GC Blockchain Codefest

Reinventing Public Education

Disclaimer: any views put forth herein are my own and do not reflect the views of the Trillium Lakelands District School Board or the Huntsville High School. I am participating in this event as an independent agent.

Introduction

The goal of this project is to create a closed-loop ecosystem whereby businesses needing to establish a talent pipeline of candidates with industry specific skill-sets are given access to potential employees (i.e. students) who are trained by content developers. All three entities in this ecosystem must be sufficiently incentivised for the ecosystem to become self-sustaining. A token will be created on the blockchain that will reward students for completing training modules created by content developers (not public sector teachers) and directed by businesses; content developers will earn tokens for creating content; and businesses will purchase tokens to direct the creation of the content and have access to the highest achieving students.

The Problem

Public education is broken in many ways. Outside of school, students have networks of like-minded people all over the world; virtually limitless access to data and information; and the ability to seek out learning opportunities that could never be imagined 10 years ago. In school, students’ learning options are limited by the skill-sets of their teachers; students spend most of their day seated; they are confined to a small space (a classroom) for long periods of time with people they may or may not get along with; and they are generally passive learners. Most teachers have the best intentions, and work hard to be innovative in their lesson planning and attempt to use technology to engage and prepare students for the workforce. The school system however, is slow to adapt to advances in technology, has limited resources, and tends to breed institutionalised and disenfranchised students who prefer using their smart devices than learning in an antiquated manner.

Solution

The public education system must evolve. The Ministry of Education should still mandate courses that will cultivate a self-aware citizen however, businesses must have a bigger role (albeit indirect) in shaping the hard skills students will need to enter the workforce. The goal of this project is to create a closed-loop ecosystem that motivates students to acquire hard skills that will prepare them for the future workplace and reward businesses with large hiring pools of qualified candidates. By incentivising education, students will be motivated to seek their own learning pathways and will have the ability to work independently in the library, study hall, cafeteria, etc... and seek out teacher assistance when needed. Students will become responsible and accountable for their own learning and teachers will act as guides along their learning pathway.

Vitalik Buterin was discovered at the age of 20 through a program created by Billionaire Peter Thiel to award innovators with a grant to pursue their own inventions. https://www.ctvnews.ca/why-a-20-year-old-toronto-drop-out-accepted-100-000-to-stay-out-of-school-1.1895631.

Help me find the next Vitalik!

Constraint

Since students will be minors studying in the public education system, their identities need to be hidden until they reach the age of majority. Blockchain verification would be useful in identifying students and tracking their progress (perhaps in conjunction with #talent-recognition as the certificate validator).

Opportunity

As students develop their learning pathways, innovation incubators can be set-up in the same way as the Thiel Fellowship bringing together the greatest young minds to collaborate and invent. Funds will be raised through token sales to businesses and grants from government agencies. (edited)

Use Case

Dylan is gifted but he is awkward, gets bored easily and feels disconnected from his school community. He doesn’t have a lot of friends because he has unique interests that few people can relate to (most people consider him a nerd). He can’t wait to finish high-school and “get started with his life”. He gets average marks but never really applies himself in school. He graduates high school with a diploma, but with no direction and a limited understanding of his strengths and weaknesses, he gets a job after graduation and never goes back to school.

Jasmin is ambitious and gets good grades. She has a vibrant social network, loves school, and has a job so she can save money for post-secondary education. When Jasmin graduates from high school and subsequently from University, she earns her undergraduate degree but doesn’t have the hard skills businesses are seeking. So, she continues studying and accumulating student debt because she can’t get an adequate job.

Enter evolutionis.ED

Businesses X,Y and Z are all blockchain startups that are having trouble finding employees with smart contract coding skills. They each decide to purchase 20,000 EVLV (evolve) tokens from evolutionis.ED. For 2,000 EVLV tokens each, all three businesses work together with a content developer to create 3 courses in a learning pathway designed to teach students how to code smart contracts. In addition, Business X decides to organize a Smart Contract Coding Hackathon with evolutionis.ED to solve a real world problem they are facing. The prize is 2,000 EVLV.

Huntsville High School gets approval to offer a locally developed course that gives students a high school credit for successful completion of the Smart Contract Coding Course. Students that pass the course get their credit, but those that get over 85% also get paid 200 EVLV tokens. At the end of the course Dylan and Jasmin decide to form a team and enter the Hackathon. Their code was chosen by Business X as the most viable solution to the problem and they each earn an additional 1,000 EVLV.

With tokens earned, Jasmin and Dylan can purchase priority access to interviews with participating companies, they can convert their tokens to fiat currency and purchase real world goods, pay down student debt from other educational pursuits, and more…

With tokens purchased, Business X can direct content creation and course development, they have a direct pipeline to talent and can track student progress and offer incentives to the highest achievers to take courses that will fill job gaps, they can purchase a hackathon to motivate students to solve a real world problem they are faced with, and more…

Our world is changing rapidly, let’s not leave public education behind. Help me evolutionise Education!