by John Papinchak, University Registrar, Carnegie Mellon University
Helen Garrett from the University of Washington led us through her story to understand the basic terms of the blockchain. This was a great session to kick off AACRAO Tech and Transfer Conference! Helen’s goal in this session was not to be technical. After all, we have information scientists to help us with the concepts. She sought to provide background as to how she learned about this technology and to share introductory concepts and to explain why this matters.
We as registrars need not to be afraid of the shiny new tech, but to understand the applications and uses in our business. Helen began by sharing
her story of how she overcome her apprehension and fear, first of statistics in her doctoral program and then of blockchain. Overcoming those allowed her to understand that it’s not magic, but just math.
The key point that she raised is that cultural shifts are 98% of the work vs 2% technology in undergoing technological transformations. The blockchain is something that our profession needs to pay attention to. Registrars don’t have to understand the science to use it, but we need to understand how to address equity and access issues related to blockchain and credentialing technology. It will help us to think about the credentials beyond the transcript.
Garrett reminds us that while this is disruptive innovation, we cannot let it take off without us or allow it to be vendor-led.
“We seem to trust humans to validate credentials, but they can make mistakes. They can do things not worthy of trust.” Garrett said. “With blockchain technology, it’s a computer looking for a particular code, which either matches or it doesn’t: the computer doesn’t care. If we let computers do that, there won't be fraud and mistakes."