Surging Demand Due to COVID-19... Naver Band's 'Hakgeup Band' Gains 4.4 Million Members in 2 Years

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] As remote classes for elementary, middle, and high schools became routine due to COVID-19, Naver Band has established itself as an essential tool for classroom management.

Naver revealed on the 24th that about 4.4 million people joined elementary, middle, and high school "class bands" over the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic. To allow students under 13 years old to safely participate in class bands, the dedicated service for children called "Band Kids" surpassed 500,000 downloads within one year of its launch.

According to Naver, among class bands, "Our Class Band," used by teachers and students, accounts for 69%, while "Parent Band," used by teachers and parents as a notification tool, accounts for 31%, indicating that various users in the educational field are utilizing Band to participate in classroom management.

A survey conducted with about 500 teachers using class bands about their purpose of use showed that "conducting online classes" was the most common at 32%. Additionally, 23% of teachers said they use it for overall classroom management such as notifications and announcements, demonstrating that Band has become an important tool for both online and offline classroom management beyond remote classes.

Naver has strengthened features necessary for remote classes and classroom management as the combination of regular attendance and remote classes continues this year.

First, the "Quiz" feature, which allows teachers to check students' understanding and academic achievement, was improved. In addition to the existing multiple-choice questions, short-answer subjective questions can now be automatically graded, enhancing teacher convenience. A feature was also added that allows students to retry incorrect questions before checking the correct answers to promote learning.

The interactive communication feature "Video Call" is also being upgraded. In particular, during real-time classes conducted via video calls, information on students' participation start times and participation rates is provided to improve teachers' attendance management convenience.

Schools using Band's "Mission Certification" feature to check homework also increased significantly last year. The number of class bands using the mission certification feature increased by 186% compared to the previous year, and the number of mission certification posts written by students rose by 246%.

Kim Jungmi, the lead manager of Naver Group& CIC, which leads Band, said, "As a result of continuously communicating with the educational field and improving features necessary for remote classes and classroom management, we received positive responses from many users. We will continue to support many schools in smoothly communicating using Band this year, as the combination of regular attendance and remote classes is expected."

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