BlockCampus: A Blockchain-Based DApp for enhancing Student Engagement and Reward Mechanisms in an Academic Community for E-JUST University (2307.11662v1)

Abstract: In today's digital age, online communities have become an integral part of our lives, fostering collaboration, knowledge sharing, and community engagement. Higher education institutions, in particular, can greatly benefit from dedicated platforms that facilitate academic discussions and provide incentives for active participation. This research paper presents a comprehensive study and implementation of a decentralized application (DApp) leveraging the blockchain technology to address these needs specifically for E-JUST (Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology) students and academic staff.

• The paper introduces BlockCampus, a blockchain DApp that enhances student engagement and reputation through a decentralized reward system.
• It employs a consortium blockchain with PoA consensus and integrates Ethereum smart contracts with RBAC and IPFS for secure data management.
• Rigorous testing demonstrates that the platform improves academic interactions by ensuring transparency and incentivizing valuable contributions.

This paper, "BlockCampus: A Blockchain-Based DApp for enhancing Student Engagement and Reward Mechanisms in an Academic Community for E-JUST University" (2307.11662), presents BlockCampus, a decentralized application (DApp) built on blockchain technology to improve student engagement and establish a robust reward system within the academic community of E-JUST University.

Problem: The paper identifies several issues with traditional online platforms for academic communities, including:

• Fragmented knowledge bases due to discussions across various channels.
• Lack of proper incentives and rewards for active participation and valuable contributions.
• Absence of a transparent and immutable system for tracking user reputation, hindering trust and credibility.
• Difficulty in maintaining the quality and accuracy of information due to potential for misinformation, trolling, and over-reliance on personal opinions.

Proposed Solution (BlockCampus DApp): BlockCampus aims to provide a centralized, secure, transparent, and incentivized platform for academic discussions and knowledge sharing within E-JUST. It leverages the Ethereum blockchain to address the transparency, immutability, and decentralization needs, incorporating a reward mechanism based on user participation and reputation. The DApp is designed for students and academic staff to ask questions, provide answers, vote on content, and earn rewards for their contributions.

System Architecture and Logic:

• DApp Goals and Users: BlockCampus seeks to foster an online community for knowledge sharing and interaction among E-JUST students and academic staff. Users include students, academic staff (professors, TAs), administrative staff, and developers, each with specific roles and permissions.
• User Roles:
  • Students: Can join communities based on interest, view/post questions and comments, share materials, and vote on content. Their contributions are ranked by votes and other parameters.
  • Academic Staff: Have student functionalities plus the ability to provide expert ratings on student contributions.
  • E-JUST Administrative Staff: Moderate content according to university guidelines to ensure a safe and relevant environment.
  • Developers: Responsible for system operation, maintenance, and updates.
• Incentives: Reputation and Awards:
  • Bateekh: A reputation point system measuring user credibility and engagement (comments, votes, staff ratings). Points are calculated based on engagement, staff rating, user reputation, and post age. Higher Bateekh can lead to earning the native token.
  • Tofu: The native token used for transactions within the DApp. Earned by accumulating sufficient Bateekh. Tofu can potentially be exchanged for university services (e.g., tuition fee waivers, bonus grades), DApp services (e.g., premium features, exclusive materials), or services provided by other users. The distribution is managed by a smart contract.
  • Awards: A feature to show appreciation for contributions, providing recognition and potential networking opportunities.
• Blockchain Architecture:
  • Block Anatomy: Each block contains transactions (posts, votes, rewards) and is linked to the previous block via cryptographic hashes, ensuring immutability.
  • Blockchain Type (Consortium): BlockCampus uses a consortium blockchain, restricting participation and validation to a predefined set of trusted E-JUST entities (students, staff, administrative staff). This enhances privacy, scalability, and control compared to public blockchains.
  • Node Architecture: Multiple distributed nodes, represented by authorized E-JUST stakeholders, maintain a copy of the blockchain and participate in consensus, enhancing security and resilience.
  • Consensus Mechanism (PoA): Proof-of-Authority (PoA) is used, where E-JUST administrative staff act as validators, taking turns adding blocks and confirming transactions. This provides faster transaction times suitable for a permissioned network with known participants.
• DApp Architecture: Follows a layered structure:
  • User Interface (UI) Layer: Provides the web-based GUI for user interaction.
  • Backend Layer: Acts as a bridge between the UI, smart contracts, and IPFS. Handles API calls (using Web3), interacts with Solidity smart contracts, manages data storage/retrieval (including IPFS for decentralized file storage), enforces access controls, and manages user authentication/authorization.
  • Blockchain Network: The underlying Ethereum consortium blockchain.
  • IPFS Integration: Utilized for decentralized storage of files shared within the DApp (e.g., paper materials). The backend interacts with IPFS gateways to manage file access.
• Token Creation and Tokenomics:
  • Tokens are created following ERC-20 standards using smart contracts for automatic issuance and management.
  • Token Supply: Fixed initial and maximum supply determined to balance rewarding users without over-inflation.
  • Token Utility: Tofu is primarily a reward mechanism within the DApp ecosystem, redeemable for specific services.
  • Token Exchange: Tofu is not intended for trading on external exchanges, focusing its value within the platform.
  • Token Burns: Mechanism for periodically removing tokens from circulation (e.g., from inactive accounts) to potentially maintain value.
  • Token Grants: Initial allocation model for stakeholders, with ongoing grants based on Tofu accumulation for active community members.
• Access Control: Implemented via smart contracts using Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) to define permissions for different user roles (students, academic staff), ensuring only authorized actions can be performed (e.g., academic staff rating).

Implementation:

• Blockchain Network Setup: A private Ethereum network was created using Besu Hyperledger for secure and private transactions.
• Tech Tools:
  • Hardhat: Development framework for compiling, testing, and deploying smart contracts.
  • React: Front-end framework for building the user interface.
  • Remix IDE: Web-based IDE used for testing smart contracts locally.
  • Besu Hyperledger: Used to establish the private blockchain network.
  • MetaMask: User wallet for interacting with the DApp and blockchain.
  • Infura: Provided RPC endpoints for connecting to the Ethereum network without running a full node.
• Challenges: Included dealing with deprecated frameworks/tools (e.g., testnets, Azure BaaS, ConsenSys Quorum) and the need to adopt alternatives (Sepolia testnet), debugging integration issues, and a steep learning curve for the development team regarding blockchain and cryptography fundamentals.

Testing: Rigorous testing, particularly for smart contracts, is crucial due to the immutability of blockchain data. Testing was conducted using a local Ethereum environment provided by Remix IDE to identify and fix flaws before deployment. This included unit tests for "happy path" scenarios and negative tests to assess potential misuse or manipulation. In-depth research into smart contract mechanisms and cryptography was part of the testing preparation.

Discussion and Conclusions: The BlockCampus DApp leverages Ethereum blockchain and a consortium model with PoA consensus to create a transparent, secure, and decentralized platform for academic engagement at E-JUST. The Bateekh and Tofu token system incentivizes contributions and builds reputation. The implemented architecture and chosen tools provide a foundation for this system, though challenges in tooling and learning required adaptation. The project shows potential to enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration in an academic setting, emphasizing transparency and incentivization.

Future Plans: Future work includes exploring scalability solutions (sharding, layer-two protocols), conducting security audits, expanding DApp functionality (e.g., collaborative editing, peer mentoring), integrating with other academic systems, and potentially using blockchain for academic credential ownership (certificates, diplomas) to streamline verification and empower students.