Most people are aware that South Korea is an industry-leader in modern technological advancements and implementation. South Korea has taken their innovative spirit directly to the classroom in an effort to provide reliable and convenient access to textbook materials in a digital format. SK’s Minister of Education stated that he believes digital textbooks will help provide students and teachers with an easier way to customize their curriculum, on both an individual and group level.
The real “exciting” news in this story, in my opinion, is that South Korea plans on the utilization of a national wireless platform that can be accessed in all of their schools. This platform will give students access to their learning materials basically anywhere at anytime…truly “borderless” education that is not confined by a certain classroom, building, group structure, etc. I really admire SK’s progressive attitude towards modernizing their technological and educational infrastructure, as they can clearly see where the future of education is heading and thus they are planning things out accordingly.
Here in the U.S., President Obama recently discussed the “Digital Promise”, which seeks to eventually establish the same type of digital learning convenience and opportunities that are rapidly being developed and implemented in South Korea already. The U.S. and South Korea will need to ensure that they develop and implement plenty of standard guidelines and training materials for instructors as well, because if the instructors don’t fully comprehend the power and usefullness of digital learning materials, than they may quickly go to waste. Essentially, training both teachers and students on these new developments will be a major necessity to ensure that they are used to their full potential. We all know that digital learning materials inherently have more learning/growth potential and encourage more interactivity than their printed counterparts, but none of that will matter if the teachers themselves are not 100% comfortable using this technology within their own classrooms.
Visit DigitalPromise.org for more information.
Source Article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15175962