Blockchain as a Learning Management System for Laboratories 4.0

Abstract

Remote laboratories have been developed at many universities worldwide to provide students with access to apparatus and experiments via the Internet around the clock, thus giving partner institutions the opportunity to share resources, expensive equipment and specialized laboratories, whether within a single country or at regional and international levels. Universities usually implement learning management systems (LMS) such as Moodle and Blackboard to enable students to interact, carry out learning activities and access remote labs. However, remote labs generate enormous amounts of data, which is stored, processed, analyzed, and accessed using centralized systems that lack transparency, traceability, security features, trustworthiness, and reliability. In addition, they are vulnerable to the single point of failure problem due to centralization. The application of blockchain technology in remote labs is proposed as a promising solution for future online learning as it combines a new pedagogical approach with various state-of-the-art technologies in an era that embraces Education 4.0 as the education norm. Furthermore, a novel blockchain-based framework for remote labs allows data streaming and transfer in a decentralized, transparent, traceable, reliable, secure, and trustful manner, where only authorized peers can join or access the network, thereby providing privacy of students’ data files and reports. An initial pilot of an Ethereum-based remote lab show promising result for effective management of online experiments, originally hosted in a Moodle LMS.