Intro to Web3 Credentials: Metaverse for Education Newsletter Issue #14

Jun 6, 2022

Dear Educators & Friends,

As crypto continues to tank 📉, web3 is... actively gaining momentum ✨.

Last week, the World Economic Forum at Davos featured blockchain panels with prominent leaders of international banks, centralized finance companies, crypto researchers, and policy makers. Of their 6 conference themes, "Our Future is Digital" has spawned a new initiative to build an equitable, interoperable, & safe metaverse.

The truth is, web3 has been quietly growing for years. I say quietly not because it's in secret, but because we haven't been listening.

In 2017, manufacturing companies started using blockchain in supply-chain manufacturing.
In 2018, tech companies started using blockchain to verify credentials.
In 2021, a whole country adopted cryptocurrency as legal tender.
In 2021, the largest social media company banked it's entire $86b reputation on the metaverse.

Those aren't even the earliest or most prominent use cases.

All this to say, if we follow the money, the policies, & the leadership...the future is being shaped by web3. And we as educators MUST be ready for it.

So, two things.

1) This newsletter issue is all about on-chain credentials. We are defining credentials as evidence of one's identity, administratively or qualitatively. These digital identifiers are probably the most practical use case case for blockchain in any industry, but ESPECIALLY education. Think: transcripts, badges, certifications, attendance, IDs, etc.

2) Ed3 DAO is launching the world's first web3 certification program for educators. The goal is to empower 1 million educators with web3 knowledge & tools to create opportunities for themselves and their students in the future of work. If you're interested in bringing this credential to your school or to an educator in your life, contact Ed3 DAO.

We must recognize the opportunity education has at this very moment in time to take a regenerative path using web3. If you're an educator of any kind...

I implore you to seize it.

Warmly yours,

Vriti & the k20 Educators

Learn about the Metaverse for Education

📹 What is a verifiable credential?
Understanding verifiable credentials (VCs)
Federated identity vs self-sovereign identity (SSI)
How verifiable credentials can rebuild trust on the internet
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) VS verifiable credentials (VCs)
📹 The fundamentals of decentralized identities (DIDs)
The importance of DIDs
The case for soul-bound credentials
The credential economy
📹 Building a web3 community with digital credentials
🔈 Rethinking digital identity for web3
19 FAQs on verifiable credentials & self-sovereign identity

In Education

Disappearing NFTs as progressive learning credentials
Learning back(pack) to the future: credentials with a soul
🔈 Web3 credentialing in education
Decentralized credentialing ecosystems in education (a long article but worthwhile for serious edu-blockchain connoisseurs)
📹 Learn to earn credentials for resume building
The atomized diploma

Do Something in the Metaverse

Create web3 credentials

A collaborative credential infrastructure
Make any document tamper-proof with verifiable credentials
A protocol for issuing self-sovereign, anonymous, & verifiable credentials

📅 Events

Ed3 Coffee Chat (Every Saturday, 11a ET)
Getting to know the Ed3 Educators NFT (June 6, 2022)
Certifying educators in web3 (June 7, 2022)

This week’s Metaverse for Education newsletter is about Web3 Credentialing. More to come on other web3 topics. We’re excited to bring education into the Metaverse & help you leverage the opportunities in the new world.

Join our community of innovative educators in the Eduverse.