South Korean education officials have plans to digitize all textbooks used in the classroom in an effort to increase access to educational material.
Local daily newspaper The Chosun Ilbo reports that the country’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced Wednesday that it will invest approximately $2.2 billion (W2.2 trillion) through 2015 to “create an environment where students can study using better and more interactive content anytime and anywhere.”
The plan is to deploy tablet computers in the classroom — they’ll be free for low-income families — from which students can access educational materials using the school’s Wi-Fi network and a “massive server” to be installed somewhere in the country.
Officials say individual schools will decide which textbooks get the digital treatment first, and the first phase is expected to balance physical and digital editions. Nevertheless, the expectation is that students will gravitate toward the technology, enabling things like online classes for students who seek to catch up after missing a physical one due to illness.
[via Singularity Hub]
