Blockchain learning: can crypto-currency methods be appropriated to enhance online learning?

Blockchain is a distributed database that maintains a dynamic list of data records, hardened to prevent tampering and revision. It is the framework for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. A Blockchain learning tool would provide a secure and verifiable learning transaction ledger. Its decentralised nature would ensure a learner, rather than institution-centred record of achievements that would be difficult to tamper with, enabling parties, such as employers or learning institutions, to review with confidence. As a mechanism for transferring credit, Blockchain might also be used to enable selected actions to be rewarded with tokens that can be then traded against future learning costs. We will describe Blockchain Learning and invite colleagues to form a community to investigate its learning and teaching potential further.