THE STATE OF ONLINE LEARNING IN WEB3
How Educators Understand and Implement Ed3, Blockchain, and Metaversal Technologies

Ryan Straight, Ph.D

College of Applied Science and Technology
University of Arizona

OUR AGENDA

The Plan for Today

1. Introduction
2. Terminology
3. Ed3
4. The Study
5. The Future
6. Your Toolkit

Link to this slide deck!

The plan for today is to explore the basic concepts needed in order to really dig into how these technologies interact with and afford changes in online learning. As we’re still very much in the early stages of this, much of it will be necessarily theoretical or look toward potential rather than a postmortem. That said, we’ll do our best to tease these things out.

Next we’ll take all these concepts and try to bring them together into a meaningful concept: namely, Ed3.

After we’ve established what that is, we get to the meat of the thing: I wanted to know what educators thought about these possiblities. So, I asked them. I will share some preliminary results from a recent study.

Next, we’ll look at what this potentially tells us about the future of this space. How can we make it successful? What do we need to be wary of?

Finally, I’ll share with you a toolkit for delving into this space for yourself. I’ve put together a lengthy collection of resources, platforms, and guides for you to use.

So, let’s get going!

WHO

Ryan Straight, Ph.D
Honors/Associate Professor of Practice Applied Computing & Cyber Operations
Director, MA{VR}X Lab
College of Applied Science and Technology
University of Arizona

• Me, what I teach, et cetera.
• Going to be introducing you to a lot today, so you’ll leave with more questions than you probably came in with and I think that’s usually the better result.

TERMINOLOGY

Let’s speak the same language

1. Metaverse
2. Web3
3. Blockchain
4. NFTs
5. DAOs
6. Ed…3?

Tree image via Getty Images.

We need to be on the same page when we’re talking about these rather new topics, so I want to give a quick rundown of what these things actually are. I’ll caveat it with: so far, with just a few exceptions, there’s no absolute consensus here.

Metaverse

According to Parisi (2021), there are 7 Rules of the Metaverse:

Rule #1: There is only one Metaverse.

Rule #2: The Metaverse is for everyone.

Rule #3: Nobody controls the Metaverse.

Rule #4: The Metaverse is open.

Rule #5: The Metaverse is hardware-independent.

Rule #6: The Metaverse is a Network.

Rule #7: The Metaverse is the Internet.

“The Metaverse of the Mind” via Dream.ai by WOMBO

“What is the metaverse?” I hear you asking. And rightfully so.

These are “axiomatic” goals for an ideal metaverse, many of which I’m on board with. That said, there are some issues to address around, in the least, equity.

1. Within rule one, there is the caveat, “controlled by none and accessible to all” complicates the matter: in practice, this is not and will likely never be the case. Oppressive government regimes, bandwidth deserts, digital redlining, barriers to technology acquisition like financial or accessibility issues, all make this difficult to realize, which brings us to Rule 2:
2. The metaverse being defined by the rules is something closer to a pure, perfect Platonic form, in that the implementation of the metaversal concept is necessarily limited, even corrupted, by those involved in its manifestation.
3. I think if the events of the past year have shown us anything, it’s that while there shouldn’t be a single point of governance or failure in the metaverse (much like there isn’t one company or organization that “owns” the internet), we are certainly in dire need of regulation. If a scam can be perpetrated, it will be. For more on regulation in the metaverse, Rosenberg (2022) “Regulate the Metaverse: Why regulation is important and urgent.”
4. Again here we see a need for regulation or at least a common goal for the greater good, akin to net neutrality. My worry is that convenience will out-weight autonomy going forward and the little injustices will begin to add up.
5. We return to the question of equity at this point. The rule is intended to mean it can’t only be those with thousand-dollar VR headsets accessing the metaverse, rather it’s designed in such a way that there is equity from the start. As we’ll see when we get to the utilization of NFTs, a clear focus away from commercialization and consumerism should be at the forefront.
6. It is interesting that so much talk about the metaverse focuses on the structure and the things within and not the people involved. Without users, the metaverse is meaningless. This means accessibility and usability, especially when bringing education into the mix.
7. The internet describes a destination or locations within that space. We stream “from YouTube.” We “go online” to find information. We buy devices connected “to the cloud.” If we’re truly considering a metaverse, we need to reform our understanding of its proximity to us and think of it more as an aether, a (dare we say) meta reality that is simultaneously present combined with our own.

