The existence of NFT in education is a game-changer to the artistic integrity of artists who are mainly based online. This places their artwork at risk of mass distribution without the artist’s permission. Now, their authentic digital assets can be free of copyright infringement because they can price, distribute, and allow customers to buy and own digital assets. Digital art as a digital collectible on the NFT marketplace.
Artists, filmmakers, photographers, game developers, and fashion designers sell their work on the NFT marketplace. They potentially earn up to millions of dollars in crypto-currency selling digital collectibles of their own works.
Now, NFT is branching out to higher education, where students, educators, and institutions can use NFTs for the betterment of the industry. When it comes to practical applications for NFTs, the crypto and blockchain-based sector has only started to explore the vast potential it offers the world. Furthermore, one of the many sectors where these could have practical added value is education. In this article, we explore the potential of NFTs for the education industry.
What Exactly is an NFT?
An NFT (Non-Fungible Token) is a unique, immutable digitized, and encrypted token that is created and store using blockchain technology. Therefore it is not own or distribute by a tech company, but by digital content creators.
NFT in Education: Segments Leveraging the Benefits of NFT
Evidence Of Lifelong Learning
With NFT, a student’s learning moments can now be capture, store, and used as ‘experiential’ evidence. This will prove that a person has indeed experienced the hands-on aspects of a course and does not just have high academic grades.
This can include the first time a salesman closed a deal, the first surgery of a surgeon, a pilot’s initial flight, and more. These learning moments can be crucial to companies that want to make sure the people they’re hiring are as skilled and experienced as they claim to be.
Micro-credentials For Transparency
Certificates are issued as an indicator of a student’s skills in a particular area. However, it is getting increasingly complex to verify one’s skills with the creation of false credentials.
Higher education institutions can issue certificates as NFTs. This simplifies the process of validation as all diplomas, degrees, and PhDs can be issued by universities and stored by students in a digital space to be used as an educational profile.
Smooth Transition To Showcase Transcripts & Records
Up until today, the most certain way to validate one’s educational history and qualifications is by contacting the institution that gave out the credentials.
For instance, high school seniors in the United States must pay the fees to have their test scores sent to the college they are applying for. Some employees must contact their alma mater for their employers to verify their college transcripts.
This method will soon be obsolete, as NFT can make it a hassle-free transition. Everything in a students’ records – grades, achievement, transcripts – will be fully owned by them in the form of a credible educational profile token.
Content Creators Get The Credits & Royalty Fees
Educators can create and sell educational content to universities through the form of NFT. This allows them to receive the royalty they deserve.
For example, a textbook author will only receive the profit from their first sale. NFT allows them to add in an option that includes royalties from secondary sales.
Mark Cuban, investor of NFT platforms and a judge on Shark Tank (an American business TV show) felt that NFT’s best application is on textbooks.
“They allow digital textbooks to be easily resell but more importantly they allow publishers and authors to collect royalties for every resale. Forever,” Cuban said.
The metaverse has a lot of potential in the higher education industry as well. ‘Metaverse’ is a virtual world that which users can shop, socialize, and participate in leisure activities using their avatars. Moreover, as metaverse makes its way into education, students will have a cyber-physical campus experience.
Transcripts and Documents
Not only awards or certifications, but also school transcripts, grades, reports, and yearly achievements, can be captured in tokens. Currently, if an employee or a school wanted to see my college transcript, I had to call the school and pay a fee to have it mailed to them. In the United States, high school seniors pay fees to have their SAT and/or ACT scores sent to each college of interest.
The issue is not so much with the fees as it is with the fact that student accomplishments in the form of transcripts, grades, reports, and achievements should be owned by the students, not the institutions. They should be part of the student’s educational profile, which is now possible with NFTs.
Scholarships and Benefits
Tokens can also be use for utility purposes, so a university, for example, could offer NFTs that include entitlements such as a free online course, event tickets, access to resources, tutoring sessions, and so on.
The NFTs can also be linked to options such as scholarships or discount offers. Purchasing University-based tokens may place them in a pool of available scholarships.
This is an area that I believe needs to be research further, but I can envision an academic marketplace comprised of top universities and colleges where educational offerings are available as NFTs.
Key advantages of NFT in education
- Accelerates online delivery of courses
- Allows international students and educators to meet virtually
- Virtual classes and campus activities
- Transparency and Authenticity
- Revenue and Royalties
NFT in Education: A Step Towards Revolution
As Kevin Kelly puts it, the internet is essentially a giant copy machine. Everything on the internet is copied and shared, and artistic integrity is frequently question. However, for the first time, digital asset creators can accurately price and distribute their work, and consumers can buy and own a digital asset. More importantly, smart contracts are driving this digital exchange, laying the groundwork for a new type of digital economy.
Essentially, NFTs are making digital assets valuable by classifying the originality and rarity of the asset defining it as distinct from digital copies.
Right now, the NFT space is booming with digital collectibles. Millions of dollars (in crypto-currency) are being earn by artists, fashion designers, game developers, filmmakers, photographers, and sports enthusiasts via selling their work in NFT marketplaces.
Perk of introducing NFTs to Students
One reason you should share this with your aspiring digital artists is that it is easily accessible. It’s a fantastic method to spur creativity and encourage more students to create. Moreover, students could begin selling their artwork with the approval of their guardians!
Students may feel as if they are in a foreign land when it comes to the field of fine arts. Moreover, including NFTs in the discussion will enthrall this generation of kids who grew up with screens and technology all around them. Students will find art more approachable thanks to NFTs.
It is difficult to comprehend NFTs. This is merely the tip of the iceberg! Thousands of sales, trades, and adjustments involving NFTs have occurred as you read this. As a result, NFTs are an important component of the present art history environment.
Summing Up
NFTs will almost certainly influence the landscape of a new digital economy. I’ve only scratched the surface of some potential use cases for NFTs in education. But it’ll be fascinating to see how that evolves.
Non-fungible token, or NFT is a distinctive, digitized, and encrypted token fabricated and stored using blockchain technology. The rarity and originality of the digital assets determine how valuable NFTs are in the education sector.