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Seoul Smart Learning System 'u-Learning Tour'
Seoul Human Resource Development Center, Seoul Metropolitan Government

The Problem

<Limited learning environment focused on offline and e-learning>

Offline education and e-learning are the key learning methods the Seoul Human Resource Development Center (SHRDC) offered to Seoul City civil servants.
The offline educational programs include leadership, communications, and creative thinking, which aim at effectiveness through interaction between students and teachers. E-learning is a method that allows students to choose educational programs without spatial and temporal constraints. However, due to the rapidly changing and expanding learning environment, various problems have arisen indicating the limits of offline education that restricts place and number of students and the nature of e-learning that necessitates a PC.

<Paradigm shift from teaching to learning>

Education has been planned and developed mainly from teachers’ perspectives. In particular, in terms of offline education, it has been impossible to fulfill the demands of a more student-oriented means of education due to the changes and movement in a paradigm that is thoroughly focused on the teacher. In short, the problems of offline education and e-learning are as follows:

∙ Limits to voluntary learning and motivation due to its lengthy work-related contents
∙ Lack of an educational process and variety of content
∙ Increased pressure of learning due to strict separation of learning and work
∙ Restricted time and place for learning
∙ Limits to making a prompt response to the student demands

In order to solve these problems, an environment is required where students can freely learn by themselves and also where there is a paradigm shift from one that is teaching-focused to one that is learning-focused. This is an issue that is faced by not only the Seoul Human Resource Development Center but also by all other educational centers as well.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
<Establishing a ubiquitous learning environment: from PC to 3G mobile phones and smart phones>

The Seoul smart learning system ‘u-Learning Tour’ was set forth as a solution to the issues of education in order to focus on learning environment that is more creative and learner-focused. To this end, an educational environment that can be accessed anytime, anywhere and that is not limited in the scope of its content or application was required. The specific features and learning achievements of the ‘u-Learning Tour’ are as follows:

∙ Accessibility via diverse devices: PC, 3G mobile phone, PMP, PDA, smart phones, etc.
∙ Customized learning for individual students
∙ 2,500 series of content per year consisting of six categories (Creative Policy, Leadership Energy, Creative Thinking, Economic Focus, Rich Life, Global Mind)
∙ Easy access by logging in without separate enrollment
∙ Easy learning using five-minute video files
∙ 72 units learned by 38 thousand people a year

In order to create an learning environment without temporal and spatial constraints to establish a learning system for Seoul City civil servants by creating a learning environment without temporal and spatial constraints, the SHRDC developed their own learning management system in 2009 and reached the decision to expand and develop the first system made by a public organization that would be reliable and secure to use. The following year, the SHRDC created Korea’s largest content pool with the content made by private and public organizations as well as the content it made.

In 2009, the SHRDC provided Korea’s first 3G mobile service by applying the technology of transmitting content to individually owned 3G mobile phones in real time in 2009 and expanded the service to support all iPhone and android smart phones in the following year. The SHRDC expects that, beginning 2011, the u-Learning Tour content will be accessed from tablet PCs as well. In other words, the new service allows students to access the u-Learning Tour from any device, be it a PC, smart phone or tablet PC.

The ‘u-Learning Tour’ has allowed people with little access to learning to pursue self-development and served as a channel for those who had to put work before learning to link learning with work creatively.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
<Seoul Mayor’s search for an alternative way to provide creative education>

On Jan. 2008, Oh Se-hoon, the Mayor of Seoul, ordered the SHRDC to find an alternative way to provide Seoul City civil servants with creative learning to keep up with the trend that values knowledge networks. The u-learning team of the SHRDC then reviewed various programs run by private educational institutions and outsourced the system design and content development. The SHRDC aimed to solve various problems facing e-learning while developing u-learning-based content that allows users to have access to it anytime and anywhere, serving as a learning hub for the systematization of education.

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
<Overcoming the blind spot in learning through technology>

Above all, the u-Learning Tour aims to make the best use of ever-developing IT, media and content development technologies to create the best educational environment for Seoul City civil servants and, to this end, to completely transform the past paradigm of learning that had been focused on offline and e-learning methods.

With this strategic methodology, the u-learning team was to incorporate the use of smart phones with the ‘u-Learning Tour’. The main thrust of the plan was to develop a system that would in the future allow for the accessing and unified academic management of content through any mobile device, beyond what is currently possible in 2010.

