To Be or Not to Be: Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Courses in High School

Since Bitcoin was invented, cryptocurrencies and their underlying technology, blockchain, became the most hotly debated topics in the world of finance and data protection. Experts from various industries quickly realized that blockchain offers lots of opportunities for various areas of business.

More people started to look for any information about this technology, trying to understand what blockchain is, how it works, and how to use it to make secure transactions and to store data. The demand for information about blockchain was a reason why blockchain courses started gaining popularity. Available only on online platforms at first, today blockchain courses are offered even by the University of California, New York University, and Stanford University.

Thus, there’s no surprise that many people are arguing about whether the basics of blockchain should be included in a high school curriculum.

Why Students Need Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Courses

The modern generation of high school students quickly absorbs any innovations. No matter whether they study new technologies in school or not, they get the information they need online. A good example of popular innovative technologies is virtual reality. Along with augmented reality, this technology created many opportunities for education. In addition, effective education now should focus on teaching students programming, coding, and app development so that they would be ready for the modern job market. According to statistics, since 2015, the number of jobs related to blockchain increased by as much as 600%, and now 15 of the 18 best jobs in the IT industry include the word “cryptocurrency” in their descriptions. A popular online freelancing platform Upwork states that blockchain engineering is now the second most demanded skill in the market.

Given the growing demand for blockchain experts, it’s hard to not mention blockchain when talking about the high school curriculum. As blockchain courses already exist in universities, it’s important to prepare high school students for this subject and give them at least basic understanding of this technology and its applications. Such knowledge would be helpful for students who study technologies, as well as for those who plan to become entrepreneurs and economists.

Types of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Courses

Since the emergence of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain courses started to appear on various online platforms, like Coursera or Udemy. There are also many blockchain courses on Blockgeeks, which is a big online community of cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Here you can find a plenty of courses focused on the blockchain technology itself, as well as courses devoted to various cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum. You can also learn more about crypto economics, ICOs, hyperledgers, and various frameworks.

Along with online platforms, computer science and engineering departments of many universities embraced the fact that blockchain is not just another short-run trend, offering courses for students who want to understand this technology and develop new blockchain- based solutions. As for now, there are more than ten universities that have already included cryptocurrencies and blockchain in their curriculums or created independent courses:

● Cambridge University

● Stanford University

● Cornell University

● New York University

● Princeton University

● Duke University

● Massachusetts Institute of Technology

● Northwestern University

● B9 Lab Academy (UK)

● Cyprus University of Nicosia

● IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

List of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Courses for High School Students

● Innovation and Cryptocurrencies — this course from Duke University is devoted to the new technologies and their disruptive effect, teaching students to assess the possible applications of these technologies in various industries. It is mostly focused on the Bitcoin ecosystem and methods of capitalization.

● Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies is a course available on Coursera. It is taught by Aravind Narayan from Princeton University. This course introduces students to the cryptocurrency market and is focused on the issues of stability and security.

● The Complete Course On Understanding Blockchain Technology — this course is available on Udemy. It explains the basics of the blockchain technology so that even beginners can understand how it works and where it’s used. Here, students can also learn about the future of blockchain.

● Trading Heroes is a great source for everyone who wants to get acquainted with the stock market and Forex. As cryptocurrencies are much more volatile than stocks or any other currency, Trading Heroes consider them a good opportunity to train trading skills in order to succeed in the stock market.

● Blockchain for Technical Executives and Analysts — this course was created for technical stakeholders and decision makers. They can learn how blockchain works, what are smart contracts and DAOs, getting in-depth knowledge about Ethereum, Bitcoin, and hyperledgers.

● The Bitcoin Course from Draper University is aimed to quickly educate students about Bitcoin. It includes interactive exercises and interviews with top cryptocurrency experts from all over the world. This course doesn’t require students to have an engineering background, being accessible to all the students who are interested in economics and innovations.

● Blockchain for Business — An Introduction to Hyperledger Technologies is a course from EdX which is focused on distributed ledgers, hyperledgers, and various frameworks. It also explains applications of blockchain in business, evaluating the effectiveness and profitability of various blockchain-based solutions.

Even though it remains unclear whether or not blockchain will be included in the high school curriculum, the importance of this technology for students is undeniable. An understanding of blockchain is necessary for programmers and engineers, as well as for economists and entrepreneurs, who must acknowledge the role of this technology in the future of business.

Fortunately, everyone can choose from among dozens of online courses. This is an emerging field in education so more courses will appear in the future, and the chances are that cryptocurrencies and blockchain will become parts of the high school curriculum after all.

About the Author

Ester Brierley is a QA Engineer in software outsourcing company, a seasoned content creator for College Writer and different digital blogs. Adores researching cutting-edge trends and sharing them in her writing pieces. Follow her on Twitter.