Towards a blockchain-based smart certification system for higher education: an empirical study

Due to the growing interest in distributed ledger technologies such as blockchain, researchers in different areas, including the higher education sector, are investigating possibilities surrounding blockchain adoption. Despite this, no guiding framework has been developed for the application of blockchain and related technologies in the use of certificating systems that issue sharable and authentic student credentials. Existing certificating systems are marked by their lack of speed and low reliability and, in certain education systems, they produce social and cultural conflicts. Therefore, this paper offers an analysis of blockchain adoption in this field, focusing especially on the process of producing and sharing higher education certificates. The paper describes the second phase of an ongoing research project by presenting a certificate validation and sharing framework that guarantees authenticity through leveraging the privacy and security features of a blockchain network. The framework also covers the architectural design of a blockchain-based certificating system to solve problems and offer solutions in the context of higher education. Two groups of participants are also included in an empirical study focusing on an evaluation of the proposed framework in relation to its ability to describe and explain blockchain adoption in higher education. The validity and reliability of the framework is tested using a sequential mixed methods design involving the collection of quantitative survey data. It is expected that the proposed framework will have useful applications in different fields where it is necessary to determine whether a satisfactory level of blockchain technology has been maintained in accordance with relevant privacy and security standards.