Bradymck
commented
6 years ago So in a nutshell this would be a MOOC platform is this correct? If so, can you describe how this would be different than platforms like Udemy or Skillshare?
If it's more like a platform similar to Coursera and Khan Academy, how would you justify people paying fees (especially in Ethereum) when there are free alternatives?
The costs and benefits of using crypto need to be fleshed out here. Payments and staking aside, I do think blockchain certificates are a huge win, imo. Though this needs to be really thought out to align incentives and be feasible.
However, a lot of educational professionals and institutions are experimenting with this idea. MIT being one of them. It may be a good idea to reach out to them and research how its going.
Payments and splitting
If you did take payments, the only way I see it working in the crypto world is a major stretch in feasibility but you could take credit/debit with the Coinbase buy widget then place it into an Aragon entity in the form of DAI so its stable.
Then allow the community of teachers to allocate funds for various initiatives. However, the big stretch here is getting the technical side of things all linked up without security issues, hoping the governance tools are not too complicated for teachers and then hoping governance works as intended.
I do think we are going to see something like this but it will really be geared specifically towards the crypto community and crypto/development focused education rather than traditional institutions. I am excited about MIT and other universities diving in like they have though.
10% will be the fee to use the platform and 30% will be a direct discount for the course for the student. The 10% fee could be divided as follows: 20% originator, 30% District0x team, 40% for the community who initially voted to approve the district, 10% miscellaneous.
In this above section, you mention specific payment splits. This could be something you put up to a vote, it doesn't need to be this static and likely should be very flexible. In fact, if you are operating on some type of subscription model you could place that into a community operated pool of funds that people vote on rather than being static splits to static entities. This will be the power of Aragon, is allowing a community to manage a pool of funds, vote on allocating those funds and even allow proposals for changes in structure.
Accreditation
How would accreditation work? Would this be an individual person who is teaching and seeking a partnership with universities? Or would this be the universities you are trying to onboard to the platform?
If it's individuals, I'm not sure what it takes to get third-party classes integrated with a traditional university. I'm not knowledgeable in this area. As far as actually onboarding the Universities directly, that sounds like it would be a tough task. What direction are you taking here?
PS. I still need to read your other proposal to see how advertising works. I may be missing that part. But do think about the costs and benefits of using crypto and consider how early things are still. It may be easier to make this more like a Skillshare style market focused on software and web3 development for now and slowly build out the tools you need to make it work by taking a cut off the top of all the payments. You could also use state channels to deal with scalability issues on chain and start in a very centralized way and slowly decentralize things as you go. This could also allow you to onboard more teachers who would be open to token based governance.
If you got funding for this project and really ran with it, you could start by making a centralized app first, give students "points" for completing classes that they can then use to vote on the quality of a course. You may even be able to do a hosted token registry model (Coinbase of TCRs) that allows students to easily interact with a TCR blacklist for removing poorly done courses from the platform. Just a thought.
PerryEdu
Name
AdTeachX International
Purpose (see financial incentives for participating community below in description)
The purpose of AdTeachX is to provide an opportunity for educators worldwide to offer substantive courses and for students to gain quality training or education at affordable prices. There are numerous unemployed or underpaid teachers worldwide who are seeking opportunities to supplement or increase their incomes levels. Likewise, numerous individuals who seek to advance by gaining knowledge of developing skills are unable to afford the high costs of quality education.
Approximately 80% of college and university faculty in the USA are employed as adjunct (part-time) employees. This is equal to millions of educators who work part-time and in many instances not get benefits like medical insurance, pension, or annual leave. Most of these employees do not have work for at least three months every year. This creates financial hardship and instability as families need to move where work can be found. Thus, a need exists for these individuals to find alternative sources of income rather than relying on the local colleges and universities to provide stable and regular employment opportunity. The same situation exists in England, the European Union countries, and other countries worldwide. The majority of positions are part-time or sessional (full time for a fixed period). Many well trained and highly educated teachers/educators are finding great difficulty sustaining quality employment.
According to Tang and Tang (2012), globalization has resulted in corporations seeking to reduce labour costs while at the same time increase productivity. In other words, employees are expected to work much harder for much less pay. The writer of this proposal was informed with 50 other teachers of a $1000 a month decrease in salary commencing in August. Even those who are employed full time are finding it difficult in many instances to earn sufficient funds. Those who work part-time, adjunct, or sessional find it even more difficult. Widespread dissatisfaction exists among educators who have devoted many years of their lives to development and education and who are now increasingly not fairly compensated. The human resource management trend to decrease wages is ongoing and affects every country.
There is a great need for numerous teachers and educators to find a way to earn more. Similarly in the ‘knowledge economy,’ there are many students seeking quality education. The need exists for an educational platform that can link learners and teachers. However, the word “quality” is key. Many/most online course providers do not offer quality education and it consists of mainly online videos in a lecture style format. This does not result in deep learning; more appropriate pedagogy (methodology) is required to motivate and engage students in the learning process. AdTeachX will provide a platform to achieve these objectives by bringing together educators and students around the globe and by implementing best practice methodology.
