Green Technology | Digitizing Education in South Korea

South Korea's Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ju-Ho Lee, said that his department was preparing a promotion strategy for "Smart Education", focusing on customised learning and teaching. By 2015, it wants to be able to deliver all its curriculum materials in a digital form through computers. The information that would once have been in paper textbooks will be delivered on screen.

The project, launched during the summer, will involve wireless networks in all schools to allow students to learn "whenever and wherever", as well as an education information system that can run in a variety of devices including PCs, laptops, tablets and internet-connected TVs.

The intended benefits include extending the choice of subjects for students in rural areas who previously have lacked specialist teachers and to make it easier for pupils to study from home.



Unesco has documented the way that South Korea has carefully controlled the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education.The government has understood the importance of having formal standards, so that systems can work with each other and quality can be assured.

South Korea has been at the forefront of bringing advanced technology into the classrooms. Their plans for digitizing massive amounts of textbooks serves not only as a good example for the rest of world, it could actually enable poorer nations to do the same. The software and techniques piloted by South Korea could be adopted elsewhere and help the entire world approach education in a new way.