Clicks-and-Mortar Education

By Kim Ji-hoon

Global Student Reporter

Last year, the e-learning market reached 1.87 trillion won, an 8.3 percent increase from the previous year. Moreover, the number of firms in the market now totals 1,145, a 51 percent rise from last year.

However, despite the huge expansion in quantity, the quality of e-learning seems to be stagnating. Although the traditional e-learning system allows students to study a subject multiple times, it has shown two major problems.

First, it is just simple ``input" learning in which the students cannot communicate with the teachers. Second, teachers are not able to effectively supervise how much progress students have made and whether they completed their homework or not.

In an effort to address these problems, a new way of e-learning, called ``Clicks-and-Mortar," has emerged. This new system attempts to combine the advantages of offline and online education.

Using the variety of online educational contents and a large amount of offline potential customers, students learn the most essential concepts in offline lectures and complete assignments on the Internet.

In turn, teachers can easily check whether the students did their homework, see what their weaknesses are, and even give immediate feedback.

Though the new system has resulted in increasing costs to parents, ``both parents and students are greatly satisfied with the experience," according to Kim Young-guk, CEO of KBT Education.

He said, ``Students are more exposed to English than in the past because they are able to learn how to speak and write in English at home. As a result, their English is a lot better than the English of those who only study using the old way of learning."

Another advantage is its interactivity, which makes it a superior medium to communicate with young students of the ``IT era." According to research from Stanford University, today's kids watch more than half-a-million TV advertisements, exchange 200,000 e-mails and text messages, and spend more than 10,000 hours using cell phones and 10,000 hours watching videos as they grow up.

The research also shows that they respond more quickly and learn more effectively using an interactive communication medium than a traditional one-way medium such as books. Therefore, the interactive Clicks-and-Mortar system suits the tastes of young kids, enabling them to concentrate better and study more efficiently.

Not only does Clicks-and-Mortar satisfy the needs of students and parents, but it also offers a possible way of fixing the two major problems of Korean society: social inequality and excessive overseas money transfers.

While most people recognize educational inequality as the main source of economic and social inequality, few attempted to develop a new educational system that guarantees ``equal opportunity."

Clicks-and-Mortar may be the solution. Thousands of students can benefit from the system simultaneously, regardless of whether they live in a city, a rural area, or an island. As long as the Internet is available, Clicks-and-Mortar is open to everyone.

Furthermore, Clicks-and-Mortar can replace native speakers. Therefore, it can redirect the flow of money, which has usually gone from parents to native teachers to overseas.

The money saved from preventing the leakage of won can be re-invested in education and IT firms to develop an even better education system.

Speaking of the walls between online and offline education, Clicks-and-Mortar allows teachers to supervise students' progress while also letting students communicate, ask questions, and gain immediate feedback.

Furthermore, it can narrow social inequality and prevent money from being moved overseas. These changes will not just end as a dream if the government actively supports the system.

If it reduces tax for Clicks-and-Mortar education firms and gives coupons to poor students, allowing free access to the system, every party will come away happy with the result.

Kim Ji-hoon is a senior at Seoul Foreign Language High School in northern Seoul. He has developed a method and server for e-learning for English education and applied for a patent right for it with the Korean Intellectual Property Office. He can be reached at ds003104@naver.com.