South Korea recently announced that it will curtail the use of printed printed paper textbooks by investing $2 trillion to develop digital textbooks for all subjects and all schools by 2015. The new digital textbooks will not only contain the contents of ordinary textbooks, but also utilize other reference resources such as multimedia in order to help children learn.
The government also wants to build a cloud computing system in all schools, so that pupils can access the library of digital textbooks at any moment from their tablets. Kids from low-income families will also receive free tablets so that they can take advantage of the Korea Education and Research Information Service.
According to a ministry official: “It will be up to schools to decide which digital textbooks to choose for students in what year in what subject. We don’t expect the shift to digital textbooks to be difficult as students today are very accustomed to the digital environment.” Online classes will also be encouraged so that students can catch up on any material that they miss. Any online lessons will count as attendance.
Geez, first schools allow calculators in math exams and now this? Let’s just hope kids won’t be able to access the internet during exams.
+ South Korea Ministry of Education, Science and Technology
Via The ChosunIlbo
Images by David Ortez and VFS Digital Design
3 Responses to “South Korea To Convert School Textbooks To Digital Versions By 2015”
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It’s about time! Books are a quaint reminder of old tech. But, I feel the need to point out that a lot of today’s paper is created from managed, renewable forests that serve this specific purpose. We aren’t cutting down jungles to print out-dated text books.
Good for the back. Should be done in the States. Why carry 40 pounds of books with you that you cant fit in increasingly tiny lockers. My school simply left the text books in the classrooms and only used them when assignments were given out only to be put away at the end of the day, thus our textbooks were largely used as reference if needed and in-class work. Since math books are typically the largest we were given packets with the relevant information, tables and charts and formulas inside.
Caeman is right, a majority of the virgin pulp used in paper production comes from tree farms. They do clear some forests in the tropics to make these plantations, but that should be encouraged because it takes the pressure off the existing forests. All of our wood, paper and pulp needs can be met using tree farms and only cover less than 10 percent of original forest cover globally. And the demand for wood & paper encourages the demand for trees to be grown to meet that demand. You want more trees, waste more paper, Seriously………..do it.