{"id":16096,"date":"2019-10-24T12:44:33","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T12:44:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=16096"},"modified":"2023-06-08T18:27:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-08T18:27:25","slug":"blockchain-expert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/24\/blockchain-expert","title":{"rendered":"Senior schools seniors in Bitcoin, blockchain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Zack
Zack Nelson teaching Osher class. Mark Studer photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Douglas Esser
\nBitcoin is baffling. Is it a boom and bust digital investment or the new way to buy pizza? It is a cryptocurrency that has something to do with blockchain, right? But doesn\u2019t blockchain have other applications?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To make sense of these emerging technologies, we could really use someone to present a Blockchain and Bitcoin 101.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, there is such a course. It is offered through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute<\/a> at the University of Washington, which presents classes to seniors over the age of 50.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The instructor for the course on four Saturdays this October in Redmond was another senior \u2014 a University of Washington Bothell student in his last year of undergraduate studies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zack Nelson is also the president and co-founder of the student club, UW Blockchain Society<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interactive, intergenerational<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Nelson
Nelson interacts with the class. Marc Studer photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nelson and members of the Osher class of about 40 people engaged the questions together. The students said their lively interactions helped make it an exceptional experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, consider the seniors who met at the Trilogy at Redmond Ridge community, \u201ca fairly affluent area of well-educated professionals,\u201d observed one resident, Kipp Barker. Others came from throughout the Seattle area and had a lot of business experience in their professional lives. \u201cSome of these people know a lot about currency transactions. There\u2019s a lot of knowledge here,\u201d said Richard Fogerty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, consider the instructor. Nelson started a club that has grown to include about 1,200 members across all three UW campuses \u2014 Bothell, Seattle and Tacoma. He also has interned or worked with companies implementing blockchain. And, he\u2019s spoken at campuses and attended conferences on the topic around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson knows his blockchain, but an ability to connect with people who are three decades his senior made the class special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cZack allows interaction, encourages questions. The material presented can be conceptually difficult, but he does it in a way that allows us to understand it better,\u201d said Barker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve taken a number of courses and this is much more interactive than the average course,\u201d said Fogerty. \u201cThere are many teachers who say they want to hear questions, but their body language and the way they conduct themselves lets you know you\u2019re a pain. Whereas Zack makes you feel like the questions are part of the course. You\u2019re actually helping bring the momentum of the group forward. That\u2019s an unusual gift.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currency crypto, innovation apparent<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Christine
Christine Psyk said the course was fun. Marc Studer photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DeEtte Borden said she\u2019s not likely to own any cryptocurrency, but she felt she was learning more than 90 percent of the public knows about blockchain, thanks to Nelson\u2019s give-and-take. \u201cI\u2019m surprised we haven\u2019t driven him crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christine Psyk said the course demystified her confusion over cryptocurrency. \u201cI don\u2019t have to have Bitcoin or any of these other currencies to benefit from blockchain,\u201d she said, adding the course was fun. After the first class, \u201cI came back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that second class on Oct. 12, Nelson talked about the volatility of cryptocurrencies and showed graphs of their sudden rise and abrupt fall in a \u201chump and dump\u201d pattern. But, when it came to blockchain, \u201creal innovation is happening,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can\u2019t fake a blockchain.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has applications, Nelson explained, in securing data, ensuring quality and protecting intellectual property. \u201cThis is where I see this going, for sure,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson said his own experience has been like \u201cfinding out about the internet before everyone else.\u201d It was just February 2017 when he first formed the student club, which is advised by UW Bothell School of Business Dean Sandeep Krishnamurthy and computer science Associate Professor Bill Erdly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the club has given Nelson and other officers opportunities to travel and meet with other student groups and emerging businesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global experience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Zack
Nelson talks with Kipp Barker, center, and Richard Fogerty. Marc Studer photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nelson was a marketing intern last summer in San Francisco at Ripple, a company that says it will enable the world \u201cto move value like it moves information today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He worked for Appsolutely, a company based in Manila, developing a digital consumer loyalty program. He\u2019s still working with the BlockVenture Coalition, a New York venture capital firm that partners with university groups. In addition, Nelson helped create Blockchain Northwest<\/a>, a nonprofit that can transact business with companies and thus pay students for projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of his international business experience, Nelson added a Global Studies major to his Media & Communications Studies major, both in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences<\/a>. He plans to graduate in the spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson said he would like to see blockchain courses in the UW curriculum to launch more Huskies into entrepreneurial careers in the fast-moving field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudents are interested in this. Companies are doing this. It’s really become a fundamental piece of what students should be learning,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to be one of the first ones to help bring it to UW.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The president and co-founder of the UW Blockchain Society student club, senior Zack Nelson, had no trouble instructing a group of seniors over the age of 50 at the extended learning course Blockchain and Bitcoin 101. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,218,204],"tags":[264],"school":[],"class_list":["post-16096","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","category-community-engagement","category-students","tag-clubs"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":null,"link_2":null,"link_3":null,"link_4":null,"link_5":null},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":null,"button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nSenior schools seniors in Bitcoin, blockchain - 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