Hi all,
With this post we would like to do a second update and inform you about our proceedings. For the ones who do not know us yet or do not know what we actually do: The Blockchain Academy aims at familiarizing students and professors with the possibilities of the BitShares Blockchain. Thereby, the underlying rationale is to market the BitShares Blockchain to a well- educated public.
In our first update, we already communicated that the first milestone of the worker proposal had been realized. Namely, the translation of the https://blockchainacademy.nl website from Dutch to English and German.
Our greatest achievement so far is that Saxion University of Applied Sciences (locations Deventer and Enschede) adopts the BitShares Testnet and integrates it into its curriculum. At Saxion, the BitShares Testnet is now mainly used for students who follow a study program related to Finance, Accounting, Economics and Business. The Dean states in a letter (see below) that the BitShares Testnet turns about to be a very pleasant tool to use to give students practical insights about blockchain. In April, training sessions are planned for the lecturers at Saxion to expand their knowledge about the functionalities of the Testnet. Besides that, we believe it is a great addition to the blockchain minor Saxion already offers.
Saxion is the first university to adopt, and we are working on spreading the news about the BitShares Testnet. We mainly used our own network to approach teachers an professors at several universities. This resulted in a meeting on the 23rd of February with 8 universities that wanted to know more about Blockchain Academy and might be interested in using the Testnet. Among them were Universities of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Breda and Arnhem as well as NHL Stenden, Saxion University and Tilburg University. After this meeting, some universities expressed their interest in using the Testnet. We are now providing workshops to them and support them to identify how the Testnet could be integrated into their study programmes. For instance, at NHL Stenden we are discussing how groups of students can create and use their own SmartCoins on the BitShares Blockchain to the advantage of government and for-profit organisations in the Northern Netherlands.
Additionally Blockchain Academy has been invited for a second time to provide a training to employees at the Rabobank (via the educational institute of the Rabobank). During this workshop, the employees will receive a further introduction on trading and creating UIAs.
We are very keen on reaching out to more universities, providing more workshops, and above all inform more people about the great features and possibilities of BitShares Blockchain! In February, 10 students from Saxion University started research projects (for some it is their thesis) on blockchain, involving use cases for BitShares. 8 of them are in the so-called Smart Solutions Semester, which is a research program with a multidisciplinary group of students. Among them are students from Software Engineering, IT Service Management, Business Administration, and Small Business & Retail Management.
Blockchain Academy
Zutphenseweg 6
7418 AJ Deventer
The Netherlands
http://blockchainacademy.nl
