As the popularity of blockchain grows, so does the demand for developers with blockchain technology skills.
Inside Higher Ed reported in September 2018 that postings for blockchain jobs on LinkedIn are up 6,000 percent year over year.
Blockchain developers are in short supply across all industries, with more than 14 jobs available for each skilled developer. Universities are beginning to broaden their computer science curriculum to add blockchain courses and introduce its concepts into existing courses.
Smart contracts are a facet of blockchain technology that can enable instructors to communicate with students, verify class attendance and validate that assignments have been completed. Smart contracts could become the new format for teacher-student communication and interaction.
Blockchain and its smart contracts component offer significant potential to reduce the cost of online learning and extend its availability to a broader audience. Princeton University offers its own bitcoin and blockchain courses on Coursera, a massive online open course (MOOC) platform. Blockchain could streamline the certification process for MOOC learners.
Open Badges are portable, verifiable digital tools that are embedded with metadata about an individual’s skills and achievements. They comply with open badge specifications and can be shared across the internet. Data on Open Badges can be displayed easily via blockchain, providing a trusted platform for retaining credentials and sharing badges among employers, job sites and social networks.
Organizations that use blockchain can share information across multiple users, who then can contribute their own entries to the blockchain. This efficiency can ease data-sharing and collaboration among research teams and institutions. The process of publishing research with peer reviews and comments can be streamlined and hastened. Research funding also can benefit from blockchain, enabling government agencies and other grant-making organizations to check research status and issue funds automatically.
Processes to establish and protect intellectual property rights can become more efficient with blockchain. The technology enables a user to view the complete history and provenance of patents and copyrights. The process of obtaining and enforcing publishing rights can be automated and streamlined. New publications can be shared immediately with peers and the public for faster discussion and follow-up.
