Blockchain technologies hold the promise of a secure, reliable way to record key events and transactions across a wide range of applications.
City of Glasgow College are scoping a platform using blockchain to provide reliable and verifiable digital certification of skills from awarding bodies. Certificates would be owned and controlled by the learners, enabling them to easily provide trusted ‘proof of competence’ to potential employers, customers or learning providers. The project has been driven by learner and employer demand for easier, more efficient and transparent processes for verifying qualification claims.
The platform will investigate two existing technology platforms: APPII for digital credential verification (recorded securely on the APPII blockchain) and Google for Education for a lifelong learner portfolio. The Scottish Qualifications Authority are engaged, so the project can scope how to micro-credential the components of qualifications in detail, using their existing open online documentation data. Awarding bodies would be able to provide digital versions of trusted certificates, verified by blockchain, for use in a range of digital and social media. This would support better matching with employers’ demand for skills, enabling employees to select and demonstrate skills and experience in a trusted and verifiable manner.