ODEM, Blockchain Technology, and Unlocking Your Education

 

It’s not uncommon for major U.S. colleges to take as long as four months to deliver a hardcopy diploma to a newly graduated student.

It can also take as many as six weeks and a US$150 fee to replace a diploma that’s been lost, stolen, or destroyed.

Enough, already.

At ODEM, we’re committed to using blockchain technology to make education more affordable, accessible, transferable, and verifiable.

That means deploying the same technology that makes digital currencies like Bitcoin possible to empower students to “own” their diplomas and records of academic accomplishment.

We’re working with forward-thinking institutions of higher education to unleash the power of blockchain technology to give students autonomy over their academic credentials.

Once a graduate is electronically granted access to his or her diploma on graduation day, the individual retains ownership forever. No more calls and emails to the registrar.

Blockchain technology allows virtual documents to be easily forwarded to employers or other educational institutions and instantly verified electronically without payment of additional fees to the college registrar, months of waiting, or the hassle of traditional mail.

Digital credentials contain a unique tamper-proof digital identifier which corresponds with the electronic signature of the issuing institution. The encryption system allows students to both easily access their virtual records and prove their validity.

ODEM’s technology for recipient-controlled credentials is rooted in the Ethereum blockchain, a specialized distributed ledger that compiles transaction data on a global network of thousands of computers. The transactions, or blocks, are encrypted and added to previous data blocks, creating a chain of transactions. Once recorded on the ledger, a block cannot be tampered with or modified.

Just last year, a Canadian polytechnic known as SAIT became the first post-secondary school in that country to issue blockchain-based academic certificates to a graduating class. We’re proud to say that ODEM provided the technical assistance.

Stay tuned for more ODEM updates.

 

 

Rich Maaghul,
CEO
ODEM

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