Researcher says “smart education system” is the answer to higher education challenges

Jarrod Brown

According to new research, emerging “smart technologies” are the answer to solving higher education challenges. 

Mehmet Firat, a researcher at Anadolu University in Turkey, recently published a report envisioning a multi-tech solution to the problems facing traditional education.

He’s called the proposed model the “Smart Open Education Ecosystem” (SOEE), and his research combines blockchain, decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs), nonfungible tokens (NFTs), multimodal learning analytics and artificial intelligence (AI).

What new tech means for the future of education

At first glance, these are just buzzwords for bullish crypto investors holding onto the ‘Bitcoin Boom‘ of the late 2010s. But Mr Firat says these technologies may be the key to democratising personalised and accessible learning. 

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His proposed “open education” system would run on a blockchain using generative AI systems, such as ChatGPT, to interface with students and personalise learning experiences. Lessons, learning resources and credentials would be crafted as NFTs, and a DAO would govern the entire process.

Techno jargon aside, this would be a revolutionary next step in higher education – giving students global access to a personalised learning system that operates, governs and evolves completely independent of national institutions. 

“Equity, fair opportunity, and access issues can be considered among the most significant handicaps of education in today’s world,” wrote Mr Firat.

“Even if the systems we have seen [as] examples of open universities and other structures support this philosophy and approach, they are far from this common goal because they have not yet been able to integrate artificial intelligence, blockchain and big data.”

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By combining these technologies, Mr Firat believes his SOEE system “could be the first social organisation of humanity to reach singularity” – the point where lifelong free education becomes universal.

An exciting but “distant goal”

Mr Firat does, however, remind us that his SOEE is still firmly in the realm of science fiction – for now. 

A 2019 report, ‘Blockchain 2030 – A Look at the Future of Blockchain in Australia‘, concluded that, although exciting, blockchain’s future in Australia remained uncertain.

Comparing the technology to the emergence of the internet in the 1960s, researchers were confident the technology would require decades of more study before integrating with our country’s digital ecosystem. 

Four years on, Australia still has yet to embrace any SOEE tech on any significant level in education, with bans on generative AI only cautiously being reversed in classrooms at the start of 2024

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However, our federal government is tentatively dipping their toes into the technology outside the schooling sector.

In February 2020, Hon Karen Andrews MP, Minster for Industry, Science and Technology, committed to exploring the potential of this emerging technology through the National Blockchain Roadmap

Upon its announcement, Minister Andrews said, “together, we can drive the long-term development and adoption of blockchain technology and capitalise on the tremendous economic and social opportunities it offers”.

Developed alongside industry leaders and researchers, this plan is set to “boost Australia’s rapidly growing blockchain industry to global heights”, and has made several major milestones in the years since. 

With further research underway and the recent boom in generative AI, the question isn’t if but when SOEE tech will become commonplace in our nation’s higher learning. 

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With a background in journalism, copywriting and digital marketing, Jarrod Brown draws upon his professional experience when writing about the intersection of technology and culture within the education space. He recently made the move to Melbourne after trading his Sunshine Coast surfboard for knitwear and laneways.