<Communicating through learning content>

The content of the ‘u-Learning Tour’ has become a new tool of communication in Seoul City, offering a variety of content, ranging from the content that helps users thoroughly understand city governance to the content that introduces outstanding administrative cases. Moreover, it designs, develops and provides new content that meet users demand. In short, the world of content that was focused on teaching is being transformed to one that is focused on learning and communicating.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
<Strategy for thorough plans for each step and action>

The SHRDC aimed to provide a perfect and unprecedented creative learning environment through the u-Learning Tour. As the misforecast of the direction of future content technology often makes content to be disused, the SHRDC drew up a flawless plan by stage.

<Development plan by stage>

- Stage 1 (2008): Evaluation of related technology development and its validity
- Stage 2 (2009): Expansion of system, 3G mobile service
- Stage 3 (2010): Set up of smart learning that mirrors a smart society

With the widespread use of smart phones in full swing in 2010, the u-Learning Tour could be accessible from smart phones. The educational service for iPhone users has already been developed and is now being provided. In addition, the service on android phones and tablet PCs is slated to start from the end of Dec. 2010.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
<Unpredictable direction of technological development>

The technological development has been truly amazing. However, technology tends to be developed in a certain direction.
Since the success of the u-Learning Tour lies in the complete congruence of communications technology, device development, materialization of content, etc., the most difficult part was the evaluation and application process.

The method chosen by the SHRDC was hard to confirm during the planning stage; however, the predicted direction was accurate. This included the points that large data communications would be possible with the development of communications technology (advancement of the 3G communications network, full-scale expansion of WiFi, launch of 4G communications services, etc.), devices would soon converge to being supported by one particular platform (condensed to a bipolar structure that is either iPhone-based or android phone-based, the escalation of smart phones and the wide spread of tablet PCs), and that content would consist of mostly text (including images) and video. These three points were in the end all proven to be correct and are currently being applied while these trends are expected to continue.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
<u-Learning Tour as a model of expanded e-learning >

The ‘u-Learning Tour’ started from the perception that it should take the same direction of development as e-learning and yet not be considered as being a completely separate new system of learning. The same goes for human resources. In renewing the e-learning team as the u-learning team, the same human resources were maintained. As these people so far had been handling e-learning related tasks, a lack of understanding related to the new system and its technology was the most obvious problem; however, this was overcome due to the commitment and passion of the team for developing a learning system that integrated a new framework with new forms of content.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
<‘u-Learning as a trend u-Learning Tour as a trend setter>

Throughout 2010, the biggest issue has been how smart phones can be utilized for learning. Already, smart phones have become the standard tool for communicating, playing, learning and the exchanging of ideas. The SHRDC had already been preparing for this since 2008. The private sector as well as the public sector is eager to create a u-learning environment, as it may not be an exaggeration that some businesses like the Hyundai Motors Company and POSCO have spent the whole year creating a smart learning environment.

The u-Learning Tour has drawn much interest at home and abroad and has been benchmarked by many local governments in Korea. For instance, the Gyeonggi-do Human Resource Development Center and POSCO, which boast the most advanced educational system in Korea, benchmarked the u-Learning Tour for the creation of their own u-learning environments. The SHRDC’s model is expected to continue to serve as the basic model in the future as well.

Furthermore, 100 units of the main content of the u-learning system have been provided to general citizens through the Seoul City homepage, thus making the system an arena for lifetime learning not only for the civil servants but also for the citizens of Seoul as well.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
<A creative educational alternative is also needed>

Education also needs a creative alternative. On their own, the existing methods of education, such as offline and e-learning, can be useful learning tools. There are certain aspects of offline learning that has many advantages. The same goes for e-learning.

However, where the times have changed and a ubiquitous lifestyle has been ushered in, a creative alternative is also required in education. It is such an alternative that has been offered by the Seoul Human Resource Development Center.

A society that is flooded with knowledge and a time when the enormity of various tasks is increasing - if an alternative that separates work and learning is not forthcoming then it will impossible for companies to keep a pace with the present environment. The SHRDC was able to provide a new way of learning that meets the demands of this era.

Contact Information

Institution Name:   Seoul Human Resource Development Center, Seoul Metropolitan Government
Institution Type:   Government Department  
Contact Person:   Min Jung Kim
Title:   Manager  
Telephone/ Fax:   82-2-3488-2319
Institution's / Project's Website:   82-2-3488-2222
E-mail:   kmj1080@seoul.go.kr  
Address:   15, Deoksugung-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea
Postal Code:   100-739
City:   Seoul
State/Province:  
Country:  

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