Thus, the real-world problem exists and the potential to contribute to the solution of it is made possible by the creation of an AdTeachX district.
A: Description (Open for discussion and modification by the community)
• Education platforms for creating courses will not exist on the AdTeachX platform. All institutions and individuals will use their own platforms. A tutorial section with videos will give information to educators on free learning management systems (LMS), for example, Moodle, CourseSites by Blackboard, Latitude Learning, Myicourse, Open Edx, Chamilo etc. • The platform will be used to sign up for courses and external links only provided once payments have been completed. • The educational district could also provide a resource to store completed certificates on the blockchain for viewing and verification p[urposes – see The Digital Certificates project http://certificates.media.mit.edu/ • Courses would run for 5 weeks minimum and 10 weeks maximum, or between 5 and 10 weeks.
A.1-Sections (All course offerings are online/distance)
AdteachX will be comprised of several different sections and each section will be divided into categories and sub-categories. The main sections will be as follows:
Before discussing the sections I more detail it should be noted that educators who participate would need to provide a biography which would include their credentials and possibly a link to an external source which would verify the information. The details of how this is to be done would need to be finalized (a one-off fee may be applicable here for the service).
1 Accredited Academic and Professional Courses
These courses offered by colleges, universities, or other learning institutions worldwide. For institutions to offer courses on AdTeachX the requirement will be to offer a 40% on their official advertised course if such an offer exists at the institution. This will be the incentive for students to get the course through the AdteachX platform. Fees: • 10% - use of the platform divided a follows: Originator 2%; Distric0x team 3%; the community members who initially vote for the district 4%, miscellaneous fund 1% • 30% - direct discount to students
Use case: A university, for example, may decide to increase numbers by offering such courses that are normally only offered on campus. This would create additional work for adjunct staff. The costs would be much less due to the fact the courses are online or distance. For example, a course that may cost $500 on campus would be $350 for the student - (10% - $50 platform fee) = $300; a course that would normally cost $1000 would be $700 - (10% - $100 platform fee).
Some colleges, universities may use the platform to fill courses, for example, they may advertise that they only have 5 places at a 30% discount. Learning institutions may use the platform to increase enrolment numbers or create additional courses, which would require the hiring of more faculty or teachers.
2 Unaccredited Academic and Professional Development Courses
These courses would be similar in content to the accredited courses but with no accreditation except the certificate of completion. A permanent record would exist of the student participation. The courses would be substantially cheaper than the accredited courses – possibly 60% of accredited course. The 10% fee would apply and be divided as agreed by the participating community.
Use case: Adjunct, part-time, sessional and unemployed educators could create courses very similar to the courses they normally teach. For example, an adjunct with only two classes can add a third by creating an AdTeachX course. An adjunct, part-time, sessional could create courses for those months when he/she does not have work, for instance, in the summer in the US. Unemployed teachers or educators could use their extensive knowledge to design courses and regain self-respect, self-worth and dignity. For example, 10 weeks extended course, the same as a college, university or private institution course, may earn the teacher only $200 per person, but for 20 people on a course he/she would make $4000 spread over three months for about 10 hours work a week. Numbers of students per course would need to be limited due to the methodology approach as explained below in section A3.
3 Introductory Section
This section would be the first seen by teachers, educators, institutions and students to explore and learn about the AdTeachX platform and what it offers. It could include two sections: One for teachers and one for students (the hook to gain the student, teacher, or organizations interest and attention).
The section can additionally include links and information for marketing of courses. For example, a link to ReachWeb advertising which is another proposed district or web marketing videos and links and to professional services. OR a section within the introductory section could include this information and training materials, in addition to links.
Student feedback
For each completed course students would be required to complete a questionnaire to provide statistical data on the quality of the course and if it aligned with the expectations of the student. Each of the key questions would be represented on a chart (Likert Scale)to represent levels of satisfaction. For example, (1) Not at all satisfied (2) Slightly satisfied (3)Moderately satisfied (4) Very satisfied (5) Extremely satisfied. The graph would change after every new course completed as additional statistical information is added. Students who wish to take a course would be able to view the statistics. Course providers who do not meet the criteria and sustain over a few courses, for instance, a moderately satisfied rating for any of the key questions will be removed from the platform.
A.2-Staking
Staking is an option for some courses where the teacher may specify a minimum number of students to do the course. For example, a student will be required to pay a 40% deposit to sign up (not yet connected to educator until full fee is paid). Once the course has the minimum number of students the balance of the course fee will be required and the enrolment will be complete. If the minimum number is not reached by a certain date then the eth deposit will be returned to the user wallet. This will all be controlled by the smart contract initially selected by the teacher (if this is how District0x designs the district with smart contracts).
