SKorean students ditch paper for digital books

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GOESAN, South Korea (AP) — Outside the classroom a hot summer day

beckons, but fourth-grade teacher Yeon Eun-jung’s students are

glued to their tablet PCs as they watch an animated boy and a girl

squabble about whether water becomes heavier when

frozen.

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The small scene in this rural town is part of something big: South

Korea is taking a $2 billion gamble that its students are ready to

ditch paper textbooks in favor of tablet PCs as part of a vast

digital scholastic network.

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France, Singapore, Japan and others are racing to create classrooms

where touch-screens provide instant access to millions of pieces of

information. But South Korea – Asia’s fourth-largest economy –

believes it enjoys an advantage over these countries, with kids who

are considered the world’s savviest navigators of the digital

universe.

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A 2009 study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and

Development, a Paris-headquartered grouping of wealthy nations,

found 15-year-olds in South Korea scored highest in their ability

to absorb information from digital devices, beating runners-up New

Zealand and Australia by a large margin.

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At Sosu Elementary School in Goesan, principal Jo Yong-deuk speaks

of a future in which his students interact in virtual reality with

Ludwig van Beethoven and Abraham Lincoln. In the classroom, the

children scribble answers in their tablet PCs with touchscreen pens

as they watch the video clip explaining the scientific properties

of frozen water.

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“I liked this chapter, but my favorite clip is one where they show

how flowers blossom and trees bear fruit in spring,” 11-year-old

Jeong Ho-seok said with a wide grin.

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More than 60 primary, middle and high schools are now using digital

textbooks as part of their curriculum, according to the state-run

Korea Education and Research Information Service, which provides

technical support for the program. Seoul believes it can finish the

$2.1 billion program to build a single computer network packed with

high-quality digital content by 2015. Replacing textbooks with

tablet PCs will account for a quarter of that budget.

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According to South Korean officials, France is handing out tablets

in the Correze region and is pushing to expand digital material,

while Japan began distributing tablet PCs in a primary school last

year under a pilot program. Info-communications Development

Authority of Singapore said on its website that Singapore began

adopting tablet PCs in 2004.

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But Kim Doo-yeon, a South Korean official leading the project, said

his country will have no trouble competing.

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South Korea is one of the most wired places on earth. More than 80

percent of South Korean households have broadband access to the

Internet, according to the statistical office here. U.S. Web

hosting company Akamai said earlier this year that South Korea

enjoys the fastest Internet connection in the world. South Korea

also ranks first in wireless broadband subscriptions, according to

an OECD release last month.

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Lee Sang-hyeob, a student at Sosu Elementary School, spends a lot

of time at home playing online games and chatting with schoolmates.

Another Sosu student, Jang Woo-dam, often surfs her school’s

website to see messages from friends.

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The 2009 OECD study says there’s a positive relationship between

students’ use of computers at home for leisure and their digital

navigation skills. “Proficient digital readers tend to know how to

navigate effectively and efficiently,” the study said.

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The study said students who read online more frequently also read a

greater variety of print material and report higher enjoyment of

reading itself.

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Another telling example of the influence of the Internet on this

nation of 50 million is the number of so-called PC rooms, or

Internet cafes, which stood at 15,000 as of December last year,

according to the PC room business association.

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PC rooms, which usually operate around the clock, have long been

the breeding ground for South Korea’s so-called professional

e-gamers, whose popularity has given birth to an industry dedicated

to airing their matches and promoting high-tech gadgets through

them.

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Enchanted with games, Jeong Yu-jin, 16, has been teaching himself

programming since he was a child and is now developing a game that

warns of the consequences of global warming as a player clears

stages filled with challenges like angry polar bears and crumbling

glaciers.

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“Technology is a way for me to turn my imagination into a reality,”

said the student at Korea Digital Media High School, one of many

technology-oriented schools that have proliferated as electronics

giants like Samsung have thrived.

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Kim, the South Korean official leading the tablet PC project, said

the country envisions a digital scholastic network for students to

go beyond digital textbooks and national boundaries.

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“In the future, all our students will be connected to a single

computer network that allows them to also learn from teachers in

other countries,” Kim said.

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Loaded with video, animation, photos, voices, songs and Web

documents created by experts and by teachers and students, digital

textbooks allow students to enjoy a custom-made learning

experience, Kim said. Kids who fall behind in a regular curriculum

can start from levels they feel comfortable with.

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Young North Korean defectors struggling to adapt to South Korea

could also benefit from having tablet PCs. More than 21,000 North

Koreans, including children, have come to South Korea since the two

countries’ 1950-53 war. Many choose to study in special schools to

catch up before they attend regular ones.

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Those who study digital technology and education have been

generally positive about introducing digital textbooks, but there

have also been warnings that Internet addiction may deepen among

South Korea’s teenagers.

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The number of students addicted to the Internet amounted to

782,000, or 12 percent of the total student population, the

Ministry of Public Administration and Security said last year. The

government, worried by the problem, plans to increase the number of

counselors dealing with Internet addiction to 5,500 next

year.

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“What is essential in digital learning is to promote as much

interaction between teachers and students as possible, rather than

just leaving the students to themselves,” said Kwon Jung-eun, a

senior researcher at the state-run National Information Society

Agency.

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