Created on 8th October 2024
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SkillMint solves key issues with traditional online education platforms:
<b>High Costs and Centralized Control</b>: Platforms like Udemy and Coursera act as expensive middlemen, limiting earnings for instructors and inflating costs for students. SkillMint uses blockchain to remove intermediaries, enabling instructors to set their own prices and earn more while offering affordable courses to students globally.
<b> Credential Fraud:</b> Traditional certificates are easily falsifiable. SkillMint issues tamper-proof NFT certificates stored on the blockchain, providing verifiable proof of course completion that students truly own.
<b> Undercompensation for Instructors: </b> Instructors on SkillMint keep more of their earnings, motivating them to provide better content while students benefit from lower fees.
<b> True Ownership: </b> SkillMint gives students ownership of their learning achievements, allowing them to store and share NFT-based credentials, unlike traditional platforms where access is rented.
<b> Transparency and Trust: </b> Immutable blockchain reviews create a trustworthy ecosystem, helping future learners make informed decisions and promoting accountability between students and instructors.
Developing SkillMint presented several technical hurdles. Writing secure and gas-efficient Solidity smart contracts required careful consideration, particularly in designing the course enrollment system and credential issuance process. We faced challenges in implementing a reliable payment mechanism that handles course fees transparently while ensuring instructors receive their earnings automatically.
Deploying to the testnet revealed issues with contract interactions that weren't apparent in local testing. The most complex challenge was integrating the React frontend with our smart contracts – managing wallet connections, handling transaction states, and creating a seamless user experience when interacting with the blockchain.
We had to optimize our storage solution to ensure course materials loaded quickly while keeping the platform decentralized. Debugging cross-chain interactions and ensuring consistent behavior across different web3 providers added another layer of complexity to our development process.
Tracks Applied (2)
ETHIndia
Deva the Devcon Unicorn