A.3-Teaching Pedagogy / Methodology
To ensure that deep learning takes place and that students are actively involved and engaged there is a need for student-student and student-teacher collaboration. Each teacher or institution would need to guarantee two assessment activities weekly (This will be specified in the pre-course information in section 3) For other online platforms this is not required]. Two examples of the required assessments are given below:
Peer feedback: There should be a discussion type forum or other activity where students post a response to a question/s for all the other students to read. The question/s will be based on the weeks assigned reading. Depending on the course this may be a paragraph or two. Additionally, each student needs to respond to two other students post. The teacher can also insert responses to some postings but not all. This will ensure collaboration and cooperation within the cohort. This kind of activity develops relationships and enables students and teachers to learn from each other and receive feedback. Feedback is essential for motivation and direction. For a technical professional development course like programming, this may be simply to share a few lines of code. For an academic course, it could be a critical response to a topic.
Teacher feedback: The second weekly task would be an individual writing task which is graded by the teacher and individual teacher feedback is given to each student. The proposed methodology is very different from many online course offerings which consist mainly of videos and ineffectual, unproductive tasks. The above two tasks will ensure deeper learning, higher levels of motivation and engagement, and development of critical thinking skills. The courses would require actual teacher involvement and peer to peer interaction. This approach is far different from many other platforms that produce courses with no teacher or other student interaction.
Specifying that course include the two above criteria at least will ensure that quality education is offered by AdTeachX. In contrast to most educational online platforms that provide a transmission of information, the AdTeachX platform would provide a rich learning experience that would ensure deep learning, collaboration and cooperation in a student-centered online environment.
A.4-Why is AdTeachX Different
AdTeachX is not a MOOC platform. It may comprise of many similar components, for example, readings, videos, links etc. The difference is that when a MOOC is designed the originator does not need to do anything or very little once it is up and running. It is automated. AdTeachX requires that teachers actually teach as they would in an institution of learning. (1) They are required to contribute to the weekly discussion posting and to give students a grade for their contribution (2) They need to grade the weekly assigned paper written by the student. This would be a formal academic paper. Research has shown that one of the main problems associated with online learning is student engagement. The assessment tasks outlined above would ensure greater student engagement than existing online offerings.
Furthermore, teachers offering such courses could not do more than three or four at a time due to the high level of marking and grading. Teachers could probably manage three or four classes of approximately 20 students. The platform could provide full-time employment to educators or a least supplement their income. On other platforms such as Coursera or Edx educators could have a dozen courses running simultaneously; however, the quality of education is lacking. Such courses do serve a purpose but in many instances, students seek a learning environment which includes peer interaction and collaboration as well as ongoing teacher support and participation, all of which lead to positive relationships which are an important component of active learning (development of critical thinking skills).
Accreditation: In most instances, individuals cannot offer accreditation but institutions can. The idea of the platform would be to get universities, colleges and other professional learning institutions, who can offer accredited courses, onboard. The opportunity for students to study at physically located institutions is growing less with the high demand for education in the world. This platform could provide a way for learning institutions to increase numbers and make more money. Faculty who do these courses under contract with learning institutions could work from home (remotely), thus saving a large amount of money (no offices, no classrooms etc). The platform if successful with a high traffic would be a place for institutions to find students. Students could gain a quality education at much lower rates. These types of courses would provide accredited certificates.
Non-accredited courses: These courses would be virtually the same as the accredited courses but with no accreditation. The reason for this is that part-time, adjunct, sessional teachers would offer these courses. As previously stated these individuals are experienced and highly qualified but do not have enough work. Many learners are interested in doing individual courses that are part of degree programs but they do not wish to do full degrees or study full-time. Nevertheless, they do want the knowledge and intellectual development that accompanies properly structured education. Unaccredited courses offered by professors and other appropriately qualified individuals are highly appealing to many and could include just about any subject taught. Some may purely want to do a course to help them in their career path, others because a subject interests them. These courses would provide professional certificates of completion.
Imagine the impact for web advertising targeted to adjuncts seeking further employment opportunity. Interested individuals could visit the “Introduction Section” to learn about what the platform offers and register if interested.
A.5 Payment and Splitting
With regard to payments, ideally, payments should be made in cryptocurrency and there could be several options. In the USA, the UK and Europe companies have been set up where people can send fiat directly from their bank accounts and then exchange the fiat for crypto which can be used to pay for the course. My initial thought was that a pre-designed smart contract would direct the correct percentage of funds to different wallets, based on a community decision regarding the fees. The exact processes to be implemented would need to be clarified and decided. Aragon could also be incorporated to manage miscellaneous pools of funds, solve disputes and resolve issues. Changes to the education platform could also be discussed and voted upon.
Conclusion
To conclude there is a great need for opportunities to teach for many educators. This is a major real-world problem. AdTeachX will provide a platform for teachers to practice their craft and make a decent living from it. Although many educations websites exist the course offerings are in many instances inappropriately designed and do not result in quality learning. The need exists for further development in educational online courses that will ensure a satisfying and uplifting educational experience.
Ethereum Address:
0x6be57656C371FA67f37E50EE2D9Ad5cdCDd2b882