[New Wave] Online Lectures Should Prioritize Demand-Centered Content

As the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) intensifies, universities across the country, including major universities in Seoul, are postponing the start of the semester by two weeks and are planning to replace classes with 'online lectures' or other forms of remote learning even after the semester begins. This phenomenon is also linked to the growing importance of online lecture content as the 'Edutech' market?a portmanteau of 'education' and 'technology'?expands. So-called 'Edutech' is related to artificial intelligence (AI), augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), the Internet of Things (IoT), and other technologies, and its market is rapidly growing.

The U.S. market research firm Global Industry Analysts (GIA) predicted that the global Edutech market size would nearly double from $220 billion (approximately 257 trillion KRW) in 2017 to $430 billion (approximately 502 trillion KRW) in 2020. Meanwhile, the Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, the National IT Industry Promotion Agency, and industry experts expect the Korean market to exceed 10 trillion KRW this year.

On the one hand, advantages such as overcoming travel distance limitations, enabling non-face-to-face lectures, allowing repeated viewing, and offering personalized adjustments in time and repetition compared to offline lectures tailored to general standards are emphasized. Additionally, from the perspective of self-directed learning, the self-reward effect is significant. Regarding the Ministry of Education's plan to temporarily lift the 20% online lecture regulation for universities in response to the COVID-19 situation, some argue that this could be an opportunity for new creative lecture attempts and the emergence of new interactive lecture formats that communicate with students. However, a close examination of the COVID-19 situation and university online lectures reveals many problems. Although Korea boasts world-class platforms and connection speeds, server overload caused by the massive volume of content released simultaneously is a problem that is difficult to solve in the short term. Securing additional external cloud resources is also a cost-related issue. Universities with declining student numbers have limited capacity to invest in infrastructure projects that require significant initial investment. The provision of various peripheral equipment such as microphones, webcams, and tablets for online lectures must also be considered. Software-wise, authoring tools like Camtasia are used, but producing high-quality content comparable to that created by power YouTubers in a short period is challenging. To exaggerate, it is said that content at the level of VTR recordings will be produced, similar to the early days of ebooks when books were scanned.

Ultimately, the beginning and end of content are related to people. Regarding production, it is necessary to recognize that filming and editing videos are neither easy nor simple tasks. For YouTube videos, beginners need to invest more than an hour from planning to cutting to edit a one-minute video, and about 10 hours to produce a 10-minute video. From the consumer's perspective, the problem can be even greater. It is questionable how much relatively lower-quality content can gain acceptance and improve learning efficiency among young educational content viewers accustomed to flashy effects and impressive videos. Although the Ministry of Education has issued explanations regarding online lectures that do not consider students with hearing impairments, the applicability of content accessible to consumers with diverse needs must also be considered. Looking at the characteristics of content on platforms, the content may vary depending on the specialty and subject differences. For subjects with many practical courses, problems inevitably increase if interactive communication, coaching, and guidance are not conducted in real time. Analyses of existing online lecture problems point out issues such as repeated lectures, low resolution, insufficient management personnel, large class sizes, lack of demand-tailored lectures, website errors, and infrastructure problems. Additionally, copyright issues related to PPTs, lecture notes, and various teaching materials, as well as lecture development costs for instructors, are not being considered.

Foreign online content experts say the worst teaching method is one conducted solely online. It is worth listening to the saying that education is the field that adopts only technologies that have been proven stable after sufficient use in society and the market, and does so last. As always, the important factor is not technology but people. Efficient lecture content can only be created by keeping learners' responses in mind. The advantage of online lectures is maximizing autonomy, but due to a lack of compulsion, implementation without proper preparation inevitably results in significantly reduced efficiency.

Looking ahead, this COVID-19 situation is a good opportunity to identify problems and reassess the necessity and effectiveness of online lectures. In the long term, it will be necessary to prepare various scenarios and countermeasures linked to future possibilities such as telecommuting in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and to change perceptions to develop consumer-centered content.

Byungmin Lee, Professor, Department of Cultural Contents, Konkuk University

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.