Blockchains in Education, presented at National Head Start Association Innovation Summit in Louisville, Kentucky on 10 July 2018.

1. NHSA HeadStarter
Early Childhood Innovation Summit 2018
Caterina Rindi
Unleashing the Potential of Blockchain
@CaterinaRindi July 2018

2. Elementary Education
p2p & Collaborative Economy
Bitcoin Startup
CSR & Impact
Elefant.ai
Teachur.co
RindiConsulting.com
NHSA HeadStarter Network Tech Council
@CaterinaRindi July 2018

3. • education
• social justice
• community & people
• technology tools
àNHSA: “give every vulnerable child an
opportunity to succeed.”
àHeadStarter Network: “explore, facilitate,
and accelerate practitioner-based ECE
innovation.”
@CaterinaRindi July 2018

4. What is Blockchain/DLT
Elements/Features
Applications in Other Industries
Applications in Education
Focusing on ECE – with your help
@CaterinaRindi July 2018

5. Bitcoin Blockchain History
@CaterinaRindi July 2018
• 2009 – Satoshi Nakamoto
• financial crisis
• white paper & software program
• “p2p electronic cash system”
• open-source, ongoing contributor
updates

6. July 2018@CaterinaRindi

8. Elements
@CaterinaRindi July 2018
• digital currency – finite, divisible
• global, decentralized ledger
• not controlled by gov’t, bank, corp
• cryptographically secured, consensus
• bitcoin owned by individual - private keys
• no intermediaries, true p2p
• pseudonymous, private

12. Applications
@CaterinaRindi July 2018
• bitcoin – p2p cryptocurrency, new asset class
• micropayments, via cell phones
• international remittances
• unstable/corrupt governments; inflation
• underground markets
• token exchanges & ICO’s

14. Distributed Ledger Technology
@CaterinaRindi July 2018
• consensus-driven, p2p-shared digital database
• replicated & spread among multiple sites, countries,
institutions
• permissioned/private or permissionless/public
• blockchain is one kind of DLT
• many blockchains – e.g. Bitcoin, Ethereum

15. DLT/Blockchain Features
@CaterinaRindi July 2018
• transparency
• trust (“trust-less”)
• security & privacy
• immutability
• consensus-driven
• global, multi-industry impact

17. Applications in many industries
• Fintech
• Governance & Voting
• Healthcare
• Energy
• Identity Management*
• Internet of Things
• Supply Chain
@CaterinaRindi July 2018

18. @CaterinaRindi July 2018
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

19. Applications – Social Impact – UN SDG’s
@CaterinaRindi July 2018
• economic access for unbanked #1 - Abra, Stellar
• food/cash assistance #2 - UN World Food Program
• energy microgrids #7 - PowerLedger
• tracking food provenance #12 - ripe.io
• p2p carbon trading #13 - CarbonX
• philanthropic transparency #16 - BitGive GiveTrack

20. Applications – Education (1)
@CaterinaRindi
• track informal learning (e.g. online courses,
workshops, conferences, performance reviews, co-
learning, etc.)
• opportunity for “micro-accreditation”
• digital credential/transcript verification for
educational institutions and employers
• teacher educational content
payment/royalties/reputation tracking
July 2018

21. Applications – Education (2)
@CaterinaRindi
• permanent record storage (vital in cases of institution
closure, collapse, records-loss, data breaches, etc.)
• automate credits transfer – international, institutions,
etc.
• student achievement can unlock rewards/tuition
vouchers/payments/scholarships, etc.
• student ownership & control of data
July 2018

22. Existing Education Applications & Efforts
@CaterinaRindi
• University of Nicosia – 2013 – diplomas on BB
• Holberton School – digital certificate on BB
• Teachur – online college degree
• MIT Media Lab – Digital Currency Initiative
July 2018

24. I need your experience & feedback.
What challenges do you have and what
blockchain applications do you think
could help (if any)?
c.rindi@gmail.com
@CaterinaRindi July 2018