Who owns the blockchain?

[IMPACT]

DETAILED PROBLEM STATEMENT

1. Digital innovation is happening at an unprecedented speed. Blockchain, metaverse, NFTs, AI, and other digital technologies are about to reshape society dramatically. One can find information about them on the internet, but the explanation is not accessible to young teenagers (sometimes, not even to adults). The ones who really can understand and actively engage in this transformation are very few. Therefore, we need to make them more democratic.
2. YouTubers, media channels, and social media produce information about these new technologies. However, not even adults with academic background and good reading skills are being able to follow with explanations, that are often too technical. For students in middle and high schools who might not have any contact with these topics, it is even more challenging to create a solid understanding.
3. The edge of technological innovation doesn’t reach students in schools through textbooks, dialogues, or planned activities. We need to offer a chance to students to have awareness and criticality on this transformation, so they can develop the future of it. We need to offer educational resources that will discuss these topics considering the technical, but also political, economic, social, ethical, and sustainable aspects involved.

DETAILED SOLUTION

To coordinate a diverse and interdisciplinary team of authors that will produce educational resources about the following topics:

1. Metaverse
2. Web 3.0
3. Blockchain
4. NFTs
5. AI
6. Machine learning

Each content is characterized by a pack of texts, videos, reflections, questions, exercises, external links, suggestions for projects, and references. We will apply a variety of media and formats to discuss all the topics.

• We will use an interdisciplinary team of authors able to communicate content from a rich perspective: sociologists, philosophers, tech experts, engineers/computer scientists, pedagogues, artists. We will explore the selected topics beyond the technical aspect. Different angles are the key to a unique set of ed. resources accessible in different forms.
• We will use unique digital media, resources, and representations that are directly connected to our audience group (students in high and middle schools, 14-18 years old).
• To make Blockchain or AI relevant to teenagers in a school, we will bring these concepts to their world and speak their language. Our idea is to bring the knowledge about these technologies to them, and not the opposite.
• The content will be published online as Open Educational Resource (OER) and promoted among our network of teachers in the US, Latin America, and Germany.

Access to innovation is a matter of access to information. Those with more access to information get on board sooner and profit from it. However, if we are able to make certain knowledge more accessible, we make it more democratic.

If we make content about Blockchain and other innovations more accessible, the Cardano network will benefit by having more people capable of actively being part of it. The positive change stated by Cardano Project has to do with informed citizens and democratic access to knowledge.

We want to ask questions such as:

• What are the fundamentals of this innovation and why this is innovative when compared to the current ones?
• How do they impact the everyday life of common people not involved directly with them?
• What we still don’t know about them? Where is some hype, where is some advance?
• Who owns, and who has access to these innovations?
• Are they equal, fair, and truly decentralized?
• How do they connect with topics in our school curriculum?

These questions (not exhaustive to this list) will help us to build an interdisciplinary perspective for our students. Both teachers and students will be able to engage in rich debates and become active contributors. Teachers from all disciplines will find relevant and meaningful content to embed these topics in the school curriculum.

UNIQUENESS

A unique approach to talk about: Metaverse; Web 3.0; Blockchain; NFTs; AI; and Machine learning, in which we:

• Talk to students based on the team’s educational background. And not as journalists or tech experts. Our content will be made by people who are genuinely connected to the school. By having education researchers on board, textbook authors, and teachers, we will be able to use our knowledge about how the school works and how educational material should be made.
• We bring these topics into the schools, instead of expecting that teachers and curriculum-makers will go after these topics.
• A unique format that has sociologists, tech experts, philosophers, and pedagogues to approach these themes as authors.
• We will be able to reach students through our network of teachers across different regions (United States, Latin America countries, Germany, and African countries).

Why does it belong to Miscellaneous Challenge?

There are currently no other challenges focused on educational resources for schools and universities. We are going to produce educational content for the external audience and not for onboarding new members on Catalyst.

