Blockchain at University CoinDesk

"Blockchain can revolutionize education," of course, will elicit the same skepticism as "Blockchain will revolutionize the world." Yet given the soaring costs of higher education, if blockchain can put any competitive pressure on the system, that alone would be a win.

He's the founder and executive director of the University of Colorado Blockchain Alliance, the CEO of Curve10 and the de facto Godfather of UC Boulder's blockchain initiatives, which include pilot programs for self-sovereign identity, putting college credentials on the blockchain and using the blockchain for student elections.

UC Boulder isn't the biggest or the first university to embrace blockchain, but the school's nascent program gives a window into the opportunities - and tricky challenges - of injecting blockchain into mainstream academia.

To throw a slap of cold water on the hype and misinformation: There's no Blockchain Degree, no Blockchain Masters Program and not even a Blockchain Minor.

If students take four blockchain-related courses at the graduate level - such as Distributed Systems, the Mathematics of CryptoSystems, or "Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies - Speculation or Innovation?" - then they can earn a blockchain "Certificate" as a sort of degree add-on.

Through the Blockchain Alliance, he worked with Albright on creating an application for the Blockchain Research Network, which aims to aggregate crypto academia.

"You cannot be an expert on what is happening in the blockchain supply chain, at the same time as you're an expert on blockchain voting, at the same time you're an expert on DeFi," she says.

"To be honest, I'm sensing a little bit of a lull in the interest in blockchain education," she says, adding that the slowdown could simply be due to the pandemic, quarantine, or the 5,000 other complications of 2020.Walch, who has been teaching blockchain since nearly the dawn of crypto time, also wonders who should count as an "Expert" in this nascent field.

If you think the idea of blockchain reshaping education is far-fetched, you're not alone, and not even all blockchain educators are onboard.

Walch says this invokes the Garbage In-Garbage Out concern that "Follows blockchain through all of its manifestations." How, exactly, would we determine the skills that the blockchain would authenticate? Would we use standardized tests, like the SAT or the LSAT? Then you bump into the problem of standardized test inequities, particularly to marginalized communities and people of color.