So there we have our seven rules (and some concerns) about the metaverse.

Web3

What is Web3? According to Mak (2021), it’s an internet…

runs on public blockchains… the appeal of Web3 is that it is decentralized[;] it’s the individuals themselves who own and control pieces of the internet.

How do the metaverse and Web3 relate?

Web3 is all about inclusivity and putting users first. The metaverse is a new world where creation is put in your hands. NFTs are how we’re going to do it¹. (Bashir, 2022)

“A Web for All” via Dream.ai by WOMBO

There’s an internet addage about the different iterations of The Web. Very simply, it goes like this:

1. Web1: Read (most folks didn’t have the knowledge or ability to actually build in the web)
2. Web2: Read/Write (now folks are actually building the web, themselves, with blogs and social media and whatnot)
3. Web3: Read/Write/Own (users have agency and their work is now theirs)

What I want folks to do here is to decouple their preconceived notions and associations between Web3 and scam. We are still very much in the exploration phase of Web3 and its potential. We’ll return to this in a bit.

1. If this leaves a bad taste in your mouth, don’t worry. We’ll return to this later.

Blockchain

Blockchains are… “similar to a ledger that records digital forms and shares information across a computer network that includes digital signatures and certificates” (Bucea-Manea-Țoniş et al., 2021).

Via Coding is Love

“Blocks, Chains, Locks, and Keys” via Dream.ai by WOMBO

That necessarily brings us to the question: what’s a blockchain? I found one piece that simply called it “a chain of blocks,” but I feel like there’s more to say than that.

So how does this relate to education? Specifically, higher education? Lots of ways!

• A full e-learning platform (Lam & Dongol, 2022)
• Lots of research on blockchain-based microcredentialing (Alsobhi et al., 2023; Ferdig et al., 2022)
• Using blockchain for online discussion or to support education records (Sousa et al., 2022)
• Using it in relation to MOOCs (Li et al., 2022)
• Even to build an entire Smart University (Aslan & Ataşen, 2020)

First, here’s the super simplified version of how a blockchain works: each new “transaction” has a proof of the previous transaction, and this goes on forever. That way you can tell nothing has been injected, altered, or removed.

I’m sure your gears are starting to turn and you’re thinking, “Hm, immutable records? I can see how that would be beneficial for an education system, whether that’s for ownership and intellectual property or keeping track of credentials or…” And I’d say: good! But there’s more before we return to that.

NFTs

• Tokenomics
• Metaverse
• Regulation and risk
• Video games
• Asset valuation

(Taherdoost, 2023)

“There Are Many Like It But This Is Mine” via Dream.ai by WOMBO

Tokenomics is basically the science behind an economy (broadly defined) that runs on tokens. Cryptocurrency, NFTs, new forms of tokens, et cetera.

Taherdoorst makes a number of observations when it comes to NFTs. First:

“The proponents of cryptocurrencies promise enhanced artist compensation, disintermediation, and better compliance with impending anti-money-laundering rules as business reasons for these collaborations … however, there is little proof that it, compared with other online monetization types, helps artists’ problems in earning a livelihood.”

So, when it comes to valuation, there are two main concerns:

“The first concern is whether or not there is a standard methodology for establishing the value of NFTs. The second goal is to define the link between NFTs and other cryptocurrencies.”

And they hit it on the head with: “There is a growing amount of support and conviction in the potential of NFTs, but there is still considerable ambiguity over the future of NFTs.”

