[Comprehensive] KT Consolidates Edutech Capabilities... Targeting Online Education Market with 'Crudy'

Communicating with Friends and Teachers for AI Personalized Education

Lee Young-ho, Master PM of KT Online Education Business P-TF, is introducing 'Crudy'.

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Su-yeon] KT has launched a customized education service based on artificial intelligence (AI) that allows students to study together with friends and teachers. By adding AI to a kind of online group tutoring service, it combines the advantages of online and offline education to target the growing demand for non-face-to-face education.

On the 18th, KT announced the launch of 'Crewdy,' a live education service for elementary school students. Crewdy combines 'crew,' meaning group, and 'study,' meaning learning, to provide a real-time online education service where teachers and students learn and participate together as a single group.

Lee Young-ho, Master PM of KT's Online Education Business P-TF, said, "Since the outbreak of COVID-19, there have been many changes across industries. The most significant feature is the widening education gap. Even if the gap is addressed through public education, the proportion of private education remains very high. While B2G education services were supported as a form of social contribution, we are launching a live participation online education platform in the B2C sector," he explained.

In response to the rapid increase in demand for non-face-to-face education after COVID-19, KT is accelerating its market penetration by providing differentiated services through 'Crewdy' based on its edutech capabilities. Existing elementary online classes typically involve learning content alone on a tablet device. Unlike offline classes, students cannot interact with teachers or peers, which may lead to decreased concentration. Using Crewdy, students can attend real-time classes and communicate with teachers and classmates, fostering critical thinking and self-directed learning skills.

Additionally, KT incorporates its ABC (AI, Big Data, Cloud) edutech capabilities to provide a more systematic learning environment than offline classes. The platform operates stably, and KT has developed its own selection and verification process to secure professional teachers, enhancing satisfaction for both parents and students.

Crewdy consists mainly of 'Monthly Classes,' which operate regularly based on an annual curriculum, and 'Kok Classes,' which are one-day short courses. Monthly Classes include reading discussion and essay writing classes previously conducted offline, and incorporate subscription magazines that students used to read passively into live tutor-led sessions to boost learning capabilities. Kok Classes offer creative convergence classes and special collaborative classes outside the regular curriculum.

Key features include ▲ real-time classes and preview/review ▲ AI learning monitoring ▲ AI-based matching and recommendations ▲ personalized feedback ▲ real-time corrections and quizzes/tests ▲ rewards (activity stickers) ▲ and real-time KakaoTalk notifications for parents.

Online education services using video conferencing platforms are already available in the market. Crewdy centralizes everything related to learning within its platform. It is a dedicated learning platform offering features such as a question bank quiz, textbook sharing, and AI-based attitude and speech analysis. Equipped with a dedicated backbone network and cloud-based infrastructure, it provides higher video quality than existing video conferencing platforms without interruptions.

Various AI-based functions help teachers manage classes by analyzing and providing data on students' concentration and participation. For example, teachers can encourage students who speak less during class to participate more or warn students who frequently leave their seats. The matching and recommendation feature uses personality type analyses such as MBTI and DISC to AI-match students and teachers with compatible traits. By collaborating with multiple education providers, KT increases the volume of customer data to offer more sophisticated AI services compared to existing online education platforms.

KT also enhances content quality. It partners with leading domestic education companies such as Daekyo, Cheonjae Education, Megastudy, and Jjaegak Aegio to provide verified content. Starting this month, creative and convergence classes focusing on reading and essay writing will be introduced. KT plans to diversify the curriculum to include regular subjects through partnerships with various education providers in the future.

Moreover, KT has an exclusive curriculum for 'non-face-to-face language training' in collaboration with 'Eoneo Baljeonso,' the only domestic operator of a video language rehabilitation platform. It plans to expand into content areas not previously attempted in the online education market, such as weekly magazines and standalone textbooks as new curricula.

The service is accessible via internet browsers without the need to install a separate app. It is easy to use, similar to online video streaming services (OTT) and internet shopping malls.

Park Jung-ho, Executive Director of KT Customer DX Business Group, said, "Online-based education has now become a new educational paradigm due to COVID-19, and it is time for a 'new standard' of online learning that is more advanced than before. With KT's AI-based edutech capabilities and cooperation with many professional education companies, we will take the lead in providing a customized education environment beyond the existing offline education setting," he stated.