• Challenge 1: To have a diverse team of authors with both educational and technical backgrounds about the topics that we will explore. Strategy to mitigate: to establish a series of meetings, discussions, and a research group that is deeply aligned with the ultimate goals of the project.
• Challenge 2: To produce relevant content for school students in a way that they make sense in their current and varied curriculum. Strategy to mitigate: to involve pedagogues in the elaboration and critical readers to assess the quality and relevance.
• Challenge 3: To reach a great number of students that access our content. Strategy to mitigate: to establish alliances with social media channels, teachers, and digital influencers. To invest massively in the peer-to-peer dissemination strategies.

[FEASIBILITY]

ROADMAP (in months):

1. Interdisciplinary team formation and content alignment. Meetings, internal workshops. Project elaboration before the content creation starts.
2. Research phase with the refinement of the project plan.
3. Content writing and internal assessment.
4. Editing and external assessment of content
5. Modification and improvement after feedback from assessors (school teachers and students will assess) and editors
6. Web designing and final adjustments
7. Publication in the web and dissemination campaign within our networks (Latin America, US, and Germany).

DELIVERABLES:

• Six-packs of open educational content covering the following topics: Metaverse; Web 3.0; Blockchain; NFTs; AI; and Machine learning. Each pack will be built by a team of experts coordinated by this proposal's coordinator.
• Communication/dissemination campaign

KPIs

• Number of access in the 1st, 3rd, and 6th month after publication
• Quality of interaction in social media
• Feedback and survey's results from a sample of students and teachers.

Products:

USD 2700,00 allocated to each educational resource. Description:

• --1400,00 – Content elaboration (teachers and researchers)
• --200,00 – Editing (Editors)
• --200,00 – Translators EN + ES (Editors)
• --200,00 – Assessment (Like the CA's role in Catalyst)
• --700,00 – Instructional design (Web designers)

6 Educational resources x USD 2700,00 = USD 16200,00

Communication campaign

USD 1400,00

Human resources:

Executive coordination: 15 hours/week during 7 months = 420 hours. Tasks: Implementation and executive coordination of the educational resources production; communication activities; and website elaboration. USD 20,00/hour x 420 hours = USD 8400,00

Total budget required: USD 26000,00 (16200,00 + 8400,00+1400,00)

Gustavo Pugliese [Proposal author and coordinator of the team of content producers]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/gustavopugliese/?locale=en_US

• 7 years of experience in educational projects management and 8 years of teaching experience.
• Author of a schoolbook approved in the Brazilian national textbook program (500,000 copies printed/2021).
• 7 years of experience offering workshops on educational technology to teachers of different backgrounds. Direct contact with more than 3000 teachers.
• Author of online (LMS Platforms) and in-person courses, as well as didactic materials for students and teachers all over Brazil.
• Fellow in the German Chancellor Fellowship, a program of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; and fellow in the Young Leaders of the Americas Initiative, a program of the US State Department.
• Proposal approved in Fund 7 (education), CA, CT member, 5 years of daily contact with blockchain media channels.

[AUDITABILITY]

We will provide public information about each step taken for each of the 6 educational resources promised. Every step (ADA transfers, deliveries, assessment, deadline, and progress) will be presented using a public dashboard.

We will conduct assessment research with students and teachers to collect feedback about the relevance, quality, and clarity of the content produced.

The final products will be published as Open Educational Resources under the license: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0). They can be accessed, tested, and evaluated by anyone in the community.

SUCCESS IN THE SHORT-TERM

To reach a unique format that is clearly connected to the students’ world, that is clear, and relevant to students in a high school.

To have a team of authors that is capable of bringing a truly interdisciplinary approach to discuss topics on the edge of digital innovation that impacts society in various aspects.

SUCCESS IN THE MID-TERM

Gain visibility in the media and schools in different countries. To become a known reference for discussing such topics with property, clarity, and depth to our target group.

SUCCESS IN THE LONG-TERM

To be able to offer new content, get funding to continue tackling other topics, and become a self-sustainable platform that puts innovation inside the classrooms of the world.

This proposal is an evolution of the F7 funded proposal (https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/383112). However, they are not interdependent on each other. They have different scopes, as the first is aimed at teachers in their professional development. This one is aimed at students and with a different approach to elaborate the content.

SDG Rating

• 4.4 By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

* 4.7 By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development.

• 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation

* 9.c. Significantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the Internet in least developed countries by 2020