K-MOOC is an online open lecture platform that allows anyone to take courses at universities and other institutions of higher education free of charge. (image: K-MOOC)
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of online university courses available for free in South Korea will increase to 900 this year.
The Ministry of Education announced details of the 2020 Korean-style massive open online course (K-MOOC) on Wednesday.
K-MOOC (www.kmooc.kr) is an online open lecture platform that allows anyone to take courses at universities and other institutions of higher education free of charge.
The platform was launched in October 2015 and had more than 505,000 cumulative subscribers last year, and more than 1.17 million cumulative applications for classes.
The total number of courses currently stands at 745. The ministry aims to develop 170 new courses in the first half of this year and provide more than 900 courses before the end of the year.
To this end, 15 new main K-MOOC universities will be selected for the second stage. The selected universities will develop courses to be unveiled online, receiving 200 million won (US$167,000) each year for three years.
The government will also develop “micro courses” of around 10 minutes through a leading university. This is based on the judgement that recent learners have a high demand for short lectures.
The fifteen leading universities develop more than two individual courses and two micro courses each year, while some will offer as many as 60 new courses a year.
Other universities, companies, research institutes, and public corporations will also participate in the development of online public lectures through public offerings.
There will be new courses in various fields, including the Fourth Industrial Revolution, basic science, artificial intelligence, vocational education and Korean studies.
Starting this year, a new function will be available to “preview” course videos when applying for classes. A course recommendation function using users’ learning history will also be offered.
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