And we’ll come back to how these relate to education shortly.

DAOs

Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

DAO	A traditional organization
Usually flat, and fully democratized.	Usually hierarchical.
Voting required by members for any changes to be implemented.	Depending on structure, changes can be demanded from a sole party, or voting may be offered.
All activity is transparent and fully public.	Activity is typically private, and limited to the public.

via Ethereum.org

“We Are One And We Are All In Charge” via Dream.ai by WOMBO

The DAO is essentially the native community structure of Web3. Some are more like co-ops while others are just a tech-focused way to organize a business structure and exist solely to help the members make money.

There is also the occasional question of how robust a DAO is. One DAO thought by buying an original Dune book they owned the copyright to it, which is obviously not true and something anyone with even passing knowledge of copyright law could tell you. Another DAO was completely taken over by one person (or one group of people) suddenly owning the majority of the voting power in the organization, essentially making it “theirs.” And since DAO decisions (very often funding-related as they can have large amounts of money for seed grants, et cetera) are based on so-called Smart Contracts that are nothing more than algorithms, those decisions are enforced automatically.

So, again, we see an area for concern and something to watch. I don’t believe this is a failure of the concept or the intent behind building these organizations, however. More like a lack of safeguards and due-diligence.

Most education-related DAOs actually focus on education on and about Web3 (so, helping coders learn relevant languages). DAOs focused on using Web3 for education not about Web3 are few and far between.

But all these things bring us to what we’re really here to talk about: Ed3. First, though: how are these technologies already being applied in educational spaces?

ED3

Ed1 / Ed2 / Ed3

Photos via Dream by WOMBO

Ed1: Learn

Ed2: Teach

Ed3: Own

If we follow Scott David Meyer’s version of Ed3 as analogous to Web1, 2, and 3, we can start off like this.

Ed1: was knowledge transfer provided by accredited institutions, such as universities and schools. If you want to think of this in Freireian terms, you could consider Ed1 the “banking” model.

Ed2: was centralized platforms distributing education, such as Udemy, Skillshare, and Outschool, with some cohort-based engagements.

Ed3: “individuals gathering skills from a variety of sources and validating that knowledge in their own wallet.”

But is that it?? Here the “ownership” comes in. In Ed3, according to Meyer, “learners own their education - validating their knowledge with decentralized technology in contrast to previous models.”

And, if you’re like me, you might be struggling here. On one hand, you might think, “Yes, down with the megacorps who own all our data!” On the otherhand, you might be thinking, “But, let’s just take accreditation, right? If I’m looking for a platform or organization to engage with and learn from, I kinda like the idea that there’s a body that regulates and accredits an organization to say, ‘Yup, they actually know what they’re talking about because we have these standards and they meet them.’ I’m not sure I have the time or even knowledge to validate every wallet to make sure they’re all legit before learning from that person.” If there’s anything we’ve learned, it’s that “Just trust us” is never good enough.

Am I simplifying things here? Of course.

But, returning to Ed3, there isn’t just one version of it. In fact, there are many. So let’s explore some now.

The Birth of Ed3

Movement

Mindset

Community

What is Ed3? Well, it depends on who you ask.

• It can be an entire movement.
  • In fact, if we talk about Web3 as a movement and not a specific thing, that’s probably the best analog. Hence the name.
• It can be a mindset.
  • For many folks in the Ed3 world, it is a mindset. A way of thinking. A typically optimistic look at revitalizing and revolutionizing what many see as a faltering if not broken education system. They often see it as a way to return agency and ownership of learning to the learner.
• It can be a community.
  • And this is where the present study comes in: there is a distinct Ed3 communtiy, Ed3DAO, and I wanted to explore just what makes them tick, why are they passionate about this, how do they see the future of education in light of these technologies we’ve talked about, and how are they actually implementing it?

So, while we’re interested in all of these, of course, it’s the community’s application of the concepts involved that we’re really focusing on. So let’s look at the study.

