A Wave of 'Self-Directed Learning' Sweeps the Education Industry

Edutech company I-Scream Edu held a session on the 25th of last month at Choi In-A Bookstore in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, to introduce 'I-Scream Home Run 2.0' and share their educational philosophy.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] Recently, there has been an increase in cases where the education industry is launching new content related to ‘self-directed learning.’ Education companies are accelerating their market strategies by continuously introducing content that provides personalized lessons using big data collected through edutech or helps cultivate study habits.

Self-directed learning is a process in which children themselves identify study methods that suit them well, understand their study level, strengths, and weaknesses, and work to improve these areas. Academia emphasizes that three elements?motivation regulation, cognitive regulation, and behavioral regulation?must be in place for effective self-directed learning. Motivation regulation involves clearly setting dreams or career goals to provide motivation for studying. Cognitive regulation refers to finding the study method optimized for oneself. Behavioral regulation means forming study habits that match one’s study stamina.

Visang Education’s smart learning system ‘OnlyOne,’ launched the day before, was developed after about four years of research on ‘metacognition,’ which is essential for cognitive regulation. Metacognition is a mental process of observing, discovering, and controlling one’s cognitive processes from a higher perspective?in simple terms, self-objectification. Kim Taejin, CEO of Visang Education Learning Company, explained, "OnlyOne is the first case to structurally combine content, services, and learning coaching organically based on metacognition," adding, "OnlyOne will become the new standard for smart learning."

The metacognitive learning process of OnlyOne is divided into three stages. First, learners reflect on what they know and do not know. Based on this, they selectively study only the unknown content. Finally, they understand the studied content through the previous steps. During this process, AI-based immersive interaction content, voice visualization technology, and animation content are provided. Visang Education integrated existing elementary and middle school learning brands such as ‘WiseCamp’ and ‘Subakssi.com’ while introducing OnlyOne.

Kim Tae-jin, CEO of Visang Education Learning Company, is explaining the smart learning system 'OnlyOne'.

Icecream Edu’s ‘Icecream HomeRun 2.0,’ launched last month, focused on behavioral regulation, one of the three elements of self-directed learning. The reason Icecream Edu set the slogan to ‘A Habit of Loving to Study’ when revamping HomeRun is for this reason. Icecream Edu conducted focused research on five aspects to instill study habits and autonomy: learning environment, motivation and rewards, AI technology, curricular and extracurricular subjects, and encouragement and support for children’s learning.

The representative AI technology of HomeRun is a competency measurement model based on knowledge tracing technology. It diagnoses each learner’s concepts and understanding and provides customized questions and learning prescriptions accordingly. By analyzing 16 million learning big data entries daily, it offers one-on-one personalized learning content. Lee Yoonseok, CEO of Icecream Edu, stated, "HomeRun 2.0 will foster children’s voluntary study habits and ultimately serve as a foundation for them to grow into talents who truly excel in lifelong learning," adding, "We will continue to develop services that can provide answers to the essence of education through vast digital content and advanced technology."

Genius Education’s subsidiary, Genius Textbook, also announced last month that it will operate ‘Subject-specific School Study’ through its elementary online lecture ‘MilkT Elementary.’ The study program was developed to promote the formation of self-directed learning habits by allowing students to set their own study plans and goals.

Kyowon Group recently introduced an AI-integrated hyper-personalized learning service through its educational service Kumon Learning. The service provides curricula optimized for children’s study levels and tendencies, aiming to cultivate the ability to learn independently.

The reason the education industry is putting self-directed learning at the forefront is due to the industrial trend combining IT and education and the popularization of edutech following non-face-to-face classes caused by COVID-19. Through big data secured by edutech over several years, it has become possible to systematically analyze and manage what learners are good or bad at and which fields they are interested in. The government is also driving the project to build the ‘K-Edu Integrated Platform,’ which integrates public and private remote education content and learning management systems, so the related industry is expected to expand further. An edutech industry official emphasized, "As the edutech industry steadily grows, it has now reached a level where personalized content can be provided not by specific age groups or academic levels but individually," adding, "This has made it easier to develop children’s self-directed learning abilities."