IBM and Sony build secure student data store using blockchain

The platform will hold student records and learning history

IBM Japan, Sony and Sony Global Education have built a platform based on IBM's blockchain and cloud that can be used to manage student records, as well as record and refer to their learning history and digital academic transcripts.

As well as consolidating student data into a single, secure environment, the platform is intended to act as a repository for non-traditional certifications; for example, online or overseas courses. These certifications, and other information on the platform, can be shared with school administrators, prospective employers and other need-to-know parties.

In addition to acting as a repository, IBM hopes that the platform will be used by educational institutions to share data with teachers, to implement unique teaching methods; and with vendors, to target products ‘based on verified needs' (we have asked IBM for clarification of this point).

The platform is built on IBM's blockchain, delivered through the IBM cloud and powered by the Hyperledger Fabric 1.0 framework.

Sony Global Education is working with educational institutions, with the intent of launching a blockchain-based service next year. President Masaaki Isozu said, "Blockchain technology has the potential to impact systems in a wide variety of industries, and the educational sphere is no exception when educational data is securely stored on the blockchain and shared among permissioned users. We are pleased that we have worked together with IBM to build a new system which can help effect real change in the education sector."

"Blockchain offers a new approach to how the lifetime history of data related to a person, place or thing is shared and managed," said said Yoshiki Minowa, VP of IBM Japan. "In effect, data tracked on a blockchain becomes a single source of truth."