Ministry of Education Announces Basic Plan for 'K-MOOC', Korea-style Online Open Course

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The Ministry of Education, together with the National Institute for Lifelong Education, announced the "2023 Basic Plan for Korean-style Massive Open Online Courses (K-MOOC)" on the 31st.

K-MOOC is a service launched in 2015 to contribute to the sharing of knowledge among the public by providing university-level lectures online for free. As of this month, it offers 1,879 courses. Along with content expansion, the number of users has continuously increased, currently surpassing 1.16 million registered members and 2.81 million course enrollments, with 330,000 visits from overseas.

Offering Diverse Courses Reflecting Social and Learner Demands

First, the Ministry of Education newly selected 15 universities as ‘3rd Phase K-MOOC Leading Universities,’ and these universities will develop at least four courses annually considering their strengths and specialized fields (with at least two courses in new technology and new industry fields mandatory).

In this regard, ‘Korean-style Master Class’ courses involving domestic and international scholars and ‘K (K)-Knowledge Theme’ courses covering topics such as Korean history, culture, economy, education, and future will be developed to expand high-quality liberal arts courses through broadcasting media.

Additionally, new courses will be developed, including individual courses in various fields (60 courses), bundled courses which are modular curricula for systematic and stepwise learning of specialized fields (40 courses), and specialized courses reflecting immersive content and interactivity using the latest technology (K-MOOC Plus, 5 courses).

Moreover, the Ministry of Education, together with the National Institute for Lifelong Education, plans to develop courses in social and policy demand areas that are difficult to develop through open calls (at least 8 courses) and university consortium courses (at least 3 courses).

Support for Learner-Friendly Services

To enable learners to study conveniently and stably, K-MOOC system’s learning history information will be provided to university academic management systems, and the K-MOOC credit bank academic management system will be integrated into the K-MOOC platform.

Furthermore, the mobile system will be optimized to allow video playback speed adjustment, section repetition, real-time message transmission, and assignment submission without operating system (OS) restrictions, significantly improving a learner-customized learning environment.

The course classification system will also be detailed from the existing 7 major categories and 35 middle categories to 11 major categories, 29 middle categories, and 81 subcategories. Standard descriptive data (metadata) will support easy course information verification and search, and additional development of major-specific completion systems will be made to enable systematic learner support and course planning, providing learner-centered learning services.

Expansion of K-MOOC Utilization and Base

To facilitate easy recognition of credits earned through K-MOOC as formal university credits, excellent cases such as mutual credit recognition status will be shared through agreements among universities participating in financial support projects, encouraging voluntary participation of universities.

The Ministry of Education also plans to expand the base of K-MOOC by supporting its use as online education programs (boot camps) through cooperation and linkage with various institutions such as companies, education offices, local governments, universities, and related organizations.

In cooperation with overseas educational institutions, universities, and the National Institute for International Education, customized content will be developed to actively respond to internationalization demands, including preparatory and adaptation courses for international students under the Government Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (GKS, Global Korea Scholarship) and Korean understanding courses for overseas Koreans.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, stated, “We will actively support K-MOOC to be a more convenient platform for all citizens to prepare for the rapidly changing future due to demographic changes and technological innovation,” adding, “We will do our best to create a society where continuous advancement is possible through lifelong learning.”

Meanwhile, institutions, individuals, or educational institution consortia wishing to newly participate in the K-MOOC project can submit related documents to the National Institute for Lifelong Education by 6 p.m. on March 10. The Ministry of Education and the National Institute for Lifelong Education will conduct a selection evaluation in March through a selection evaluation committee composed of various experts and announce the final selection results at the end of March.

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