On October 27 and November 10, the School of Transdisciplinary Studies (STS) held its first department presentations for freshmen through Zoom. Professor Jaeseung Jeong from the Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, the head of the newly established department, led the session.
In response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution and in time for KAIST’s 50th anniversary, the STS has been “reborn”. When the original transdisciplinary department was founded last year under the leadership of Professor Jong Duk Kim, it proved unpopular among freshmen, attracting zero incoming students. Subsequently, notable changes to improve the department were carried out, including providing more flexibility in choosing courses by decreasing the number of required major courses to only the “Making” and “Reading 100 Books” courses, and the use of a qualitative grading system through S/U grades and letters of recommendation.
STS plans to utilize the Project Based Learning approach to focus on developing the research capabilities of students, rather than their ability to earn good grades. Specifically, students will pinpoint a real-world problem of interest and devise a solution for it by integrating knowledge from the appropriate subject fields. To complete these projects, students are required to take a “Making” class each year, during which they create a new software, device, product, or simulation, among other options, either individually or in a group. The other mandatory credits for graduation come from reading 100 books from a variety of disciplines — 70% of which are decided by the department while the remaining 30% can be of the student’s choosing. Students must then demonstrate thorough understanding of each topic through project outputs, such as written reports of about 50 wongoji pages (papers with square grids used for the writing portion of the TOPIK exam) or a 2-hour-long Youtube video for each book.
In the STS program, students design their own personalized curriculum consisting of courses from any other department and receive S/U grades instead of standard letter grades, allowing students to take courses that they are interested in without feeling pressured about grades. Each student is offered one-to-one personalized mentoring in terms of academics, career plans, and research. The mentor professors are all involved in convergence research and come from a variety of departments. Opportunities for exchange programs and internships abroad will also be provided during winter and summer breaks.
In response to some students’ concerns regarding the lack of letter grades and GPA when applying for jobs and graduate school, Professor Jeong assured them that students will graduate with a qualitative evaluation through a final portfolio. This will consist of their research outputs, book reviews, as well as recommendations from their mentor professors. Although students will receive letter grades in all of their courses, their transcript will display only the S/U grade for each class taken. Their major will be listed as a set of individualized keywords that the student specifies to describe their academic focus during their undergraduate years.
In an interview on Christian Broadcasting System (CBS), Professor Jeong advocated for a change in Korea’s current education system. Up to now, he claimed, students have been ranked by their test scores from elementary school well into college. In the future, however, AI will be at the top of this ranking due to its ability to memorize and regurgitate information. He asserts that instead of competing with AI, we — as humans — should focus on learning how to utilize and manipulate it and other technologies.
“We are planning to provide customized education for each student, and we hope that a small number of self-motivated students who want to be irreplaceable talents will join us,” said Professor Jeong during an interview with The KAIST Herald. With its first batch of students entering March 2021, the department is open to current freshmen (including international students) as well as upperclassmen as a major, advanced major, double major, or minor. The STS program welcomes international students and will offer classes in both Korean and English.