Project Name
BlockVersity
Description
BlockVersity is founded and led by women. We are a globally diverse team with members from Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand, and across the USA.
BlockVersity is a DAO with a mission to decentralize online course marketplaces. We are building an online course NFT marketplace to bring the web2 community of course creators to web3, where they can retain ownership of their content. As for students on BlockVersity, they receive on-chain Proof of Skills which showcases their credentials, rather than relying only on university-controlled transcripts.
Vision
BlockVersity sees a future where education ownership will gradually shift away from centralized institutions allowing teachers and instructors to profit directly from their teaching. After all, IP is owned by teachers, not institutions.
BlockVersity aims to become the largest DAO and NFT marketplace for online education.
Mission
BlockVersity’s mission is to help Creators of all course categories to harness the economic benefits of Web3, from NFTs to the Metaverse.
BlockVersity aims to empower thousands of global Course Creators by offering them a fairer share of revenues when selling IRL and online courses through an NFT marketplace.
In addition, as BlockVersity’s token owners and members of the DAO, creators have the possibility of owning a share of the marketplace.
How we are helping women and minorities specifically.
According to the Economic Policy Institute, teachers earn 23.5 percent less than comparable college graduates, and 76.5% of teachers are women. Therefore, increasing the opportunity for wealth creation within the education sector will benefit women in higher proportions and help close the gender pay gap.
Access to quality learning and building credentials is currently not equal for all. We think that on-chain education will allow anyone in the world with internet access to build their credentials and access job opportunities that are not always within reach in our traditional education and employment model. We are also considering an earn-to-learn model to ensure anyone can access any course, no matter the difference in their economic context.
Problem: For Course creators
On average, course creators selling online courses on Web2 marketplaces receive only 30%-35% of their sales; they don’t control the price and can’t connect with their students other than through the marketplace. Moreover, these marketplaces do not offer access to a real community of creators where to connect, share tips and even co-create with peers, making the journey very lonely.
Problem: For Students
The web2 version of online education has been useful for personal upskilling, but these skills are not seen as valuable to the employment marketplace. This is due to course certificates, when available, being non-verifiable and only recognizing course completion rather than proof of skills.
Solution/Product
BlockVersity is a DAO community that supports an NFT marketplace where course creators not only get to keep the lion’s share of their sales but can also build a strong community with other instructors and students.
Upon successful course completion, students will receive on-chain verifiable and non-transferable Proof of Skills showcasing their credentials rather than relying only on university-controlled transcripts.
Team
- Line Tousignant, Founder, New York
- Anurupa Sinha, Product Operations, New York
- Nirmal Karunakaran, Product Manager, India
- Zion Igwe, Product Owner, Nigeria
- Sally Hodges, DAO Strategist, New Zealand
- Selina Graham, Marketing Lead, Australia
- Hardik Sharma, BlockChain Developer & Technical Lead, India
- Reyane Remache, Front end developer, France
- Rushil Chawla, Blockchain & Backend developer, India
- John Rodriguez, Design Lead & UX Researcher, USA
- Mohit Kapkoti, Product Designer, India
- Swapnil Raj, UX designer, USA
Grant Amount Requested
$10,000
Budget Breakdown
- Interviews with the target audience (course creators and teachers)$1000
- Social media content $1000
- Marketplace Prototype: $8000
How did you hear about MGD’s Funding program?
We heard about you on the website useweb3.xyz