Current+Development+of+South+Korean+E-Learning




 * The Master Plan **

The year 1996 was an auspicious year in South Korea's history, for it marked both its entry into the OECD and the deployment of an ambition Master Plan to transform its education system through e-learning and ICT.

Developmental of e-learning and ICT within the education system was structured in accordance to three five-year Master Plans.


 * The first plan concentrated on creating an educational information service ( EDUNET) and installing infrastructure in elementary and secondary schools;


 * The second focused on educational content, teacher training, and the establishment of a National Education Information System (NEIS);


 * The third and final plan concentrated on establishing learning environments that would sustain themselves, flexible delivery systems, and the transition to digital textbooks.

 The process has been driven at both national and regional levels. The Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST) was responsible for overall planning, including policy development and deployment strategies; the Korean Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) assisted in the transfer of national ICT policies; and finally, at the provincial level, Metropolitan Provincial Offices of Education (MPOE) insured the implementation of national ICT policies at the regional level.



The integration of e-learning technologies into traditional course materials created the need for the creation and management of national standards for e-learning. Initiatives to support monitoring and evaluation of these standards included:


 * The Korea Educational Metadata (KEM);


 * The embedding of Korean standards into international standards administered by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC);


 *  The establishment of an E-Learning Quality Assurance System (EQAS);


 * The creation of the Education Cyber Security Centre (ECSC).

 The initiatives address issues of data collection and management, standardisation, quality assurance, and cyber safety.

In addition to domestic efforts, over the past fifteen years South Korea has become an active member of a global community seeking to create, refine, and deploy technology-based educational solutions in a cooperative effort to provide educational access to all and improve educational outcomes around the globe.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">The results of South Korea's efforts in the fields of e-learning and ICT are best summed up by Hwang, et al:

> <span style="display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> “ICT policy in education within the ROK has been recognized as a best practice. The achievements of Korean e-learning and ICT in education policy are recognised as a result of a solid legal framework, systematic implementation mechanisms, secured budget and support, timely capacity building, successful cooperation between public and private sectors, and in effective monitoring and evaluation system." (Hwang, et al., 2010, p. 9)

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