Odem will offer free access to its platform to schools and universities affected. Oral Roberts University, in the United States, is looking to upload 500 of their courses to the platform.
Due to the current coronavirus epidemic, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, and other countries recently suspended all in-person classes in schools and universities to prevent more infections.
Around 120 schools had to suspend classes, mostly in the regions of Brittany and Oise, in the north of Paris, according to the French Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer.
Probably, more schools will have to join the temporary closure in France and Italy, which would further affect the students’ school year.
For this reason, blockchain-based education technology provider Odem announced it will offer free access to its platform to schools and universities facing disruptions as a result of the coronavirus.
In a press release published last March 9th, Odem states it is offering its “online integrated learning platform and certification management system free for use to schools and educators to continue educating students until it is safe to return to campus”.
In this way, Odem is offering its online integrated learning platform and certification management system for those countries where the virus has prompted the closing of schools, colleges, and universities.
The interest of Blockchain Increasing
The Odem co-founders state that Italy, Ireland, Germany and Cairo (Egypt) are interested in using this blockchain-based platform to help their students. They added that a United States-based university is exploring uploading 500 of its courses to the platform in response to the coronavirus threat.
“Oral Roberts University is looking to put 500 of their courses on the Odem platform to prepare them to do the virtual classwork, given the current environment with the coronavirus”, they said.
Richard Maaghul, Odem’s CEO and co-founder, commented that coronavirus “is a big concern for us and we want to make sure that we do everything possible to assist in keeping the education doors open, even if it has to be virtual”.
Johanna Maaghul, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) Odem’s, added: “We can track students’ activity working remotely so that when students go back to school, the institutions can track what they’ve accomplished and register that information on the blockchain platform and even bring it back into their traditional accreditation systems”.
Main Benefits
Odem would allow students, educators, employers, and institutions to be able to access and request education, education verification, and credentialing of their academic records.
Michael Mathews, Vice president of Technology and Innovation at Oral Roberts University, explained that they chose Odem due to its ease of integration with existing learning systems.
Blockchain to Fight against Coronavirus
Last February, the Chinese government announced it deployed blockchain technologies for almost 20 applications that are related to the response of the country to face this epidemic.
One example is the association between the Major Chinese payments platform Alipay, the Zhejiang Provincial Health Commission, and the Economy and Information Technology Department to launch a blockchain platform able to track the allocation of relief supplies and medical supplies.
The Xi’an city has used blockchain to facilitate patient consultations and manage health records, something very important to have control and improve the traditional work they currently execute.
By María Rodríguez
