Blockchain Papers

Dr Greg O'Keefe

For six decades, the instruments used to assess student learning rested on an assumption so embedded in institutional design that it rarely required defense: that producing a cognitive artifact and possessing the knowledge it demonstrated were the same act. When a student wrote an essay or completed an examination, the quality of what they produced approximately tracked what they actually knew. Grades worked as a proxy for knowledge because the production conditions of the era made them so. That assumption is no longer structurally valid.This paper argues that the emergence of large language models as practical cognitive production tools has reorganized the relationship between knowledge and artifact at its foundation. We formalize this reorganization through two production functions -- one governing the analog era of cognitive work (1960-2020), one governing the agentic era (2020-present) -- and use them to identify what we term the Economic Inversion of Cognitive Production: knowledge has not diminished in value but has changed its economic role entirely, from the substance of output to the condition of production. Simultaneously, two variables are approaching zero -- the marginal cost of machine intelligence and the signal value of the artifact -- creating what we term the double zero problem. Together these produce a structural validity crisis, a fundamental breakdown in what grades actually measure, for assessment systems designed to measure artifact production as a proxy for knowledge state.The practical implication is direct. Assessment instruments built on the analog production model are no longer measuring what institutions, employers, and credentialing bodies believe they are measuring. This paper establishes the diagnostic case for assessment redesign. It does not propose a replacement model -- that work requires a normative account of educational purpose that the formal argument here cannot generate alone. But the diagnostic case is now structurally complete, and the burden of proof has shifted to institutions that continue to operate artifact-based assessment as their primary measure of student knowledge.

Elkhan G. Azimov, Vladimir A. Zhiltsov, V.M. Filippova

Since 2020, the term “metaverse” has been spontaneously used in both scientific and media discourse, particularly in relation to multiplayer virtual worlds and the new generation of the Internet Web3. These resources spontaneously form artificial language environments, which are sometimes used within the communicative approach to foreign language teaching. However, there is no common definition of the metaverse in the scientific literature. The aim of this study is to analyze the linguodidactic potential of virtual language environments in metaverses for communicative teaching of Russian as a foreign language. This study examines the features of metaverses in the context of virtual learning and the broader scientific discourse dedicated to modern approaches to computer-assisted linguodidactics. The research employed a comprehensive set of methods, including scientific observation, critical analysis of literature, study and synthesis of foreign language learning experiences using v-learning technologies as described by foreign scientists, and terminological analysis. The study resulted in an analysis of the linguodidactic potential based on the most current scientific works on the topic. A set of identified features led to an updated understanding of the metaverse as a technology in education. The findings suggest that virtual language environments in metaverses have high linguodidactic potential for communicative teaching of Russian. Virtual language environments in metaverses possess several properties inherent to real ones, which enhances students’ motivation and deep engagement in the learning process. This prospectively justifies the expansion of these technologies in distance learning of Russian as a foreign language.

В. В. Вихман

Introduction. This article aims to comprehend the possibilities of application of the technological trends in education initiated by Industry 4.0. The technological trends announced for application in education are understood as digital technologies included in the list of strategic programs for national development (in the context of Industry 4.0): the big data technologies, virtual and augmented reality, robotics and sensorics components, artificial intelligence, new production technologies, industrial internet and wireless communication technologies, quantum technologies and distributed ledger systems. Problem Statement. The article is aimed to identify the specifics and potential of digital technologies of the Industry 4.0 era, both separately and in their integration, which are provided to education in the context of its digital transformation and acquisition of its new quality as Education 4.0. Methodology. The methodology of the study is based on the author’s approach to the formation of the source base for the subsequent tasks of its analysis and synthesis. The work analyzes more than 50 foreign studies published in international citation databases over the past decade, i.e. since the moment when Industry 4.0 began to emerge. Research results. The conducted multilateral analysis of frontier foreign sources showed that not all digital technologies are equally applicable in education, but have a character ranging from “actively applied” to “potentially applicable” in this area. Significant applied potential of the digital technologies is fixed in the technologies of big data, virtual and augmented reality, robotics and sensorics, as well as artificial intelligence in the context of creating data warehouses, introducing new models of learning and educational agents, implementation of customized educational solutions. Conclusions. The vector and nature of the digital transformation of the branches of industries, including education, are set by digital technologies, which the national programs (in the context of Industry 4.0) have placed at the heart of this process. The ongoing digital metamorphosis of education, based on the active implementation and effective use of the digital technologies, allows the latter to acquire new forms and quality on the way to Education 4.0.

Svetlana Aleksandrovna Zaytseva, Stella Iraklievna Gurtskaya

The paper proves the validity of studying cryptocurrency as a cultural phenomenon. According to the Fundamentals of State Cultural Policy, culture is a resource of the social and economic development of the country, therefore, examining the economic aspects of the society is of great importance to cultural scientists. The possibility of dealing with cryptocurrency as a cultural element is confirmed by the following statements. Cryptocurrency refers to the economic culture of a society. The cryptocurrency impact is covered in mass media which constitute the cultural institution. In addition, cryptocurrency is consolidated in culture through the specialized exhibitions supported by public cultural agencies. The paper defines the promising trends in researches identifying the capacity of the virtual reality in the field of cultural patterns development. The authors note that studying cryptocurrency as a part of virtual reality will allow one to determine the mechanisms, borders, and technologies of this type of reality.