The Spotlight Stage SPL07
Blockchain for Education
Date Friday, Dec 2 Time – RoomPotsdam III
Technically, blockchain is a distributed database, spread across many computers with no central control. Each ‘block’ is transparent but tamper-proof. Every ‘block’ has a timestamp for recording transactions and offers indelible proof of all transactions. Rather than relying on third parties, it’s a frictionless method for transacting with others without the middleman.
As education becomes more diversified, democratised, decentralised and disintermediated, we still need to maintain reputation, trust in certification and proof of learning. Could blockchain provide a system doing just this? Join Donald Clark, an entrepreneur with longstanding experience in the design and implementation of online learning for different sectors in a discussion on the advantages of and obstacles for the adoption of blockchain technologies.
Moderator
Donald Clark
eLearning Expert and Strategist, Plan B Learning, UK
Donald is an entrepreneur. He was CEO and one of the original founders of Epic Group plc, which established itself as the leading company in the UK e-learning market, floated on the Stock Market in 1996 and sold in 2005. Describing himself as ‘free from the tyranny of employment’, he now has a foot in two camps, one as an investor and Board member of PlanB learning, WiQi, LearningPool, Cogbooks, the other in the public sector as a Trustee for the University for Industry, City & Guilds and Deputy Chair of Brighton Arts Festival & Dome. He has been involved in consulting and implementing online learning in schools, FE, HE, corporate and government.
Donald has been involved in film, games, web, mobile, MOOCs, Oculus Rift and won many awards for the design and implementation of online learning. He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences, having delivered talks in the US, Europe, Far East, Middle East and Africa, and won several ‘Best speaker’ awards … also a regular (and controversial) blogger on online learning!
Links
http://www.planblearning.com/Bio/