Future of Higher Education – Freely Available Information Combine with Open-Source Material, Classes, Projects & Evaluation

Open, Neutral, Borderless, Censorship Resistant, Global, (& Potentially Private), Immutable & Freely Available…  These are some of the attributes that make cryptocurrencies and decentralized information and computation (e.g., BitCoin, MimbleWimble, Ethereum) so interesting.  The ability to ‘transact’ in a peer-to-peer fashion WITHOUT the need for a centralized trusted 3rd party.  In the case of cryptocurrencies, the trusted 3rd party is the Bank.  In the case of education, the trusted 3rd party is the University, State or Private Corporation that issues certification and degrees.

So, what’s the problem with current ‘higher education’ methods:

• < 5% of Educational Content is digitized and FREELY AVAILABLE.   (We need more Wikipedia’s in this world)
• < 5% of students use online education.
• Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are failing to educate students. (EAB)
• Student debt is > $1.5 Trillion!!
• 3rd Parties take > 50% of the educational revenues.
• Expensive technolgies and Broadband Internet are often needed for access.

Solution

Use decentralized network and blockchain technology to enable students, educators and employers to interact DIRECTLY and participate in the exchange of education and learning, WITHOUT the involvement of intermediaries.

Getting Started

There are some amazing startup efforts to make this form of higher education a reality.  I am reviewing them now and will follow-up in mid-2019 with a detailed report.  For now, I provide links to some of the most interesting projects I know about below and please please leave comments with any project I have missed in the comment section below.  Lets start a conversation that leads to the much needed changes we need in making information freely available and higher education openly accessible.

Also, contributing to Wikipedia, Everipedia and making sure your research, information, data, etc is freely pubicly available is a GREAT way to help start this movement!!