THE STUDY

Preparing to Study Ed3

Preregistration at OSF.io

• I’ve been interested in the Web3/education intersection for some time.
• I then found the Ed3DAO and joined the community.
• It was the–if I’m being honest–scammy nature of NFTs and crypto that got me thinking, “Why are these folks so positive on this? There’s no money in this.” Turns out that’s important and…
• In fact, this is one of the ways the community thrives: folks looking to flip an NFT for a quick buck soon realize the ecosystem being built is not ripe for that kind of thing.
• So, how are they different? That is, how do educators approach Web3, NFTs, etc, differently from those in other industries?

Studying Ed3

Working with some of the folks in the Ed3DAO to tease out some major relevant themes like focusing on Web3 as a concept, equity in education, and so on.

I asked for demographics (of course), self-reported feelings of expertise when it came to the conceptual, technical, and practical sides of Web3, a Likert-style portion specifically aimed at “the integration of Web3 and education,” and then finally some open-ended questions to help tease out nuance. A cleaned, anonymized version of the data will be available once the study is published, so those open-ended responses won’t be included as they may be identifiable.

As far as the Likert questions go, they were formulated as statements with which participants should agree or disagree on a 7-point scale ranging from “Strongly disagree” to “Strongly agree” with an option for “Don’t know/No opinion.” For example, “Schools will be quick to adopt these new technologies,” “There should be more regulation and oversight,” and “Cybersecurity in Web3 is of little concern.”

The questions were placed in three categories, unbeknownst to the participants, focusing on equity, pedagogy, and Web3.

The instrument itself is reliable with an alpha level of 0.86, which is nice.

Similarities

• Demographics? Check.
• Expertise? Check.
• Opinions? Very nearly!

via GIPHY

First, how am I defining “educators” and “non-educators?” Simply this: a question asked participants which industry they’re generally in. Anyone that chose Education over the others (ie, entertainment, finance, et cetera), were labeled “Educator,” and everyone else was labeled “Non-educator.”

The participant numbers came out to roughly 2:1 educators to non-educators. Not surprising. What was surprising was where similarities were and were not.

Demographics? Yup. No significant differences between the two groups.

Expertise? Again, no difference. That’s those conceptual, technical, and practical expertise I talked about earlier. There were slight differences between educators and non-educators but in this particular group they weren’t statistically significant.

So let’s look at the differences.

Difference: Teaching

Educators: Teachers can spend more time teaching? Doubtful.

Non-educators: Developing a sense of community among students? Doubtful.

via GIPHY

This difference requires some unpacking and I encourage folks to muse in the chat about why this might be.

First: more time teaching. This would suggest, as one would expect, the non-educators perhaps don’t understand the day-to-day logistics of teaching.

For the sense of community: that’s interesting, right? Given the DAO-focus so many Web3 folks tend to have, it’s curious that non-educators would tend to doubt the ability to build community using this technology.

Difference: Optimism

Educators

Non-Educators

via GIPHY

Educators disagreed with the portion of the survey that was more critical in nature of Web3 tech at significantly higher rates than those not in the education space. There are a variety of ways to interpret this, as there always are.

NFTs (Again)

\(N\) = 136, \(M\) = 6.01, \(SD\) = 1.31

Ed3 NFT

Other NFTs

Both educators and non-educators scored most highly on a survey item about NFTs not being used to their fullest extent. Out of 7, the average was basically 6, far and away the most agreed-upon optimistic thing in the entire survey.

I interpret this to mean a couple different things: first, folks in this study generally seem to believe in the utility of NFTs and don’t necessarily fall victim to letting current scams and illegalities rampant in the NFT space as indicative of the technology, itself. Second, given this population is implicitly related to the Ed3DAO community, their exposure to the Ed3 NFT and its built-in utility provides them with a paragon of what’s possible.

