hankyoreh

In the second half of the year, the South Korean government will be launching massive open online courses, making lectures by well-known scholars available online, free of charge, to everyone.

On Feb. 3, the Ministry of Education decided that it would put a few dozen lectures online later this year on a trial basis and increase the number to more than 500 by 2018.

These massive open online courses (MOOC) - courses available online that have no limits on enrollment and are open to everyone - include functionality for questions and debates. This sets the courses apart from the around 9,600 lectures that 183 universities in South Korea have made available so far, which take the format of non-interactive videos.

Coursera, which was launched by professors at Stanford University in Apr. 2012, features 839 lectures (including three by KAIST, a South Korean university), which are being used by 10 million people.

The Ministry is also considering whether to eventually provide academic credits and diplomas after assessing the credibility of the course.

By Lee Soo-bum, staff reporter

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