The UnBlockEd Project: Addressing Inequitable Transfer Processes in Higher Education

In this talk we will provide a summary of the work being conducted on an American Council on Education Blockchain Innovation Challenge grant. The goal of this work is to create an open transfer exchange system that will facilitate student progress towards graduation by making the transfer articulation processes more transparent. The UnBlockEd project will empower students by leveraging the agency they gain through control of their learning records via the use of blockchain. This will occur through the construction of a blockchain-enabled exchange that gives students earlier insights into how particular courses transfer to specific programs at target institutions, as well as how these credits apply to particular academic programs. This, in turn, will incentivize institutions to more clearly articulate the requirements associated with their degree programs, as well as the credits they are willing to accept. This design will integrate a newly developed transfer articulation capability that leverages curricular analytics in order to create efficient cross-institutional degree plans.

Which one or two theme(s) best describe the presentation? Transfer Credit / Prior Learning , Policy, Reporting and Research

What Professional Application does this sessions apply to? We will provide a summary of the work being conducted on an American Council on Education Blockchain Innovation Challenge grant. The goal of this work is to create an open transfer exchange system that will facilitate student progress towards graduation by making the transfer articulation processes more transparent.

Presentation Begins:

Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 3:10 PM Eastern Time

Presented By:

Greg Heileman, The University of Arizona
Hayden Free Georgia Institute of Technology
Alex Underwood The University of Arizona