What's the point of NFTS and other questions we are asking ourselves

NFTs are currently the big thing in tech, reminiscent of the hype and glamor of crypto in 2017, social media in 2007, and the internet at large in 1997. I vividly remember signing into AOL on my 13th birthday with the moniker MCSkate101. While these fun digital assets are set to make and take people millions, there is so much more than just another get-rich-quick scheme. NFTs have the potential to usher in a new way of using the internet, connecting to the community, and getting utility out of membership. But what exactly is an NFT? 

An NFT is defined as a digital asset whose authenticity, ownership, and royalties are tracked, verified, and authenticated on a blockchain. Did that clear things up? Most likely not, which is one of the challenges of new tech. From AOL chat rooms to message boards, to social media as we know it, we have been slowly moving towards a world where digital is as valuable as IRL (in real life). Think about followers, platform verification, and access to influential people. People pay thousands for these digital “things”, and for what? Connection. The next internet renaissance is focused on a new kind of connection and it puts community first.

So what do NFTs have to do with this? In the real world, we have our “things”, our homes, our cars, our collectibles, our vacations, and our social experiences. These things have value and much of that value is tied into the perception, admiration, and appreciation of others. What this has to do with the future of education is critical not just for the potential adoption of NFTs as a tool in learning, but to fulfill our purpose. Educators have a unique opportunity and role as the world ushers in web3. The first is to adapt and quickly utilize web3's power for their professional growth, but in the spirit of our mission as educators, to equip and prepare our students, the next generation, in developing the skills needed to thrive in the physical and digital landscape of a web3 world.

“Educators have a unique opportunity and role as the world ushers in web3. ”

Empowering our student artists

I was just speaking with an artist in one of my classes and she said she could never create an NFT. She has shading, patterns, proportions, and perspective down pat! Your art is great, I told her! Her response was she doesn’t have the ideas, or organized thoughts on what to create. NFTs is a moment for our students to understand the art of storytelling, character development, and the power of cohesive collections of art. This leads to much more than making great art, but strengthens skills in writing, research, planning, and analysis. These skills will lead to young artists creating with more thoughtfulness and intentionality giving them future-of-work skills beyond their ability to wield a digital or physical art tool. The next step is to get their art on the blockchain! To do this the school or teacher needs to set up an OpenSea account. OpenSea is the largest NFT exchange on the internet at the moment with Coinbase set to launch their own marketplace with a waitlist 10x the size of OpenSea’s entire user base. On OpenSea you can upload student work and sell it in ETH (Ethereum) for a small upfront fee. The impact on students? Having your art recognized, building a community around it, and showing that art is more than just pretty pictures is not just empowering for our youth but it liberates them from feeling that their art is not an avenue for professional success. 

Real-world computing science

In my travels across the country, I have seen myriads of computer science programs that teach students the fundamentals of CS and challenge them to apply their understanding through software development. 9 times out of 10 these technical feats showcase raw technical capacity while understanding and empathizing with users, application of features, and real-world impact are more often than that absent from the development process. Web3 in general and NFTs especially give aspiring engineering students a chance to work on the future of tech and be prepared to fill a void that most companies are hard-pressed to fill. Web3 companies are having a hard time recruiting Web2 people. The politics of web3 entrenched in “this is the future” and “this is a scam” camps but it is interesting to see so many talented developments choosing the Web3 is technobabble approach.  

Community building, Culture shifting 

A local elementary school near my home in Los Angeles always had banners from local businesses showcases on the fence entering the school. These businesses, wanting to support local schools and their students got some great advertising in exchange for their support. Now imagine if this same local business that might do some online selling as well had an NFT created by the school, featuring student art to showcase on their website. Even if their main source of customers is within a 20 square mile radius, how many more people could see that NFT featured on their website that might never drive by that elementary school. It’s strategies like these that build community, help local schools and businesses thrive, and get the support they need, but most importantly it is a culture shift.  

Culture shifts don’t happen overnight but web3 must be the last evolution of the internet where schools are left decades behind. This tech like anything needs a critical lens to analyze it and validate it from a pedagogical and learning outcome-focused perspective. Web3 must be utilized with intention but this new era of the internet isn’t “there's an app for that” with tech being used as a toy or gimmick, or even just on a superficial level. This is the next generation of creators, business people, community builders, and developers. We owe it to our students and their future to be at the lead this time. 

To take part in the movement of educators critically looking at how to maximize the potential of web3 in schools, check out my weekly Twitter Spaces show The Non-Fungible Teaching Show every Tuesday at 9PM EST on Twitter Spaces. Each week I feature a guest educator who is doing something exciting in the world of web3.

All NFTs featured in this article are owned by Michael Cohen and can be verified on the Ethereum blockchain using etherscan.io and searching for thetechrabbi.eth.