Abstract
Digital transformation revamps many business models and transforms the way people dealing with their day-to-day operations. With the inception of the novel coronavirus i.e. COVID-19, many industries have become very reliant on remote teleworking and the use of all possible online means. Educational institutes are amongst those to innovate and accelerate the adoption of online education and eLearning platforms. However, this rapid trend comes with cybersecurity risks that have not been fully addressed. With these continuing efforts in innovating education delivery, the shift needs a holistic and experiential approach to ensure transparency and authenticity of the delivered educational programs. In this paper, a practical and secure e-Learning Chain (ELC) model using the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) and smart contracts to support the learning certification, verification, monitoring, and validation is proposed. The smart contracts are utilized to ensure to support the model certification process for better and secure automation and verification. Further research direction on implementing a blockchain-based e-learning ecosystem and the implications on other educational areas are discussed. (C) 2020 INT TRANS J ENG MANAG SCI TECH.