This week we had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Michael J. Garbade – Co-founder & CEO of
Education Ecosystem, who kindly agreed to share some information about the history of the company, its mission, and the future of the industry.
Please describe the story behind the Education Ecosystem: What sparked the idea, and how has it evolved so far?
So, Education Ecosystem was born from an idea from a blockchain hackathon in Berlin, Germany in 2015. The opportunity brought about the idea of how blockchain could be used to incentivize learning. Many things have happened since to become the platform it is.
What services do you offer?
Education Ecosystem is a company in the online education landscape that is revolutionizing the sector by targeting intermediate tech professionals and college students. The platform works using a project-based learning approach, covering areas such as artificial intelligence, programming, cybersecurity, data science, and blockchain.
Who are your typical customers, and what do you think is the main challenge that your product solves for them?
Education Ecosystem targets intermediate tech professionals and college students through project-based learning using real-world products. The platform is the first of its kind since it uses real-world products and not just a theoretical approach.
What separates you from other similar edTech platforms?
According to a report by Microsoft, by 2025 there will be 149 million new tech-oriented jobs globally across areas such as cybersecurity, privacy and trust, cloud, data analytics, and software development. Education Ecosystem departs from the other edTech platforms by targeting intermediate tech professionals and college students in the tech space.
Education Ecosystem is building a blockchain smart contract technology on top of the Ethereum blockchain using ERC20 tokenization mechanics. LEDU smart contracts will be used for payments and rewards in the ecosystem.
According to this report by Microsoft, these people will need to be skilled and reskilled. This is where the platform is plugging the gap.
What is the mission of Education Ecosystem?
Our mission at Education Ecosystem is to become the premier edTech YouTube channel for professional development. We are currently in the process of transitioning from our own video player and servers to YouTube.
Having already migrated 5200 new project videos to our Youtube channel, Education Ecosystem is set to become the first decentralized peer-to-peer project-based learning channel on Youtube for people to improve their job skills in future technologies.
How do you envision the future of your industry?
According to UNESCO, the Coronavirus pandemic saw some 1.3 billion students across the globe being affected by school and university closures. Many learning institutions adjusted to online learning. The space has since grown to be widely accepted and used. Many online learning platforms have proliferated, and the space continues to grow.
Project-based learning, on the other hand, is on the rise—at least it was pre-pandemic. The sudden shift to online learning appears to have brought with it more worksheets (just digital this time) and bite-sized tasks—and with it less engagement, less integration, and less application.
