K-MOOC aims to promote Korea abroad

Sohn Young-jong, an astronomy professor at Yonsei University, gives an offline lecture for his K-MOOC course, “Understanding Space,” on the university’s campus in western Seoul, May 17. / Courtesy of the National Institute of Lifelong Education

More diverse courses needed to attract foreign students

Kee Young-wha, president of the National Institute of Lifelong Education

By Chung Hyun-chae

Kee Young-wha, president of the National Institute of Lifelong Education, expects the Korea massive open online courses (K-MOOC) to contribute to boosting hallyu, or the Korean Wave, by providing various lectures about Korea.

“The world desires to know about Korea in-depth in terms of education, economic growth and democratic development and even how gender equality has been promoted,” Kee told The Korea Times at her office in Seocho, southern Seoul, Sept. 1.

The institute has been in charge of K-MOOC which was initiated by the Ministry of Education in 2015.

From October of 2015 to last August, 1.4 million people have visited the K-MOOC website, 120,000 of whom registered for courses.

But more than 90 percent of the users are Koreans. Besides, the number of courses is too small to attract foreigners.

So, the nation needs to make their best effort to make K-MOOC go global. More than anything else it is necessary to work out diverse quality courses to attract more foreign students.

Kee said her institute will increase the number of courses from 128 this year to 300 in 2017 and more than 500 in 2018. She believes that the nation has a lot of things for foreigners to learn.

“More than 60 Korean industries, including shipbuilding and semiconductor, rank first in global markets. These industries can be a good subject for K-MOOC courses just as K-pop and K-dramas are for the Korean Wave,” Kee added.

Twenty universities have participated in the K-MOOC project and created 38 courses, 30 of which are currently running.

Among all participants, 10 universities ― Sungkyunkwan, Yonsei, Sangmyung, Korea, Kyung Hee, Sungshin Women's, Hanyang, Kyungnam, Chonbuk National, and Ulsan ― are working on 11 Korea-related courses that will be uploaded between October and December.

Among them is a lecture titled “Korean Economic Development” which tackles the nation’s economic policies.

“I hope my lecture will help foreign students studying here better understand Korea’s economic development,” Lee Doo-won, professor of the School of Economics at Yonsei University, told The Korea Times.

Lee’s lecture is expected to be on K-MOOC, Oct. 28.

Another lecture given by Kim Sung-kyung, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies (UNKS) deals with North Korea. Kim is also a director for research at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies, a research arm of Kyungnam University.

“My lecture will deliver accurate and objective information on North Korea,” Kim said.

Targeting global audiences, Kim’s lecture, titled “Reading North Korea in a Global Era,” will be given in English.

“I hope foreigners who are interested in North Korean issues will have a correct understanding of North Korea,” Kim added.

Her lecture is expected to be open on Oct. 6.

Kee noted that the country has a number of respected figures considered as No.1 in their fields.

“For example, one of the world’s top three trumpeters is Korean and there is a Korean doctor who is internationally recognized for artificial skin graft surgery,” Kee said. “As they tend to plod away at their jobs instead of showing off their talent, we need to discover them and develop content for them.”

Currently all services are offered in Korean with English subtitles and some of them with Chinese subtitles

“We hope more universities will offer courses in diverse languages,” Kee said.

Challenges to K-MOOC

Kee noted that K-MOOC is different from the first generations of MOOC that have become popular at universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China.

“While foreign MOOCs aimed to replace existing higher education institutions, the goals of K-MOOC are to supplement higher education, to strengthen vocational education and to promote Korea abroad,” Kee said.

Uploading courses only offered by local universities, the K-MOOC has mainly focused on complementing higher education institutions.

“While at first we encouraged universities to participate in the K-MOOC project because they have sufficient academic resources and have developed cooperative ties with foreign universities and institutions, we are seeking ways to have companies, research institutes and masters to take part in the K-MOOC project,” Kee said.

She called on the government to promote cooperation among ministries to promote K-MOOC.

“Inter-ministerial cooperation is essential to have more companies, research institutes and experts of various fields to take part in K-MOOC,” Kee said.

Suh Heon-joo, director of the office of public relations and international affairs at the lifelong education institute, also pointed out that K-MOOC cannot move forward amid heated competition among latecomers in MOOC such as ThaiMOOC and Malaysia MOOC unless related agencies join hands.

“For example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs can utilize K-MOOC as it can be a gateway to Korea for foreigners living both home and abroad,” Suh said.

Generating revenue

K-MOOC is also seeking ways to improve its profit structure, learning from examples of foreign MOOCs including edX, founded by Harvard University and MIT in 2012, Coursera, launched in 2012 by professors at Stanford University’s computer science department, and Noveed, Stanford University’s new startup MOOC.

The edX and Coursera charge fees for certificates while Noveed runs paid degree courses to generate revenue.

“We also plan to charge fees for issuing certificates and giving incentives to universities to offer course to K-MOOC,” Kee said.

For this, the government and the lifelong education institution are working together to develop standardized evaluation.

“Considering that MOOC users want to use K-MOOC in finding jobs and raising their social status, we are trying to make MOOC certificates gain social recognition,” Kee said.