Application of Blockchain in Education: GDPR-Compliant and Scalable Certification and Verification of Academic Information

• Main Authors: Christian Delgado-von-Eitzen, Luis Anido-Rifón, Manuel J. Fernández-Iglesias
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-05-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: blockchain; education; GDPR; scalability; lifelong learning; formal learning
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/11/10/4537

Blockchain technologies are awakening in recent years the interest of different actors in various sectors and, among them, the education field, which is studying the application of these technologies to improve information traceability, accountability, and integrity, while guaranteeing its privacy, transparency, robustness, trustworthiness, and authenticity. Different interesting proposals and projects were launched and are currently being developed. Nevertheless, there are still issues not adequately addressed, such as scalability, privacy, and compliance with international regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation in Europe. This paper analyzes the application of blockchain technologies and related challenges to issue and verify educational data and proposes an innovative solution to tackle them. The proposed model supports the issuance, storage, and verification of different types of academic information, both formal and informal, and complies with applicable regulations, protecting the privacy of users’ personal data. This proposal also addresses the scalability challenges and paves the way for a global academic certification system.