KAIST to present new smart learning framework at forum of research-oriented universities


Educational leaders from 27 countries will gather in Seoul on Tuesday to discuss how to harness technological innovation to boost efficiency and quality of learning.

Hosted by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, the nation’s leading research-oriented university, the International Presidential Forum on Global Research Universities will draw over 80 presidents and vice presidents from 56 schools and about 50 government officials and business representatives.

Since its inception in 2008, the annual forum has grown into one of Asia’s largest gatherings of university presidents.

Under the theme “Effective Education and Innovative Learning,” the fifth meeting will focus on the transformation of higher education through rapidly advancing information technology, according to the organizer.

Keynote speakers include Gene Block, chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles; Bertil Anderson, president of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore; Don Nutbeam, vice chancellor of the University of Southampton, U.K.; and Anders Bjarklev, president of Technical University of Denmark.

“Universities are faced with challenges as societal and educational trends continue to change. The landscape of higher education will change, and views on the future of university education will shape the way professors teach and students learn,” the school said in a statement. 

During the one-day forum, the participants will discuss how to create an education environment to keep up with technological advancements in the 21st century and how to build student-centered learning models as opposed to traditional teacher-oriented ones.

KAIST will showcase its new educational platform, Education 3.0, set up in 2011 to forge integrated, interactive, student-centered learning environments by using information technology sources.

The new system curtails one-sided lecturing. Students study through e-learning materials and classes focus on debates and team projects.

“The current university education, which is based primarily on lectures delivered by a professor to a group of students, is pedagogically inefficient and financially expensive,” Suh Nam-pyo, president of the KAIST, told The Korea Herald.

“By eliminating lectures in classrooms, teachers and students can utilize other educational methods, thereby increasing various forms of interaction such as Q&A, discussions and team projects, etc.,” said the president.

Under Education 3.0, students in a course are divided into groups of six. They are not necessarily required to attend a classroom, but they study with pre-recorded lectures, and carry out assignments in cooperation with other students in a group.

Once a week, the professor―in-charge meets the students to provide feedback on their performance and guidance for problem solving, the school said.

Earlier this year, KAIST introduced the system to three courses, including chemistry and calculus, for 145 freshmen. An end-of-term survey with the students showed that they tend to learn more from group discussions than from lectures, the school said.

With the success of the initial courses, the school said it has expanded Education 3.0 courses to 10 subjects, including ocean systems design and financial economics starting this fall semester.

He noted that already the world’s leading universities, such as MIT, Harvard and Stanford, have created online-learning initiatives and started to put their popular courses online.

But the main difference, he added, is that other university courses online primarily focused on “recorded lectures,” while Education 3.0 use the online lectures as “just one source of learning content.”

“Unlike traditional education, this new (Education 3.0) format allows for enhanced interaction between the students and professors, students and peers and also students and teaching assistants, creating a synergistic effect,” he added.

At the conference, Suh will also give a presentation on the KAIST SYL International Education Initiative designed to promote the smart learning system overseas and push for international exchanges with foreign institutions.

KAIST plans to use $7 million donated in September by Lee Soo-young, chairwoman of Gwang Won Industries, for the program which was named after her.

Founded in 1971, KAIST has grown into one the world’s top research institutions. In a most recent world’s university ranking by Times Higher Education, it ranked 68th, up from 94th the previous year. It also ranked 63rd in the 2012 QS World University Ranking conducted earlier this year by Quacquarelli Symonds.

By Oh Kyu-wook (596story@heraldcorp.com)