Blockchain in Higher Education – The Transformation Begins

by edguards on June 11, 2019

Education Cybersecurity Weekly is a curated weekly news overview for those who are concerned about the Education industry and Education data breach. It provides brief summaries and links to articles and news across a spectrum of EdTech and blockchain in Higher Education.

Ten letters, one word and digital diploma will become yours. Guessed? The magic word is blockchain.
Nowadays computing is an integral part of every aspect of our life and it is not weird anymore to hear a boy saying to his girlfriend “You are like the Internet access that I cannot live without”.

Download a digital diploma? Blockchain in Higher Education

Campus Technology on June 4, 2019

Ten letters, one word and digital diploma will become yours. Guessed? The magic word is blockchain. While blockchain technology steadily infiltrates the education sector, more colleges and universities start exploring technological opportunities it provides.

Two years ago the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Central New Mexico Community College became the first US institutions to offer the graduates an option to receive a diploma through a blockchain-based app. When applying for a job, employers can check the information via a degree verification portal.

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Furthermore, college and university CIOs believe that blockchain can streamline some administrative functions like transferring credits between institutions. The next big leap for blockchain in Higher Education is the ability to put badges and certificates for technical skills on the chain. Actually, there has been even an attempt to create a borderless university called Woolf University, where the role of traditional administrators belongs to blockchain technology. Thus, it seems the higher education transformation has just begun.

Cybersecurity in education is imperfect

Techaeris on June 6, 2019

We suppose, this statement can be read as a mantra: the education industry lacks strong cybersecurity, so everybody, including students, parents, faculty and staff, should focus on the data protection.

According to SecurityScorecard study, education industry is vulnerable to cybercrime in a few key areas. Network security and application security are two problematic areas in this list, along with patching cadence (regularity with which educational organizations update their software with patches).

What is noteworthy, researchers have outlined that the majority of institutions wait more than three days to implement patches after notification of domain name system (DNS) breaches. Moreover, the study reveals a 68% increase of the DNS vulnerabilities cost within education.

Indeed, K-12 sector is no exception. During the last year there were 122 publicly disclosed incidents, so that one event occurred every three days. The same tendency is also proven in the Education Industry Cyber Incidents Report 2018. Therefore, when it comes to education cybersecurity, prevention is the best approach to keep the data safe.

Computer science should become a high school graduation requirement

The Tech Advocate on June 5, 2019

Nowadays computing is an integral part of every aspect of our life and it is not weird anymore to hear a boy saying to his girlfriend “You are like the Internet access that I cannot live without”.

Taking into account that there are nearly 500,000 open computing jobs across the US, it is unsurprising that computer science is a compulsory subject in high schools of 15 states. However, if you still ask yourself why computer science should become a high school education requirement, here are some arguments:

Computing develops analytical thinking skills, so that students are able to solve complex issues in a range of fields.
Increased earning potentials and job opportunities – certified coders earn 20 – 40 % more than the median salaries in other professions.
Computing can close the diversity gap. If computer science becomes a high school graduation requirement, more teens will be exposed to the discipline, including girls who usually do not prefer to take computer classes.

Bobby the Fish

Fish morning, everybody.
Perhaps, in the future digital diplomas will replace traditional physical diplomas. For education sphere, this experiment might turn into the most successful case of the blockchain use.

Digital diploma