IN-CLASS PRACTICE: WEEK 4 (PART B)

About This Assignment

Blockchain technology is being applied—or attempting to be applied—in many new areas, including law, shipping, contracts, government, healthcare, etc. Putting aside the issue of whether all these applications are really a good fit for blockchain technology, more people want to know how a blockchain works. This hands-on assignment will help you to understand how Blockchain works. It simulates a blockchain for student grades while teaching you core concepts about a distributed ledger. 

Blockchain is a distributed ledger technology that enables a set of peers to work together to create a unified, decentralized network. The peers can communicate and share information or data with the help of the consensus algorithm. Also, there is no need for a centralized authority, which makes the whole network trustworthy when compared to other networks.

Let’s take a look at an example to understand how blockchain works. When one peer sends information to another, a transaction is generated. When this happens, the transactions need to be validated using the consensus algorithm.

In this case, Proof of Work validates the work and ensures that no invalid transactions are passed into the blockchain. Blockchain is all about blocks. They store transactions and other important information required to operate the blockchain successfully.

Timestamps are created to ensure that anyone can trace, back, and verify each transaction. The whole system adds value and brings new features such as transparency, immutability, and security.

Please fill out Blockchain Game and then answer the questions. Have fun!

Objectives

This assignment will guide your learning process to ensure you can:

• Create entries/blocks in a Blockchain (MLO 3; CLO F)

(CLO) stands for Course Learning Objective. (MLO) stands for Module Learning Objective You will find a complete list of Course Learning Objectives in the Syllabus and on the Start Here: Course Overview page. Module Objectives are listed on the Module Introduction pages. Each Assignment Objective and Module Objective in this course has its associated course-level objective indicated in parentheses to clarify the relationship between the two.  

Directions

A distributed ledger is created for you, and you need to enter the information about each student, the class they took, and the grade they got in it. 

1. You will be presenting with a block. A block will include the course name, the student public key, and their grade. Enter these into the ledger in their respective columns. 
2. Utilizing the hash function - Hash = Nonce + a + b + c - Value of Last 2 digits of previous Hash - add the values of a, b, c, and the last 2 digits of the previous hash.
   • a = Value of the first letter of the course
   • b = Value of the first letter of the student's Public Key
   • c = Value of the Grade
   • Nonce = value between 1 and 3 that you will adjust to calculate a hash that can be equally divisible by 3
   • Use the table below to get the values for a, b, and c. 
3. Once a miner (any student in the class) solves the puzzle and finds the nonce, s/he will announce it to the class. The class will then enter the nonce into the hash equation and verify that the none makes the hash equally divisible by 3. The nonce serves as  "proof of work." Proof of work (POW) is a piece of data that is difficult (costly, time-consuming) to produce but easy for others to verify and which satisfies certain requirements. In short, it isn't easy to solve the puzzle, but it is easy to verify it's solved correctly. Once 51% of the class verifies that the nonce is correct, we have consensus, and everybody enters the block into their ledger. 
4. I will be presenting you with data for 6 blocks. Each time, miners (people who like to solve puzzles), will announce the nonce and the rest of the class will verify their proof of work through voting. Once consensus is reached, the block will be entered in each ledger. 
5. After the every block is entered, we will answer multiple questions about Blockchain. 

Resources

When completing your In-Class Practice assignment, refer to the following resources: 

• Module Lectures
• Modules Resources Reading
• In-class Practice

Guidelines

Assessment

Each question/query is auto-graded and you will be provided your score and an explanation after you click the green "Save Answer" button. 

Academic Integrity

• Getting help from your peers on the assignment is permitted.
• Collaborating, or completing the assignment with others in the class, is permitted.
• Copying or reusing previous work is permitted.
• Open-book research for the assignment is permitted and encouraged.