A constructivist and pragmatic training framework for blockchain education for IT practitioners

Abstract

Blockchain is a newly emerging technology in the past decade that has significantly impacted various aspects. “Scientific popularization” among IT practitioners on this technology and its use cases become a pressing need. However, constructing an effective blockchain teaching approach for this purpose is a challenging task. A training framework consisting of constructivist and pragmatic approaches is proposed, aiming to provide IT practitioners with an effective Teaching and Learning (T &L) process about blockchain on both theory and application aspects. The outcomes of this study are to 1) propose an effective teaching methodology, 2) assess the effectiveness of constructivist and pragmatic approaches and 3) extract the elements facilitating blockchain T &L. Mixed quantitative and qualitative research methods were adopted, including questionnaires and knowledge quizzes. 1267 participants were involved in the training that implemented the proposed framework. Their performance and responses indicated that the framework is effective and flexible. The findings from this empirical research can serve as a reference for educators in blockchain to implement a systemic approach that facilitates the T &L process and improves the field of blockchain and education in the future.