DATA3780 Applied Blockchain technology project Course description

The student will carry out a project in Blockchain technology, preferably in collaboration with a relevant IT company, individually or in a group of up to five students. The aim is to provide the students with an introduction to applied Blockchain technology, while they solve a commercial problem in the form of an extensive project assignment with a workload equivalent to 10 hours a week over a 12-week period. If the project is carried out during the summer, the work must correspond to four days a week over a six-week period.

Blockchain is defined as a globally distributed ledger that ensures the digital distribution of assets with a minimal transaction fee and quick processing time. The technology allows for digital information to be distributed and divided, but not copied, ensuring that one individual piece of data only has one owner. An example of this could be spreadsheets, which are duplicated thousands of times across a network of computers. This network can be developed with rules for continually updating the spreadsheets. This is the fundamental essence of Blockchain technology.

Blockchain is best known for being the underlying technology behind many famous digital currencies/cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, etc.). The technology has gained increasing media coverage, much due to a quick and massive growth in the cryptocurrency market (in particular Bitcoin). At the same time, cryptocurrency is one of many potential areas of application that are of interest to both public organisations and private parties in business and industry. Other relevant areas of application are:

• Storing and distribution of intellectual property, for instance the rights to music, videos, art etc.
• Supply chain management, for example in combination with sensor/IoT technology in order to control and verify the quality of products from production to shop.
• Smart contracts are code-based contracts that can automatically perform actions based on the terms of the contract, for instance used in loan syndication to companies or major projects.

Students will among other things work on a user case that involves many parties that are dependent on trusting each other in a bigger network/ecosystem.

In addition to the projects on offer, students can find their own projects within a relevant company, public organization or nonprofit. In this case, it is the student's responsibility to find a supervisor for the project within the external organization. All student-initiated projects must be approved by a supervisor at OsloMet before the start of the project.

The elective course will only run if a sufficient number of students a registered.

The course builds on DAPE1400 Programming and DAPE2000 Mathematics with statistics. Students that do not have basic knowledge of programming and statistics must be prepared to make considerable individual efforts to acquire such knowledge.

No requirements over and above the admission requirements.

After completing the course, the student is expected to have achieved the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and competence:

Knowledge

The student:

• has a fundamental understanding of Blockchain technology
• has developed an awareness of a number of issues relating to Blockchain technology
• It is an advantage if the student has prior knowledge of Blockchain tools, such as IBM Hyperledger, Azure BaaS, etc.

Skills

The student:

• is capable of implementing simple application of Blockchain technology

General competence

The student:

• is capable of applying Blockchain-related technologies or principles to solve problems relevant for business and industry/society

Supervision sessions with an internal and/or external supervisor.

The students are given access to relevant online resources, and receive supervision from an internal and/or external supervisor. The students will work in groups of three to five students by completing a project on Blockchain technology in cooperation with relevant external parties such as businesses or public organisations. The course can be carried out individually by agreement with the course coordinator.

The course starts with a compulsory introductory session.

The projects are chosen/assigned at the start of the semester.

The following coursework is compulsory and must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• The course starts with a compulsory Orientation Meeting.
• A project outline that describes how the group will organise their work on the project.
• A standard learning agreement must be entered into between the project provider/supervisor and the student(s), and this must be approved by the internal supervisor before the project can begin.
• Three minutes of meetings from the supervision meetings held during the project period.

The deadline for submitting the project outline and the minutes of the meetings will be presented in the teaching plan, which is made available at the beginning of the semester.

A portfolio exam consisting of:

1. A written project report, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 3000 words +/-10%

2. An oral presentation, individual or in groups (max 5 students), 10 minutes + 5 minutes Q&A

The exam result cannot be appealed.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with.

Grade scale A-F.

Two internal examiners. External examiners are used regularly.