“THE WORLD IS FULL OF HIDDEN TALENTS, WE WANT TO HELP PEOPLE DISCOVER THEM”

Coinist was recently fortunate enough to chat with the team at BItDegree about their project to bring online education into the world of blockchain. Before we jump into the interview, take a quick moment and watch their explainer video below.

First of all, thanks for joining us today. I’d like to begin by jumping in and talking about BigDegree’s competitive advantage over other online course options available today. In your explainer video you talked about 3 major problems; courses of study not being focused enough, materials are often not up to date, and studies cost a fortune. Begin by telling us about how BitDegree solves each of these three problems.

Hello, and thank you for having me. We can follow through each problem step-by-step. The courses of studies will be concentrated and focused on developing only the skills that are needed to qualify for a specific IT position. This means that BitDegree’s student will be constantly developing practical skills and doing that quickly by avoiding the obscurity of classic learning models. Regarding the outdated study materials, Bitdegree courses will be created by today’s world-changing companies that know what skills are needed to successfully become a qualified professional. The fact that today studies cost a fortune will be resolved by providing students smart-incentives for micro-learning, so students who enroll in BitDegree courses will earn token scholarships for successful course completion. This way students will be motivated, focused and will see the future outcome of their efforts.

On your website you talk about the growing popularity of MOOCs, but can you tell me specifically why a student would enroll in a BitDegree course vs. another MOOC?

Because we give students token scholarships for successful completion of courses and will provide the possibility to be hired by world-changing companies once they gain the required skills.

You mention that companies will gladly pay the fees associated with educating the users on the platform in the hopes that high quality candidates pass through the filters. However, I would imagine this to be a very expensive process for companies as very few people are likely to pass through the hiring process. The majority of the applicants fall off along the way. How will BitDegree protect the businesses that operate on the platform from overpaying for students who obviously lack the skills for a position in a company?

According to our plan the company has full control on how many students can enroll and which achievements will be rewarded with tokens. Also, BitDegree scholarship pool will be used to sponsor a part of the scholarships.

Let’s talk a little bit more about course development. What role will companies play in determining course development?

A company that chooses to create courses on the BitDegree platform is fully responsible for the content of the courses. As the companies are the professionals in their feels, they know particularly what are they looking for in their future employees. BitDegree team will give the environment to work in and assist during the process.

It also seems like your focus is on IT and tech. Do you plan to offer courses outside of these fields or will these fields be the focus of Bitdegree?

For now and the near future our focus is IT and blockchain education courses. To what level the platform will expand, is hard to predict. Yet, we will always set our goals high.

Tell us a little bit more about the BitDegree Foundation and what’s its functions and purposes are.

The purpose of the BitDegree foundation is to completely reshape education. BitDegree platform will welcome innovative companies to create courses on our platform and help develop talent worldwide. The world is full of hidden talents. We want to help people discover them as well and reach their full potential.

Tell us a little bit more about BitDegree scholarships. What are they and how are they awarded?

BitDegree token scholarships will serve as micro-incentives in order to motivate the student in the gamified learning environment on the platform. Students will be rewarded for specific achievements that differ for each course.

On your website you mention that “BitDegree token is an utility token. BitDegree (LLC) is one of the few companies to receive official legal token sale approval from the national bank of its country of operation (Lithuania, EU).” Can you talk to us a bit more about why you decided to register in Lithuania and what the major obstacles were (from a regulatory and legal standpoint) when it came time to register the project?

We come from Lithuania, our main partner and co-founder Hostinger is from Lithuania, so that was the obvious choice. We didn’t face any major obstacles as BitDegree token is a utility token and we have an expert of the legal field on the team.

Tell us a little bit more about your partnership with 000webhost and Hostinger. How did these partnerships take shape and how do they serve to benefit the BitDegree platform?

Hostinger and 000webhost are co-founders of BitDegree. The story behind BitDegree Hostinger and 000webhost can be found here.

Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. To our audience, if you’d like to learn more about BitDegree you can head over to their website here: https://www.bitdegree.org/