BitSchool – A high-tech approach to education
Education is widely believed to be an investment in the future. With the breakneck pace of modern technological progress and the continued growth of the world population, this task becomes more vital and more difficult with every passing year. Formal education is unable to keep up with the rising demand, neither in quantity nor in quality. Tutors and eLearning companies have tried to step into the breach, but their efforts are not enough and suffer from uneven quality and various inefficiencies.
The combination of education with blockchain technology is not entirely a new idea. So far, though, most implementations have been limited, narrowly focusing on some particular subjects or processes in the education industry. BitSchool does not lack for ambition, offering to resolve a broad swath of problems (from inefficiency to inequality) by developing a complex of synergistic high-tech solutions reliant on blockchain technology and artificial intelligence.
What are BitSchool's solutions?
BitSchool identifies lack of adaptation to the strengths and weaknesses of individual students as one of the main problems in education. Accordingly, the centrepiece of its plan is called the Personalised Learning Solution (PLS). When it is finished (which should be by 2020), it will have four major components: PLS Assessment, PLS Learning, PLS Test and On-Demand Tutor (ODT). Of those, the assessment and testing components are currently the most developed. The Adaptive Assessment App is currently being tested by two schools, while the Smart Test Solution is being sold to educational institutions, companies and government organisations.
The Adaptive Assessment App (and later, PLS Assessment) will provide an ongoing, detailed analysis of students' progress in a specific course, as well as individual strengths and weaknesses, allowing their teacher – or the individual learner – to account for those later. Its creators plan to eventually launch it for public use on the Pinmo digital marketing platform with added gamification features. The Smart Test Solution can be used to generate and mark automated tests based on user input, with great versatility (including video and voice functionality). It also incorporates a detailed, visual performance dashboard, demonstrating areas of strength and weakness, and can suggest appropriate learning materials. Test results and certificates will be stored on the blockchain, increasing their credibility.
BitSchool plans to upgrade both of those services and create PLS Learning (focused on carrying out adaptive mock tests) by integrating machine learning capabilities, which will allow the programs to adapt themselves still further to the needs of specific users, generating learning resources to close particular gaps in their knowledge and taking into account their individual learning styles. As for the ODT, it will be a special platform dedicated to connecting pupils with tutors in real time to provide micro lessons tailored to specific questions.
How will the BitSchool Platform work?
All those adaptive eLearning resources will be brought together on the BitSchool Platform through the use of blockchain technology. Starting in autumn 2018, it will be possible to purchase BitSchool's products and services on the platform by using either fiat currency or (with a considerable discount, particularly early on) the BitSchool Token (BSCH). This token will only be used within the platform and will not be available on cryptocurrency exchanges.
In addition to being used to pay for PLS services, the BSCH will also be used to incentivise the creation of a database of educational content. At first, BitSchool will rely on the Course Admin System consisting of education professionals to generate content, rewarding the Course Admins and others in their communities for the creation of learning materials. Later they plan to establish a Paid Per Use (PPU) system, opening up content creation to everyone. Provided content will be evaluated based on its accuracy, quality and originality and given an initial rating. Accepted content will be incorporated into BitSchool's solutions. As those solutions are used, the ratings will be adjusted based on the number of users, user reviews and other factors. Both content creators and the initial evaluators will be rewarded in tokens based on evolved rating.
Finally, BitSchool plans to address education inequality by issuing token scholarships to low-income students out of a special token fund called the GoGreenFund. Since the tokens can only be used on the platform, this will bypass the common problem of misappropriation of funds. In addition to absorbing some of the proceeds from the token sale and transaction fees, the fund will also accept donations.
What can you gain from BitSchool?
BitSchool has much to offer to both sides of the classroom. Teachers will be able to zero in on the particular needs of their students while outsourcing some of their workload to programs, and tutors will have a new platform on which to offer their services. Students, meanwhile, will receive personalised assistance that takes their unique advantages and disadvantages into account and shows them how they can improve in an expedient and easy to understand fashion. The GoGreenFund will ensure that those services are available to a wider audience. Educational content creators will receive a stronger incentive to create quality content.
The company and its investors stand to benefit from cornering the broad eLearning and tutoring markets through its integrated approach, providing services to both various institutions and, eventually, individuals. The addition of an educational content database and the numerous advanced features of their programs should further reinforce its position.
What are the unique advantages of BitSchool?
BitSchool benefits from offering a whole suite of high-tech solutions, complemented by the still-necessary human factor in the form of the ODT platform and content evaluators. Its broad and ambitious approach ensures that it will have much to offer everyone, and its ingenious solutions can indeed help mitigate many existing problems in the industry.
The company benefits from having veteran teachers on its Course Admin team, both due to their experience and due to their connections. It already has an impressive list of partners including IT firms and educational institutions. The list of the latter seems bound to expand as the PLS suite continues to develop and spread.
Token sale details
Unsold tokens will go to the GoGreenFund.
Education in the blockchain era
There is definitely a great deal of demand for innovation in education, and there is a lot of interest in blockchain-based solutions in particular. By combining blockchain technology with AI-enhanced adaptive eLearning programs, BitSchool offers a product that is certain to be in demand, though whether it will be able to achieve all of its lofty goals remains to be seen. While many of its more advanced developments are currently still on a very early stage, the two apps already in operation have been favourably received.
In the broadest sense possible, education can be envisioned as a key part of the blockchain ecosystem. By making it more accessible and more effective, and having it incorporate latest technologies on a casual basis, we can ensure that an ever larger number of people will be able to participate in the high-tech economy. BitSchool seems like it could be a good step in that direction.
Links
Website: https://www.bitschool.io/
WhitePaper: https://www.bitschool.io/files/whitepaper_en.pdf
Telegram: https://icobench.com/ico/t.me/BitSchoolai
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BitschoolAI/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bitschoolai
Medium: https://medium.com/bitschool
ANN: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2886666.0
Author: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=980049
Disclaimer
This review by Bonanza Kreep is all opinion and analysis, not investment advice.