By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
South Korea’s ``e-learning’’ market grew 6.8 percent to 1.73 trillion won (roughly $1.77 billion) in 2007, boosted by a sharp increase in the number of users.
According to the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MOKE) Tuesday, one in every 10 Internet users studied with online materials last year.
Ministry officials said that they conducted a survey of 1,000 people across the country ― those aged 3 or more who use the Internet ― along with the Korea Institute for Electronic Commerce (KIEC) for the results.
About 39.1 percent of the respondents said they have used an e-learning tool. While the total money spent by citizens totaled 735.1 billion won, the average expenditure topped 29,000 won ($29.77) per person per month.
Electronic learning, or e-learning, is a term that refers to computer-enhanced learning that uses networked multimedia technologies in cyberspace. Most materials are designed to be interactive, as they provide instant feedback.
As the method of learning is not limited by time and space, e-learning has gained rapid popularity among different age groups ― from children to young people and even the elderly ― in recent years.
In the latest survey, 67 percent of those aged between 6 and 19 said they experienced using e-learning tools last year, the highest rate among all age brackets.
Some 50.7 percent of those in their 20s, 23.4 percent of those in their 40s and even 28.7 percent of those aged between 3 and 5 also said that they had used various e-learning systems.
Meanwhile, the country’s e-learning market grew to 1.73 trillion won and a total of 756 companies ― up 21.7 percent from 2006 ― employed 20,773 people in the sector.
Another MOKE-KIEC survey, which canvassed non-individual users, showed that a growing number of public organizations including government offices as well as regular academic institutes including universities have adopted the e-learning system.
Some 74.3 percent of 350 surveyed educational institutes and about 56.9 percent of 546 government offices and public organizations provided e-learning programs to their students and employees.
As for private workplaces, however, only 3.1 percent of the 803 surveyed offered online education opportunities to their employees, according to the poll.