technology innovation loves humanities: open education on the blockchain
TRANSCRIPT
Tech. Innovation ♥HumanitiesOpen Education on the Blockchain
Hristian Daskalov, Open Source Uni Project Lead
PhD Candidate @ Brno / Riga / Sofia Technical University
SlavConf, Sofia University, 13.10.2017
Language is about communication, but
communication is not (only) about
language. It is about reaching beyond
our own, limited knowledge and
understanding of us, and the world.
Source:blog.hackerearth.com
The open source model is a
decentralized development model that
encourages open collaboration.
(Eric S. Raymond, 2001)
Source: medium.com
University А
Life-long learning
Consultants
Corporate L&D
P2P
University B
Government L&D
Online e-learning
Non-formal education
NGOL&D State of Art
Life-long learning
University III
Cluster
University II
Corporate e-learning
Online education
University I
Government L&D
Non-formal education
NGO
Students community
Concept
Our underlying technology
• H1 2015 - OSUni research project initiated at the Faculty of Management within
the Technical University of Sofia, resulting in scientific publications on the subject,
published in Bulgaria, Latvia, and the Czech Republic.
• H2 2015 - OSUni proof-of-concept phase initiated, along with corporate partners
from Bulgarian industry and software development sectors, resulting in early
versions of system's architecture and design.
• H1 2016 - OSUni announced among top 10 social innovation ideas globally, in
competition with 400 technology concepts and 130+ project proposals as part of
the Living Progress Challenge of Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
• H2 2016 - OSUni receives positive reviews and engages in expanding its
partnership network under programs for support of young entrepreneurs, led by
the Ministry of Economy and the Open Society Institute, as well as through the
Sofia Business School.
• H1 2017 - OSUni announced as 2017 "YouthSpeak'' forum winner in Latvia,
based on a scaled-down prototype, resulting in a distributed learning program
implementation project at a community center in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
• H2 2017 - OSUni development work reaches important milestone, under the
project leadership of IO.Era, software consultancy, specializing in blockchain-
based applications, leading the way to an initial currency offering (ICO).
Project R&D Background
It is a shared database. This database is called a ledger.
Like a bank, the ledgers keep track of data (financial or
other). Unlike a centralized bank, everyone has a copy,
i.e. full decentralization, independent verification.
The Blockchain
Bulgarian Egyptology
scholars are among the
best and most
productive scientists in
the filed, worldwide.
Problem is that despite
the Age of Information,
they operate in a small
market, restricting
visibility and returns.
It is all about
Information
coordination
relationships.
Universities and other learning providers will easily populate their course and program offerings into the blockchain, making their knowledge production
scalable, opening-up for the world.
Learners will be able to record and store progress
directly into the blockchain, using smart contracts to
validate and showcase their accomplishments on a global
stage.
Businesses will have direct access to a globalpool of talents, while big data will enable them to target the right candidates and meet the learning and
development needs of employees through customized
pathways on-demand.
‘Internet of Things’ era is about collecting, connecting, and
making sense of data. We need a ‘Diploma of things’ mechanism
to collect, connect and make sense of learning. Therefore the
distributed education and career development ledger is what
we work on at www.OS.UNIVERSITY.
