When Korea declared its independence from Japan in 1945, the Republic of Korea entered into a “democratic society that harbored the ideal of compulsory, free education for everyone” (Ministry of Education, 1990).
An average Korean high school student spends as much as 16 hours studying every day. 2005 was the year when Korea started distributing and utilizing Information and Communications Technology, called “ICT”. A new movement for the adjustment of technology in education was initiated in 1980s. The effort to utilize ICT in the Korean educational system was implemented with the initiative called the ‘Plan for the renovation of education’ proposed by the Education Renovation Committee in 1995.
In 2010, The Korean Ministry of Education developed a five-year master plan for ICT use in education, which is now in the fourth stage. The aims and visions of the ICT use in education are to strengthen the future competitiveness of education, science and technology, and to cope with rapid changes in the economy and society, and in science, technology and education worldwide.
Few education technology startups and companies that are trying to improve Korea with digital learning are mentioned below. Take a look!
1) Knowre:
It is a cloud based online adaptive leaning program for secondary mathematics that provides students with a personalized curriculum to achieve their full potential.
The platform offers students:
- Gamified learning
- Contextual cartoon introductions present real-life applications of math concepts.
- Quest-like assignment system raises student engagement levels.
- Assignment feature.
- Real-time assessment provides teachers with actionable data in the classroom.
- Adaptive, step-by-step “Walk Me Through” instructions present problem-solving strategies.
- Over a thousand math concept videos provide targeted student support when needed.
2) Langtree Korea:
It is an open service platform that connects individual tutors and students to enable them to learn each other’s native language. It offers a mobile app that allows users to meet people from around the world learn each others language
3) Colango:
Colango is an EdTech startup that aims to empower language teachers with a social learning platform on web and mobile. On Colango, teachers can use their own content and numerous online resources to create personalized learning assignments for their students. Teachers can view student reports to quickly gain a better understanding of student performance and weaknesses. With strong ties in North American and European education trends, Colango is building a globally viable product together with great teachers around the world.
4) Bapul
Also known, as ‘Immediately Solve’ is an education application that harnesses the geniuses of the world to educate those of us with more modest intellects. Initially, The app was designed to be used for math problems but with the likability of the app it got available for other subjects as well. A student working through a tough question can take a picture using a smartphone or tablet and then write out their approach to solving the problem. Within 20 minutes, a response should come through with the correct answer and explanation.
It has won many awards including
Women’s Entrepreneurship Competition Prize in 2011,
Chung Founded Contest Prize in 2012, and
The Republic of Korea Mobile App Award in 2013.
5) BLUEPIN
- The company Provides Global No. 1 Kids education application service called “Kids WORLD”, which is downloaded more than 30,000,000 globally.
- BLUEPIN provides more than 10,000 contents including premium educational contents by collaborating with key educational content providers and global animation producers.
- BLUEPIN provides customized Kids WORLD service through Samsung mobile/tablet devices and Tencent platform to provide a top quality application experience to children worldwide.
- BLUEPIN has also launched an adult learning application service called “Learning WORLD” in collaboration with Samsung.
6) Becos
It is a joint venture with the world’s prominent English pronunciation specialists, speech pathologists, and sound engineering experts. The aim is to develop and invent new ways to approach English pronunciation, educational contents and solutions.
Their product, ClearSpeech, is the most powerful accent reduction application, developed by speech experts using cutting edge 3D panoramic imaging and audio technologies, including sound evaluation that offers a numerical score of single sounds
7) IAMCOMPANY
IAMCOMPANY is a student startup based on KAIST (Korean advanced institute of science and technology) Midam committee and other educational charity services within KAIST. The company aim to help students discover their potential through Internet based technologies. The services by the company are:
It is a mobile app that sends educational news and other content to the students’ parents. The interface is just like that of ‘Twitter’ but holds no word limit. Parents can search and follow the respective institution.
8,467(more than 60%) schools in Korea are using IAMSCHOOL the app has been a huge hit especially in South Korea.
IAMCLASS
It is a web service that sends information about students or the institution itself to the parents. The app also advertises educational institutions to their target market.
IAMCOMPANY is plotting its international expansion; the startup has room to grow. South Korea’s Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ju-Ho Lee says the Korean K-12 supplemental education market, meaning K-12 educational resources outside of public and private schools, is worth $22 billion a year. To know more follow the link.
8) SIGONG
SIGONGmedia is an affiliated company of SIGONGtech, the outright leader of the exhibition and cultural industry of Korea.
SIGONGmedia is a specialized educational enterprise. It is establishing the state-of-the-art digital multimedia archives with video, image, CG, 3D animation and flash while providing platforms and publication of e-Multimedia for preschoolers and elementary school students.
By the end of 2015, Korea wants to be able to deliver all its curriculum materials in a digital form through computers. South Korea’s Minister of Education, Science and Technology, Ju-Ho Lee, said that
“His department was preparing a promotion strategy for “Smart Education”, focusing on customized learning and teaching”.
The project, ‘smart education’ launched during the summer, will involve wireless networks in all schools to allow students to learn whenever and wherever, as well as an education information system that can run in a variety of devices including PCs, laptops, tablets and internet-connected TVs. He said the government would support an open content market containing a variety of learning materials, aimed at keeping up quality while keeping down costs. “Smart Education will change how we perceive textbooks,” said Mr. Lee.
Which other edtech startups do you know?
