[Seoul District News] Songpa-gu Combines In-Person and Online Informatization Education Amid COVID-19
From Basic Computer Skills to Smartphone Use and Certification Support... Gwanak-gu Lifelong Learning Center Recruiting Students for 3rd Semester Cultural Courses... Mapo-gu Runs ‘Mapo Open Humanities’ Throughout June
[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Songpa-gu will conduct the ‘Resident Informatization Education,’ which had been held online, as face-to-face classes for the first time in two years to prevent COVID-19.
The education will start in June, and students will be recruited from May 25.
The district has been conducting the ‘Resident Informatization Education’ annually to meet the diverse demands of residents for acquiring information and communication technology skills. However, due to restrictions on face-to-face education after the outbreak of COVID-19, the education was operated online for the past two years.
As a result, the elderly and information-vulnerable groups were excluded from the education, so the district will conduct face-to-face education from June, running it in parallel with online education.
The curriculum will be operated reflecting the latest IT trends and residents’ demands so that information-vulnerable and marginalized groups can more easily utilize related technologies and information. It will cover ▲basic computer skills ▲office and multimedia ▲smartphone usage ▲and related certification courses.
In particular, to prevent IT information damage among residents, the district will offer special lectures on ▲messenger phishing prevention ▲voice phishing prevention ▲credit card security ▲internet copyright protection, along with special lectures on public service usage such as ▲how to use Zero Pay ▲road name address usage ▲how to use Bojogeum24 ▲Seoul Citizen Card app usage ▲and Seoul Safety app usage.
Education hours are 20 hours per month with two sessions per week per course. There is also a Friday special lecture course with 9 hours per month once a week.
Any Songpa-gu resident can apply, and applications can be made around the 25th of each month through the ‘Songpa Saem’ website or by phone at the Informatization Education Help Desk.
A district official said, “With rapid changes in the use of information and communication technology in daily life due to COVID-19, we are promptly strengthening related education to help residents’ convenience,” adding, “We will continue to implement various projects to bridge the information gap and improve the quality of life for residents in line with changing times.”
Gwanak-gu is recruiting students for the third semester of educational and cultural courses at the Gwanak-gu Lifelong Learning Center, which will operate from July.
The Gwanak-gu Lifelong Learning Center program, where residents of all ages enjoy knowledge and culture, offers programs for a wide range of groups, from 5-year-old children with their mothers to housewives, students, office workers, and seniors.
It is popular because it offers a variety of high-quality programs for all age groups at affordable costs, ranging from adult programs such as certification acquisition classes for job skill improvement, computer, foreign languages, and cultural arts, to after-school programs for infants and children.
Following the lifting of mandatory social distancing measures, the educational and cultural courses, which had been operated both online and offline due to COVID-19, will return to normal face-to-face classes from the third semester.
The application period starts on June 8 with applications from socially vulnerable residents living in Gwanak-gu, continuing until June 29. Applications can be submitted online after registering on the Gwanak-gu Office Education Portal (Course Information → Lifelong Learning → Course Application).
Seniors aged 65 and over, people with disabilities, and single-parent families can receive a 50% discount on tuition fees. Detailed program information is available on the Gwanak-gu Office website (Education → Notices → Announcements).
A district official said, “We provide continuous and systematic lifelong learning opportunities to meet the diverse learning needs of individuals,” adding, “We will do our best to create a leading educational Gwanak-gu where people learn together and grow together by offering more diverse lifelong learning opportunities.”
For detailed information on educational program operations and related matters, please contact the Gwanak-gu Lifelong Learning Center.
Mapo-gu will operate ‘Mapo Open Humanities,’ a series of lectures on everyday humanities topics, throughout June.
The district planned this program to provide residents with easy access to humanities and to help them set life coordinates in the new environment following the with-COVID-19 era.
‘Mapo Open Humanities’ will be held at the Mapo-gu Lifelong Learning Center every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday in June from 2 PM to 4 PM as face-to-face lectures lasting two hours each.
Lectures by experts in each field will cover three topics easily encountered in daily life: food culture history, psychoanalysis, and photo analysis. Each topic will be presented on a specific day of the week, with each lecture held four times.
On Tuesdays, ‘Ko Young,’ a classical scholar and food culture researcher, will lecture on food culture history using various materials related to Korean food culture.
On Wednesdays, Park Young-jin, director of the Lacan Psychoanalysis Clinic and psychoanalyst, will lecture on depression and other social issues that have become prominent due to COVID-19, and will also discuss emotions such as love.
On Fridays, Park Ji-su, editor-in-chief of Vostok Magazine, will give lectures on photo analysis. The lectures will include presenting arbitrarily created sentences, examining related photos and scenes from movies, and reading related books together.
The district will recruit students on a first-come, first-served basis until June 1, with a capacity of 20 people per lecture.
Applications can be made online through the Mapo-gu Lifelong Learning Portal or by phone at the Mapo-gu Office Lifelong Learning Center. The tuition fee is 5,000 KRW.
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