Sunchon National University Completes Establishment of 'Imagineer Education Environment' Based on Advanced Systems

4th Industrial Revolution Innovation Leading University Project Group Accelerates Talent Development in Smart Agriculture with Korea's First Connected Lab Integrating 5 Classrooms and Video Lecture Studio

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Hyung-kwon] Suncheon National University (President Ko Young-jin) announced the completion of the "IMAGINEER Education Environment Construction Project," part of the education environment innovation initiative in preparation for the COVID-19 era, and held a demonstration event attended by President Ko Young-jin and university officials the day before.

Suncheon National University was selected in May for the Ministry of Education's financial support project, the "4th Industrial Revolution Innovation Leading University Project," aimed at nurturing talent in new industries. Based on this, the "4th Industrial Revolution Innovation Leading University Project Group" (Director Professor Shin Chang-sun) established the advanced education system "IMAGINEER Education Environment" as a core project to cultivate talent in the field of "smart agriculture."

To actively respond to the demand for building new educational infrastructure due to future-oriented convergence education and COVID-19, the existing lecture-style courses were reorganized into online-offline linked courses. The IMAGINEER education environment (Connected Lab + IMAGINEER Studio), the first in Korea to operate three screens simultaneously (instructor and learner screens, electronic whiteboard), was created to enable integrated operation and education across five classrooms.

As a result, advanced facility infrastructure was established in Engineering Building 3 (majors in Information and Communication, Multimedia, Electrical Engineering), Life Sciences Building 1 (Departments of Animal Resources Science and Well-being Resources), Life Industry Science Building 2 (Departments of Biological Environment and Plant Medicine), and the Industry-Academia Cooperation Building. Each classroom was equipped as an IMAGINEER Studio and Connected Lab capable of real-time interactive video lectures.

Director Shin Chang-sun of Suncheon National University stated, "Even when large-scale group education is impossible due to COVID-19, using the Connected Lab allows dispersing students by classroom and conducting real-time education simultaneously. It enables team-teaching collaborative learning among professors from various departments for convergence education and supports industry-academia cooperation education where industry workers and students can participate together, achieving simultaneous development of diverse educational forms." He added, "We will strive to support the development of this as a 'regional open education facility' for customized education in advanced new industry fields so that Suncheon National University can become a true mecca for nurturing 'smart agriculture talent.'"

Meanwhile, the 4th Industrial Revolution Innovation Leading University Project Group at Suncheon National University aims to lead regional growth and smart agriculture innovation by nurturing imaginative creators (IMAGINEER) who collect and newly design future smart agriculture and ICT information through the operation of a 4C-based core competency education model.