E-LEARNING MARKET TAKING SHAPE

As cyber universities made a successful debut, local or global on-line campuses are exploring e-learning market in Korea.

Chris Choi, head of e-learning service provider Unext Korea explained how e-learning has evolved in line with Internet techn

As cyber universities made a successful debut, local or global on-line campuses are exploring e-learning market in Korea.

Chris Choi, head of e-learning service provider Unext Korea explained how e-learning has evolved in line with Internet technology in an interview with The Korea Times.

“There is a similarity between the birth of the film industry and e- learning,” he said.

“When video cameras first came out, people started by just filming a play without properly utilizing the equipment, but the technology became more advanced and people started experimenting with cutting, zooming in and out, and trying different camera angles,“ he added.

He said that Internet technology, much more sophisticated than the video camera, has advanced and e-learning providers such as Unext are utilizing the Internet as a learning tool in many different ways.

Unext, a U.S. based e-learning service provider, delivers business education and advanced training for individuals and corporate clients via the Internet. It has run the online Cardean University since 1999 by forming a consortium with premier institutions such as Columbia Business School, Stanford University, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University and London School of Economics and Political Science.

Cardean University has developed an online curriculum, including MBA programs in collaboration with the consortium and has its own faculty pool.

Unext Korea was launched through a joint venture with Educ Asia Networks late last year. Educ Asia is an e-learning startup set up last year by Korean American entrepreneurs Chris Choi, now Unext Korea’s chief executive, and his elder brother Steve, who is the firm’s marketing manager.

"Thanks to a robust IT infrastructure and Koreans’ unquenched desire for education, Unext chose the Korean market as its first inroad in the Asia Pacific region. Unext Korea focuses on corporate clients and it has attracted over 10 such local clients since its launch, " Chris said.

He added that General Motors signed a four year contract with Unext to educate 88,000 executives and employers, indicating that the adoption of e- learning is growing faster than expected. E-learning will become a cost effective educational tool in the next two years for companies to upgrade the skills and knowledge of their employees.

In the local market, Cheiljedang contracted Unext Korea to conduct a 6- week course for employees in the marketing department earlier this year.

Lee Wook-jae, who works in the firm’s marketing division and completed a course at Cardean University said in a phone interview, "Flexibility is the top benefit of e-learning. Case studies were helpful as well since they involve real business situations, especially for entry level marketers. He also added that feedback from the online faculty was faster than expected.

However, he pointed out that e-learning lacks the interactivity of a face- to-face education.

Despite this lack, Chris claims the interactivity between students taking courses outside of Korea is another benefit e-learning provides. He said, "Recently we had a class on management with students from five countries, Russia , Japan, South Africa, Vietnam and the U.S."

Since the e-learning business hasn’t fully matured yet, it will take some time until people are more comfortable with it and some other technologies are standardized, the Unext Korea head added.

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