So this idea struck me tonight as I was talking to my wife.
Our eldest has reached kindergarten age. As someone who worked around the education system for 13 years as a tutor (most of that time) and a teacher (a short part of that time), I want to keep my kids as far as away from that as possible. Add in some John Taylor Gatto, some John Holt, some School Sucks Project, and voila! Unschooling/homeschooling hybrid.
But there are challenges. In Georgia, like many (most? all?) other states, you are required to submit an education plan to the state each year. You are also supposed to keep logs to prove your child is being educated to their standards. This is done by recording time spent on various topics and maintaining a portfolio of work done.
As it turns out, Georgia doesn't require this until first grade, so we have time but Florida requires it from Kindergarten.
Side note: in my many years of tutoring students directly, I have proved to myself over and over again that 1-on-1 time is about 6 times more efficient than 1-to-many classroom settings. This agrees with the research. The "standards" set forth by various governments are garbage.
So as my wife was telling me about the things our daughter did today, I got to thinking. You know what's a really good system for recording text? Steem!
The idea is to create a system where homeschoolers can keep logs on blockchain. In version 1, this would simply be an on-chain transaction that posted the student ID, the number of hours spent and the topics covered as pre-defined tags.
Something like:
Student: 1402 (anonymized for privacy)
Hours: 3
Topics: #math, #science, #writing
Then, when the parent needs it, a script can be run that compiles all the transactions with Student 1402 and #math, then computes the hours spent this school year (determined automatically by block timing) on math topics. Automatic proof, fully audited (blockchain dontcha know).
In future versions there would be a mobile app, video & photo uploads to image hosting platforms (maybe appics and d.tube?) to create automated portfolios, and a full-featured tribe for students and parents to communicate (down with FB groups!).
So that's my idea.
As far as monetization, the app can be sold for 99 cents or so. Maybe ads can be placed on a freemium version. Tribes can now be somewhat monetized. There will be costs to account setups so that users have enough RCs.
I was thinking that maybe I could create an SPS to hire a dev if the steem community at large is interested enough. Otherwise I'll end up funding this out of my pocket.
Thoughts? Suggestions? Constructive criticisms? Tech skills to share?