Taking this further, it then makes sense to suggest that, if improving the public opinion on NFTs is a goal, then having that paragon of utility and legitimacy is key.

THE FUTURE

What is to come?

Most importantly, a critical need for

re-orienting blockchain technology in education from pro-profit to human-centred adoption. This is to ensure a balance among technological advances, knowledge transformation, and safeguarding of privacy and individual rights of marginalised teachers and learners. (Savelyeva & Park, 2022, p. 1592)

This is absolutely key. Absolutely essential.

What is to come?

Secondly, DAOs and education. Some considerations (Qian, 2021):

• Credentials
• Social life
• Path toward professional “success”
• Education
• Admissions
• Cost
• Length of time spent at the institution

THE END

That’s a wrap!

Thank you for coming! Find out more at:

MA{VR}X Lab

https://mavrxlab.org

Me

https://ryanstraight.com

See the toolkit!

https://mavrxlab.org/news/2023-04-04-ed3-toolkit/

Thanks, everybody, for coming out to hear these preliminary results from, as far as I can tell, the first and only study of its kind. I don’t want to give everything away so you’ll have something read when the paper drops!

References

Alsobhi, H. A., Alakhtar, R. A., Ubaid, A., Hussain, O. K., & Hussain, F. K. (2023). Blockchain-based micro-credentialing system in higher education institutions: Systematic literature review. Knowledge-Based Systems, 265, 110238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.knosys.2022.110238

Aslan, B., & Ataşen, K. (2020). A blockchain based lifelong learning platform: The Smart University. Manas Journal of Engineering, 8(2), 151–154. https://doi.org/10.51354/mjen.739036

Bashir, I. (2022). Council Post: The Metaverse, NFTs And The Inevitability Of Web3. In Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2022/04/15/the-metaverse-nfts-and-the-inevitability-of-web3/

Bucea-Manea-Țoniş, R., Martins, O. M. D., Bucea-Manea-Țoniş, R., Gheorghiță, C., Kuleto, V., Ilić, M. P., & Simion, V.-E. (2021). Blockchain Technology Enhances Sustainable Higher Education. Sustainability, 13(22), 12347. https://doi.org/10.3390/su132212347

Ferdig, R. E., Cohen, M., Ling, E., & Hartshorne, R. (2022). Examining Blockchain Protocols, Cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Other Web 3.0 Affordances in Teacher Education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 30(1), 5–19. https://www-learntechlib-org.ezproxy4.library.arizona.edu/primary/p/221200/

Lam, T. Y., & Dongol, B. (2022). A blockchain-enabled e-learning platform. Interactive Learning Environments, 30(7), 1229–1251. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1716022

Li, D., Han, D., Zheng, Z., Weng, T.-H., Li, H., Liu, H., Castiglione, A., & Li, K.-C. (2022). MOOCsChain: A blockchain-based secure storage and sharing scheme for MOOCs learning. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 81, 103597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csi.2021.103597

Mak, A. (2021). What Is Web3 and Why Are All the Crypto People Suddenly Talking About It? Slate.

Parisi, T. (2021). The Seven Rules of the Metaverse. In Metaverses.

Qian, K. (2021). DAOs as University Replacements: A Thought Experiment. In Substack. https://kassen.substack.com/p/daos-as-university-replacements-a?utm_campaign=Metaverse%20for%20Education%20Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Revue%20newsletter.

Rosenberg, L. (2022). Regulate the Metaverse. In Predict. https://medium.com/predict/regulating-the-metaverse-7c893ed00865

Savelyeva, T., & Park, J. (2022). Blockchain technology for sustainable education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(6), 1591–1604. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13273

Sousa, M. J., Dal Mas, F., Gonçalves, S. P., & Calandra, D. (2022). AI and Blockchain as New Triggers in the Education Arena. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology and Education, 12(4), 445–447. https://doi.org/10.3390/ejihpe12040032

Taherdoost, H. (2023). Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT): A Systematic Review. Information, 14(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.3390/info14010026