Design and Evaluation of a Blockchain-Enabled IoT Architecture for Secure and Intelligent Learning Ecosystems
Keywords:
Blockchain-Driven IoT, Digital learning ecosystem, Educational data security, Smart education systems, Tamper-Proof academic recordsAbstract
Application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology in universities has triggered the digitalization of the learning environment by supporting smart classrooms, real-time learning analytics, and automatic academic services. However, this improved degree of connectivity is accompanied with much-needed considerations that refer to the data security, the privacy and the credential fraud and the quality of the centralized academic record management systems. The traditional centralized architectures are susceptible to single point of failures, data corruption, and unauthorized access and that is why a Secure and Intelligent Learning Ecosystem (SILE) with blockchain technology to enhance trust and resilience is required. The research design employed in this study is a mixed-method based research design where a quantitative survey of 300 stakeholders in higher education industry is undertaken and 30 participants would be conducted qualified interviews. The statistical analysis reveals that there is a positive correlation between the perceived blockchain security and institutional trust (r = 0.921) and the correlation between blockchain-enabled security mechanisms, trust, and overall user satisfaction is statistically significant. Despite these benefits which have been realized, the findings have also identified significant barriers to adoption which include infrastructure limitations, high cost of implementation, regulatory risk, and absence of skilled labor. There are also qualitative evidence providing the opportunities of blockchain to minimise academic fraud, ensure data integrity and promote learner autonomy with the help of Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) systems. The respondents emphasized the fact that blockchain allows transparent and unrestricted academic history and safe transfer of data among institutions. The paper concludes that intelligent digital learning can be secured through a potential and scalable solution of introducing IoT and blockchain-based integration. It also recommends the development of the coordinated digitalization policy and blockchain-enhanced security design to enable the implementation sustainability in the institutions of higher learning.
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