Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education (Superintendent Kang Eun-hee), which has continuously promoted innovation in public education by introducing the International Baccalaureate (IB) program into public education to awaken dormant classrooms and strengthen learner autonomy, announced on the 3rd that it will start another classroom revolution by introducing AI digital textbooks from March 2025.
On November 29th, the Ministry of Education announced the final results of the 2024 AI digital textbook certification review and the implementation plan (roadmap). The introduction of AI digital textbooks is not simply about replacing paper textbooks but is a national education project aimed at providing optimized learning opportunities tailored to each student's abilities and learning pace, and preparing for the digital transformation era through teaching and learning methods utilizing advanced technologies such as AI.
With the completion of the AI digital textbook certification and the confirmation of the future introduction roadmap, it is expected that the educational digital transformation project to change classrooms and schools can be actively promoted.
Leading the transition to digital education, Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education has been meticulously preparing to ensure the stable establishment of AI digital textbooks in school sites by fostering digital education leader teachers, strengthening AI digital textbook training based on the curriculum, expanding digital infrastructure, conducting comprehensive training for the educational community to build consensus, and preparing measures to prevent digital dysfunction.
To enhance the AI-based teaching and learning capabilities of elementary and secondary school teachers, Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education has operated digital leading schools and trained leading teachers to secure abundant teaching resources. In particular, leader teachers are key resources who organize training programs for general teachers and serve as main instructors. Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education held a permanent council with educational professionals and leader teachers to explore high-touch-centered lesson design using AIDT.
Although there are differences by subject, they developed 7-session and 15-session course plans that include understanding the AIDT prototype, concept-based inquiry learning, concept-based inquiry learning established through backward design, and application methods of AIDT in subject classes. Based on these developed courses, they operated pre-training sessions of one day (7 hours) on weekends, one night two days (15 hours), and two nights three days (25 hours), and held up to 10 workshops per subject to help teachers develop expertise in AI-based environments by designing training courses.
Teacher training is operated with an emphasis not simply on using AI digital textbook prototypes or edutech, but on curriculum and lesson design based on digital technology. Training is focused on elementary teachers and secondary school math, English, and information teachers for the grades and subjects where AI digital textbooks will be introduced in the 2025 academic year. Approximately 10,000 teachers are targeted for training, with over 90% already completed.
Math and English subject training is conducted as weekend courses from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with seven sessions per day. Considering the large scale of about 1,000 and 900 participants respectively, including temporary teachers, up to five sessions per subject are offered to guarantee teachers' choice. After training, reflection and evaluation are conducted for each course and incorporated into subsequent training to improve quality.
Information and computer subject training includes digital-based lesson design and coding practice using AI digital textbook prototypes, conducted as three intensive weekend sessions of one night two days (15 sessions). About 230 teachers, including temporary teachers, have completed the training.
Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education has opened and operated various courses in areas such as digital literacy emphasized in the 2022 revised curriculum, digital-based multicultural education, and digital-based education in IB schools. Especially, training linked to school curriculum design weeks is operated with autonomy in timing and methods.
In addition to teacher training, expert invitation workshops for school administrators, administrative staff, and parents are held to build consensus on the digital transformation, preparing public education for changes brought by the introduction of AI digital textbooks in various ways.
Digital tutors (47 personnel) have been provided to support classes at elementary, middle, and high schools that wish to participate, and a tech center has been established with tech managers assigned to enable emergency responses in case of network failures or other unexpected situations.
Efforts are also being accelerated to establish digital-based educational infrastructure. One device per student has been distributed from 3rd grade elementary to 2nd grade high school students (477 schools, 202,765 devices), and one wireless AP per classroom (22,736 units) has been installed in all schools. To ensure network stability, infrastructure inspections have been conducted for all schools, and an internal inspection team was formed to conduct on-site inspections at 126 schools. Additionally, network speed has been increased to 10G (251 schools) to stabilize simultaneous connections, completing preparations for devices and networks.
Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education is also implementing measures to prevent digital overdependence and access to harmful sites. At the education office level, harmful content blocking systems are used to block all schools uniformly, and smart devices are distributed with device management programs (MDM) installed to support school-level management.
Furthermore, through student education, harmful blocking apps such as Cyber Safe Zone and Smart Safe Dream are installed to prevent digital overdependence. Mandatory prevention education is conducted 10 times annually for all students, media overuse prevention camps (10 schools) are operated for schools with many overdependent students, and support projects for preventing digital dysfunction such as proper smartphone use, game addiction, and cybercrime prevention are being promoted by visiting schools.
Kang Eun-hee, Superintendent of Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education, stated, “Daegu Metropolitan Office of Education plans to expand the teaching and learning dedicated network, a commercial network, to increase speeds up to 10 Gbps per school to strengthen digital education infrastructure such as AI digital textbooks, and all related preliminary inspections have been completed. We are expanding training to enhance teachers’ digital capabilities and preparing thoroughly for the implementation in March next year after completing infrastructure construction.” She added, “Now is the time to unite efforts so that the education office and schools can fully prepare, rather than causing confusion by shaking the foundation of policies regarding the introduction of AI digital textbooks.”
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
