Blockchain technology for sustainable education

Blockchain—a digitally distributed, decentralised, peer-to-peer shared ledger technology that exists across a delimited network—is recognised as a disruptive technology for the next socioeconomic mega trend. Most of the researchers in education theoretically speculate upon blockchain's extraordinary potentials for enterprises, finance, administration, and management of education. Little attention has been paid, however, to the problems of socially inclusive knowledge transformation, sustainability, and equitable access to quality education for marginalised communities. This paper aims to describe an approach and method for leveraging education blockchain as a possible means to advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the social inclusion of marginalised communities of teachers and learners. This theoretical paper adopts a reflective research approach to critically analyse the current state of blockchain applications in education, and discuss its prospects for building educational commons for sustainable development. This paper contributes to the field of educational technology by exploring blockchain's prospects to building educational commons through four strategies: (a) network cooperation; (b) diversity of interacting agents; (c) shared resources; and (d) educational logistics. It also contributes to the conceptualisation of knowledge transformation for sustainable education by modelling blockchain-supported educational commons and informing educational practitioners and technological innovation policy makers. Copyright © 2022 British Educational Research Association.