Token universitário por meio de Blockchain

Abstract

Blockchain is an emerging distributed technology that provides a reliable and secure means for conducting transactions between participants who do not trust each other and dispersed on a large-scale P2P network. As a way to encourage university students to keep performing the activities of the courses in which they obtained good grades, this work shows the development of a system of accumulation of the extra credits that remained unused in the courses, in the form of a blockchain utility token, the Ludicoin, to be used in other courses. This token was implemented in a blockchain network based on the Ethereum platform. Plus, the product proposition and its business rules were validated through a questionnaire using the Likert scale. The system architecture consists of a web application that, through a provider for the Web3.js API, submits transactions and calls to be processed by the smart contracts contained in the blockchain. These smart contracts, which are built on Solidity programming language, contain the implementation of Ludicoin token and the business rules of the application. The project makes use of the following tools: MetaMask, which manages the user’s Ethereum account, and Infura, which accesses remote nodes on Ethereum public networks. The web application was implemented in React and communicates with the blockchain by using the Web3.js API. This bachelor’s thesis also presents a bibliographical review about the main concepts regarding blockchain and a systematic mapping is carried out regarding the applications of this technology in the area of education, where 22 relevant works of the 120 works found - counting articles and patents - are analyzed. This mapping presents applications in various sectors of the educational system, such as registering academic records and certifications, methods of rewarding students, teaching material sharing that ensures copyright, personalized learning system, among others. Finally, the system produced in this work succeeded in delivering the functionalities necessary for the fulfillment of the proposal, using the Rinkeby public test Ethereum network. The results of the questionnaire indicate that there is a wide acceptance of the project proposal, but its business rules still need to be refined so that they are satisfactory to students and teachers, and may have a greater impact on student performance. Recommended future work includes the application of the system in university classes, the deployment of the system in a private blockchain network and the implementation of new rules for granting Ludicoins.