University of California branch completes first accredited blockchain course

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) has completed its first accredited course focusing on blockchain and distributed ledger technology.

The course is taught by the Creative Studies Institute as a computer science course, established at the request of the Blockchain Acceleration Foundation (BAF), a non-profit organization composed of students, professors, blockchain advocates, and interested individuals aimed at promoting the widespread adoption of blockchain technology.

UCSB co-founder and Blockchain Acceleration Foundation Chairman Cameron Dennis stated that blockchain technology is becoming increasingly popular in universities, but students find it difficult to learn this technology through formal channels. After numerous discussions with UCSB administration, Dennis successfully persuaded the university to open a computer science course specifically focused on blockchain. He said:

The goal of this course is to introduce intriguing blockchain use cases to computer science students who are completely curious, which can disrupt the most entrenched institutions in society and revolutionize corporate governance.

The Importance of Blockchain Education

While the opening of blockchain courses at universities is no longer a novelty, is blockchain education really important? The answer is yes. According to the 8/28 Second Annual Higher Education Report released by Coinbase, 56% of the top 50 universities globally now offer at least one cryptocurrency or blockchain-related course, up from 42% in 2018. The report also found that many more students participated in cryptocurrency or blockchain courses this year compared to last year.

While data shows that computer science courses are most commonly involved with blockchain, accounting for 32.2%, finance, business, and economics courses also teach courses related to blockchain.

The UCSB course is named Decentralized Ledger Technology, which introduces concepts such as consensus mechanisms, Bitcoin and proof of work, Ethereum Virtual Machine, reliability and smart contract development, stablecoin mechanisms, proof of knowledge, and other related blockchain topics.

In addition to being taught by Professor Murat Karaorman, the course also occasionally invites industry professionals to speak, including many well-known companies such as Jay Freeman, co-founder of Orchid Labs and creator of Cydia, Niklas Kunkel, Head of Backend Services at MakerDAO, and a CBC Casper researcher at the Ethereum Foundation. As Professor Murat Karaorman stated:

As technology becomes mainstream, it is crucial for universities to offer accredited blockchain courses. I believe that blockchain projects and general distributed applications will transform many industries and address critical issues of our time. With these tools, whether it's secure, decentralized data storage networks or permissionless identity solutions, we can build better, fairer, and more collaborative shared systems.

Ripple Course

Ripple is also conducting a university blockchain research initiative, UBRI, which was launched in June 2018 and has committed over $50 million to 29 universities worldwide.

According to Ripple, this funding enables scholars and university administrators to research key issues facing blockchain while educating students on the subject.

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