Blockchain X Education: How TinyTap Revolutionises Education with Blockchains
Blockchain. What is it? Are they blocks with chains or chains with blocks?
According to McKinsey, a blockchain is “a type of distributed database or ledger,” which, in simple terms, is a database that contains an ever-growing list of digital transactions. It is essentially a digital receipt of purchase that continuously updates itself across different nodes (blocks), reducing the likelihood of tampering by outside entities to ensure security and safety for its users.
Now that we know what a blockchain is, let’s talk about the uses we can apply to it in a key area of our life: education.
When the United Nations established education as an SDG (SDG 4), it identified the crucial role that education plays in promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, improving overall quality of life, as well as the role it plays in empowering individuals from marginalised groups or lower economic backgrounds.
Therefore, to ensure quality education is accessible to all, we should start updating our classrooms by incorporating blockchain in the way we learn and process our education!
There are numerous advantages to incorporating blockchain into our schooling. To demonstrate these advantages, I’ll be using TinyTap as a major case study throughout this article.
“You could use TinyTap to create an app to help only one person or the entire world,” said Yogev Shelly, TinyTap’s co-founder.
Initially, Shelly created a simple app that allowed his father, who has Alzheimer’s, to relive family memories through interactive photo books. Over time, as he saw the impact this had on his father, Shelly realised that this app could help others.
Shelly and his team morphed this simple app into the TinyTap platform that was founded in 2012, a social platform that empowers families, teachers, and students to learn from each other by creating their personalised learning apps and playing thousands of new ones shared daily by a worldwide community of educators and learners.
TinyTap offers a wide range of courses, including Math, Language Arts, Reading, Spelling, Science, and Social Skills, all aligned with a holistic education approach emphasising the development of the body and mind.
The company raised around US$13 million from investors, including Aleph Venture Capital, Inimiti, Reinvent VC, Omega Group Enterprises Ltd., Radiant Ventures HK, Animoca Brands, and others. (Source:Animoca)
Initially a Web 2.0 educational technology (EdTech) platform, TinyTap was acquired by Animoca Brands, a leading company in the blockchain gamification market, which has integrated NFT elements into the platform, thus incorporating it into the Web 3.0 space.
Animoca Brands has paid $38.875 million in cash and shares for TinyTap, acquiring an 84.13% ownership in the children’s learning platform. With the latest acquisition, the company hopes to bring learning to the Web 3.0 domain.
Yat Siu, co-founder, and executive chairman of Animoca Brands, stated that “educators are among the most prolific creators and traders of content. Despite the fact that teaching is among the most important professions, educators generally struggle with funding and resources. Our goal is to mitigate some of the challenges faced by teachers everywhere.”
Animoca’s aim was to launch a new blockchain-based business segment that will empower educators around the world by giving them access to new opportunities and the ability to generate their equity, expanding the earning options already provided by TinyTap in its current form.
They use blockchain to:
- Decentralised learning platforms + Access to a global audience: TinyTap’s decentralised platform allows educators to create and share educational content that is not controlled by any single entity. This ensures that educational content is accessible to everyone, regardless of their location or economic background. It is also a plus point for parents, educators, and learners as there is full transparency on what is taught and how, ensuring clear and transparent communication between different stakeholders to improve the quality of education and facilitate better learning outcomes, which won’t be found in a traditional learning environment.
- Increased engagement: TinyTap’s interactive educational content can help increase student engagement and motivation. By incorporating gamification elements into their lessons, educators can make learning more fun and enjoyable for students.
- Provides free access to tools and resources: Educators have free access to the creation platform and all its content, which they can use in their classrooms at no cost. This lowers the barriers for educators to create and share educational materials.
- Provides Monetary Support to Teachers: TinyTap allows educators to monetise their educational content by selling it on the platform’s marketplace. This can provide educators, who tend to be underpaid, with an additional source of income and incentivise them to create high-quality educational content for students worldwide.
Additionally, TinyTap is a versatile platform that offers a range of interactive learning activities. Users can create custom games, puzzles, quizzes, and e-books using images and sounds to make them engaging and interactive.
For instance, in the following example below, educators are no longer underpaid and can earn money by creating and selling their educational content on TinyTap’s marketplace, which is powered by blockchain technology. This marketplace uses smart contracts to facilitate secure and transparent transactions, ensuring that educators receive fair compensation for their hard work.
Moreover, last year TinyTap’s first batch of 6 NFTs were sold at an auction, generating 138.926 ETH (roughly US$228,000). The six teachers who created the curriculum for the Publisher NFTs received 67.7 ETH (US$111,000), with each teacher receiving 50% of the net earnings from the auction of their NFTs. In addition, they received a 10% ongoing share of any revenue generated by their courses.
The highest-priced NFT was “Learn English with Gabi,” which earned its author Gabi Klaf 22.9 ETH (US$37,600).
The creator, Gabi Klaf, expressed her excitement about the sale, stating that “I am overjoyed that my English courses will now reach thousands of children worldwide and I’m excited to teach a new generation of young kids! Financially, I foresee this endeavor to be highly beneficial to me”.
This is another key example of how blockchain technology may enhance education by giving teachers another method to monetise their content and reach a larger audience.
TinyTap was created to help one person stay connected to their memories, but it has since evolved into a platform that empowers educators and learners worldwide to create personalised learning experiences.
By rewarding content creators with tokens and issuing NFT collections, TinyTap incentivises the creation of high-quality educational content and provides a way for teachers to monetise their work. This innovative use of blockchain technology demonstrates the potential for decentralized systems to empower creators and incentivise participation in educational communities.
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