This Year, Elementary Grade 4 to High School Grade 3 Students in Busan Receive One Smart Device Each

Busan Office of Education Develops 5-Stage Management Plan for Learning Smart Devices

Busan Office of Education.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Seryeong] The Busan Metropolitan Office of Education will complete the ‘1 Student 1 Smart Device’ support project, which provides one smart device to every student from 4th grade in elementary school to 3rd grade in high school, by the end of this year.

Busan Office of Education plans to first distribute 92,661 smart devices and 3,152 charging cabinets to 4th grade elementary, 1st grade middle, 1st grade high school, special school students and teachers in the region from January 3 to February 25, with a budget of about 62 billion KRW.

From March to September, with a budget of about 67 billion KRW, they plan to support more than 96,958 smart devices and more than 3,231 charging cabinets to 5th and 6th grade elementary, 2nd and 3rd grade middle and high school students and teachers.

The smart devices supported in the first phase include 43,612 Android-based tablet PCs, 4,149 Apple iPads, 23,898 Chromebooks, and 21,002 Windows laptops, selected through a demand survey at schools.

The Office of Education announced that it conducted a survey of all teachers in the Busan area to gather opinions from the school field from the preparation stage of the ‘1 Student 1 Smart Device’ support project.

As a result of the survey, more than 72% of the 6,426 respondents supported the provision of smart devices.

In addition to the survey, to solve management issues arising from the mass distribution of smart devices to schools, a ‘5-step management plan for learning smart devices’ was prepared.

This includes insurance subscription against loss and damage, development and distribution of a standard management manual for learning smart devices, operation of a dedicated call center for managing learning smart devices, installation of management programs (MDM: Mobile Device Management) on all smart devices, and laser engraving on all smart devices.

To enhance the effectiveness of learning smart devices, a group of 120 lead teachers for each platform was formed to develop and distribute guidebooks, user manuals, and excellent class cases.

They will also implement capacity-building training visiting schools and establish support plans for school sites in cooperation with platform companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft.

Since 2020, the Office of Education has created ‘blended classrooms’ capable of online and offline hybrid classes in all general classrooms of elementary, middle, and high schools to digitalize the school class environment.

Superintendent Kim Seok-jun said, “With the 1 Student 1 Smart Device support project, we will digitalize the teaching environment for teachers and students most proactively in the country,” and added, “We will realize student-centered classes leading the future.”

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