KAIST PhD and Minhwa Artist Lead Songpa SSEM Online Classes

Meeting Students with Over 40 Online Videos... Activity Workbook Kits Also Provided

Folk Painting Class

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Songpa-gu (Mayor Park Seong-su) is providing the ‘Songpa SSEM Visiting Character Books’ as online videos to schools, actively supporting public education amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The district is promoting the ‘Songpa Character Library’ project under the concept of ‘borrowing experts’ knowledge and experience just like borrowing books from a library.’ Currently, 60 experts from various fields and 360 local talents are participating as character books.

Originally planned as an in-person visiting character book program at schools, the district has converted it to an online format in response to the COVID-19 situation. Participants include a KAIST IT PhD, a dentist, a traditional Korean folk painting (minhwa) master artist, and a calligraphy specialist designer, offering diverse lectures such as future IT career prospects, Havruta creative thinking classes, food miniatures, minhwa painting, and Zentangle lessons.

In particular, to overcome the limitations of online classes, the district produces and supplies self-activity kits to schools. Through this, they plan to present an online class model where students actively participate rather than just watch.

In the first session held in July, about 12,000 students are expected to meet the Songpa Character Books online. The district reported strong responses from schools, with 20,000 students applying within just three days of recruitment.

Mayor Park Seong-su stated, “In the situation where normal in-person classes are difficult due to COVID-19, the various programs of ‘Songpa SSEM’ are greatly helping schools. We will continue to actively utilize ‘Songpa SSEM’ to flexibly respond to the changing educational environment and support students not only in their studies but also in exploring their career paths and aptitudes.”