Managing lifelong learning records through blockchain

TLDR

Traditional transcripts summarize learning achievements but omit detailed depth and instructional context, whereas the BOLL platform enables secure, verifiable transfer of learning records across institutions. The study introduces and evaluates BOLL, a blockchain‑based platform designed to connect and transfer learners’ detailed records across institutions. BOLL stores hashed learning activities on a blockchain and uses smart contracts to control access, allowing analytics platforms to retrieve logs from other institutions with learner or institutional permission. The platform mitigates the cold‑start issue for learning analytics and offers advantages over existing tools by enabling cross‑institution data sharing with permissioned access.

Abstract

It is a common practice to issue a summary of a learner’s learning achievements in form of a transcript or certificate. However, detailed information on the depth of learning and how learning or teachings were conducted is not present in the transcript of scores. This work presents the first practical implementation of a new platform for keeping track of learning achievements beyond transcripts and certificates. This is achieved by maintaining digital hashes of learning activities and managing access rights through the use of smart contracts on the blockchain. The blockchain of learning logs (BOLL) is a platform that enable learners to move their learning records from one institution to another in a secure and verifiable format. This primarily solves the cold-start problem faced by learning data analytic platforms when trying to offer personalized experience to new learners. BOLL enables existing learning data analytic platforms to access the learning logs from other institutions with the permission of the learners and/or institution who originally have ownership of the logs. The main contribution of this paper is to investigate how learning records could be connected across institutions using BOLL. We present an overview of how the implementation has been carried out, discuss resource requirements, and compare the advantages BOLL has over other similar tools.