'AI, big data will enable personalized education'
Cho Hyun-gu, CEO and founder of Classting, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the education technology startup's office in Seoul, Friday. / Courtesy of Classting
Classting strives to contribute to innovative teaching in Asia
By Jun Ji-hye
Cho Hyun-gu wanted to offer personalized education in accordance with each student's characteristics instead of cramming and repetition when he was an elementary school teacher.
But this was difficult under Korea's public education system in which each one teacher is responsible for dozens of students.
This led him to set up education technology startup Classting in July 2012 and work to develop education services based on artificial intelligence (AI) and big data to contribute to innovative education nationwide and to expand into other Asian countries.
Classting app
“The problems in the public education system have lasted for more than 200 years,” Cho, CEO and founder of Classting, said in an interview with The Korea Times, Friday. “In the past, education was used to nurture laborers in the First Industrial Revolution. But industrial revolutions have continued, creating diverse jobs and requiring workers with many different qualities. But schools still teach the same things to everyone.”
He said problems of the public education system can be resolved through AI deep learning technology that enables personalized services offering tailored information and functions to each user.
“Big data, from which AI can learn, is necessary for personalized education, so I have given a lot of effort to create big data. This is why I began a social network service app for active communication between students, parents and teachers,” he said.
The Classting app is an “education social community platform,” supporting study management and effective communication between students, parents and teachers, Cho explained.
The app has now become a commonly used platform in the public education sector. As of October, one in two teachers nationwide uses the platform, which has more than 4.4 million users in 15,400 schools and educational institutions worldwide.
“Classting has already collected a huge amount of data,” he said. “As we have meaningful data, a number of institutions worldwide want to conduct joint research with us.”
Classting is currently carrying out joint research with UCLA, Boston College and the University of Washington on education big data and AI, Cho said, noting that once personalized education is set up, students will be able to better learn what they actually need to before going out into the world.
“The technology can also help students find a future career and let them know what they have to do now to achieve that dream,” Cho said.
Cho's efforts are coming to fruition soon as Classting is set to begin its Classting AI service at the end of November.
The new service, which will be offered in cooperation with content companies, features an AI teacher, named Sam, which will suggest test questions in accordance with learning ability levels of each student.
“This service will help students save time that they would have wasted on solving unnecessary questions,” Cho said. “Once students complete their study as quickly as possible, they will be able to nurture other capabilities in the remaining time.”
In September, the startup received a 4.1 billion won ($3.6 million) investment from Mistletoe, a Japanese venture capital company founded by Taizo Son, younger brother of SoftBank founder and CEO Masayoshi Son.
Classting said the investment was meaningful in that Classting AI's potential to contribute to developing education technology to innovate the public education system has been recognized.
The Seoul-based startup also acquired a 2.5 billion won investment from the Korea Development Bank, the firm said, adding that the new investments it has recently raised in total amount to 6.6 billion won.
The startup has also been aiming to expand into the Asian market so that any classrooms and educational institutions in any country can utilize the innovative education system.
In August, Classting signed a memorandum of understanding with a leading Taiwanese publishing firm, Nan I Publishing Company, to enter the market there.
Under the MOU, the two companies are teaming up in educational content and training Taiwanese teachers to better utilize the Classting app.
The Korean startup said it will enhance its global competitiveness based on this partnership.
“The Classting app is currently supporting 12 different languages,” Cho said. “We will expand into markets in Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia next year.”
Cho said he recently received an inquiry from Middle East countries, saying, “We are also planning to target the Dubai region in cooperation with Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency.”
He noted selecting a target country is significant in expanding into markets worldwide, saying his firm will target Asian countries first as their education systems are similar to that of Korea.
“We will expand into the Asian market in two to three years and then develop our competitiveness before entering into the United States and European markets,” he said.
The startup has also been making notable results in the advertisement area as about 150 institutions including the education ministry have posted native language ads targeting parents on the Classting app since last year. Advertised products are varied ranging from books to toys and cultural goods.
The firm said 82 percent of institutions that had ads on the app have placed their ads again, and 40 percent of users watched the ads for more than three seconds, showing high satisfaction.
“The ads are only targeting parents who want to gain information related to education,” Cho said. “Parents do not feel that they are watching ads but rather information they want to gain.”
Cho noted that ads on the Classting app have been well received as it offers a differentiated environment compared to other social network services such as Facebook that sometimes feature provocative advertising content.
Cho stressed that the Classting app is beneficial to all as teachers do not need to face uncomfortable situations where students or parents contact them via their personal mobile phones or messenger apps. This helps protect the teachers' privacy, while effectively delivering necessary information or messages to students or parents.
Students can become closer to others through communication using the app. Parents can be aware of their children's school life more easily, and this offers more opportunities for communication at home, Cho said.
Cho added that Classting wants to play a mediation role between schools and society, helping schools to better follow the development of technologies that transform society.
“I think schools are necessary. They will not disappear even in the future,” he said. “But whether schools become meaningful institutions or not will depend on how well schools can follow changes in technology. I want to play a role in helping teachers better utilize education technology and offer better education to students.”