Forging a blockchain-ready workforce: preparing technicians for success

This Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation's STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) supports the development of a new academic program at Jackson College to prepare students to work as blockchain technicians. The $349,846 award, effective August 1, 2024 through July 31, 2027, will fund the creation of four dedicated blockchain courses, two stackable micro-credentials, and integration of the blockchain curriculum into existing programs. The goal is to address the growing demand for blockchain-capable technicians across various industries. The project will also provide professional development for faculty to keep them current on evolving blockchain regulations, standards, and innovations. Evaluation activities will include formative and summative inquiries to inform continuous improvement of the curriculum.

Abstract

Blockchain, a transformative and decentralized peer-to-peer ledger technology, is impacting industries at a pace that rivals the adoption of the internet in the 1990?s. Blockchain facilitates secure and transparent transactions across various domains and sectors such as finance, health care, energy, supply chain, manufacturing, and other global industries. The goal of this project is to develop a new academic program to prepare students to work as blockchain technicians. The resulting curriculum will be aligned with developing industry standards and will help to address the demand for blockchain capable technicians. Existing partnerships and consortiums will be leveraged to share the resulting curriculum broadly with the community, stakeholders, workforce development agencies, and partner institutions. The academic program that will be created by this project will consist of four dedicated courses, two stackable micro-credentials, and will be integrated into existing programs. The curriculum will be designed to attract and retain a wide variety of students, and to help incumbent workers to obtain skills in blockchain. The project will provide substantive professional development to faculty so that they remain current with evolving blockchain regulations, standards, and innovations. Integration of the blockchain curricula into the host institution's catalog, marketing, and student recruitment processes will ensure sustainability of the curriculum after the grant funding ends. Project evaluation will include formative and summative inquiries that will provide feedback to inform continuous improvement. This project is funded by the advanced technological education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.