges and universities have begun to take notice. Why? Well, historically, established educational institutions have been interested in teaching people (training them? Maybe that’s a discussion for another post…) about subjects organized by the institution’s vouched experts. Now, they are also interested in two other goals: remaining relevant in tremendously turbulent times and remaining solvent. Both of these last two goals are becoming increasingly important in a time of MOOCs, bootcamps, and the numerous, cheap or free learning experiences available on the web.
A quick review of post-secondary institutions now offering courses on blockchain reveals that a range of educational institutions worldwide are jumping into the game. Makes some sense given that certain aspects of blockchain are quite complex: some of the potentially related cryptography appears extremely daunting.
Does this education-related institutional focus point toward a sea change in software or even the web? As we have noted in previous newsletters, there are a number of individuals who have touted blockchain to be the new web. On the other hand, silos based on industry verticals have proven quite difficult to breech and disrupt—and that is almost exactly where blockchain technology appears to be finding its level. We’re still in early days.
All this said, huge organizations like IBM are in the midst of it: not only working on blockchain technologies, but also offering blockchain training, too. Relevance and money are not solely the provenance of the education industry. So, whether blockchain, in an ironic twist of fate, also ends up disrupting the traditional post-secondary education industry, too, is yet to be seen.
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Here are the articles that inspired and informed this newsletter. We recommend them to you as interesting data points in your consideration of education and decentralized technologies.
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