# Blockchain-Based Applications in Education: A Systematic Review
## 5 Areas for Future Research  
This synthesis presented a range of possible solutions that blockchain technology has brought to bear on teaching and learning. However, blockchain has much more to offer and can provide significant benefits to other educational areas.  
A main area where blockchain can be of a great benefit is collaboration and partnership between educational institutions. As has been discussed, blockchain is being trialed by different educational institutions as a secure and reliable ledger to record their students' academic achievements. This includes not only recording students' certificates, but also the different learning outcomes that they achieved and the skills that they acquired. A future study in this direction would investigate how blockchaincould be used to facilitate collaboration and partnership between educational institutions. The use of smart contracts would allow educational institutions to record and share their students' academic information such as an academic transcript, a program description, major/minor requirements, and academic probation. Students can then take courses at any of the participating institutions. Educational institutions can also offer joint academic programs. Utilizing such technology would increase students' flexibility by granting them access to the full breadth of academic programming at every other institution. It will also help educational institutions to reduce operating costs by using shared infrastructure, services, and academic programs.  
Job-driven education is another area where blockchain technology could be used. The main focus of job-driven education is to provide education and training programs that meet current and future hiring needs and can result in employment for participating students. Blockchain can play an important role in facilitating this type of education. Businesses can use blockchain to share skills and competencies that they require. Educational institutions can check this information regularly and use it to design training programs that are responsive to businesses' needs. Students can also use blockchain as an aggregating ledger to store their skills and competencies. Recruiting agencies could examine the blockchain and evaluate students on the basis of their skills and could recommend certain training programs.  
Another important area for future research is the application of blockchain technology in accrediting and improving the quality of online education. While online education has numerous advantages such as lower cost, accessibility, and flexibility, it also suffers from many drawbacks. At the top of these drawbacks is the accreditation and low quality. A large number of educational institutions claim to be accredited and they offer high quality online courses. Blockchain has the potential to address this issue. It can be used as a decentralized platform where students, educational institutions, and accrediting agencies can securely and reliably share information. Educational institutions can store information about their online courses, online programs, instructors, and accreditations. Students can share their ratings of both the course and their instructors after completing a course. These ratings can help other students judge the quality of the courses and the academic programs. Accrediting agencies can verify the accreditations information provided by the educational institutions. Students can use this information to find accredited online programs that will give them the certification they need.