So, I think that while people have been making their opinions about what online education is [and] what it could be, we probably need to understand what it should be. And that’s what the class is going to be about. I want to make people aware [that online education is] something that is very important and is going to have a profound impact on the future. But I [first] want to take [the] experience they’ve [already] had and bring light to it. What does it [really] mean, and how is it like online education? Because it is in some ways. But how is it different? And that’s the key.

The second thing is, I think that many [of the] students at KAIST will be in a teaching capacity somewhere, someday. Maybe as a faculty member in a university, maybe otherwise. I just think it’s a reality that educational technology and online learning settings [are] going to be a part of your career. But currently, I don’t see any classes or instruction to help [students] have a deeper understanding about [online education and] some of the theories behind this type of teaching, to be able to plan for it [themselves], whether as a student or as an instructor, or even just to talk about it if [they’re] in a job interview. 

Then, of course, personally it’s been an area of research interest for me for a long time, and I think it is something I would love to have a chance to talk to others about.

Who is this class aimed at and what will students learn?

This class is [an elective course] for undergraduate students. It’s a Pass/Fail class. I want to aim it particularly at students who are thinking long-term about their career in science and technology and wanting to plan ahead and think, “Hey, this is something that could be part of my job in the future, but also part of my life.” [I also want to aim it at] people who are just interested in this topic generally, even as a student. I think [this course] is great for a student who wants to take an elective course that can be a lot of fun and can be interesting, but on a topic that has a strong connection to their future employment goals. 

We’re going to talk about some key issues like, to what extent online education is a positive development. And then we’ll also have a whole unit on distrusting educational technology, so we’ll try to examine both sides of that. I’m also going to try to demonstrate some different types of learning environments including metaverses [and] gamification. We’ll learn about some of the most important theories and concepts driving the field right now, so we’ll get a position on what the greatest ideas related to online technology and online learning are at the moment. We’ll also talk about contexts in which online education can be more useful than others, [and] contexts in which it may not work — we’ll take a look at, for example, different fields in science and engineering and think about their suitability for online learning. And this may help inform some opinions about what we think KAIST should do going forward. 

Do you think online education and the content taught in this course would be relevant even after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic?

I think it definitely will. I mean, it already was to some large degree; it was a growing aspect of education. But I think that’s a really good question that I want students to think about together in this class, because one of the things we’ll be looking into is what should the educational landscape look like after [the pandemic]. But I think that’s a very nuanced question and [as I’ve previously mentioned], there’s a lot that goes into that. So that’s a question that I think we need to explore together.

How do you think KAIST has done so far with teaching and learning online?

I think KAIST has done pretty well. To answer the question, we have to be very aware of the whole situation. I think all universities had a hard time in the 2020 Spring semester when professors were more or less given two weeks to fully migrate courses online. That’s extremely difficult and no one’s at fault for it; it was just the nature of what we did. 

Recently, I [did] some research on student satisfaction and KAIST has actually fared fairly well in terms of student satisfaction on online learning. I think a big part of that goes beyond the faculty and what they did — I think it’s maybe even more important what the students were able to do. I think KAIST students are very tech-savvy; they’re also very flexible learners, and they’re very self-motivated in most cases. So KAIST is a good example because the students had the skills to make it work, and I think the success we’ve had at KAIST with this in no small part should be credited to the students; that made it easier to be here. And of course, there were a lot of teachers at KAIST who had never used KLMS, Zoom, [or] anything like that. It was a Herculean effort. When we say success, it doesn’t necessarily mean success compared to what we had before. That’s asking [for] a lot. But we’re still here. 

But in saying that, too, I still don’t think [students have] experienced online learning yet. Because a real online learning course would have been, [for example], a project made up of an instructor, material designers, visual and audio media people, educational technologists — it would have been [a] huge collaborative effort that would have been produced and refined over a year or two. [What we did] was more like, okay, here’s an offline course, how do we put all of this online right now? In its current format? In two weeks? That’s one of the reasons I’m making this course. I want everybody to be clear on [this]. I want them to understand that this pandemic has given people a first chance to understand online learning, [but] at the same time, it’s a mistake to think you’ve experienced it yet.

You’ve been at KAIST for a long time — are you planning on continuing to teach here?

Well, I have no plans to leave now. I love to be here, I love this place and the students. And really, this [new course is] a way that I’m hoping to do my part to close a gap I see in [our] education system. In a lot of universities around the world, when you go for a graduate degree, you get an education certification. You actually have to take a certain number of education courses. That makes a lot of sense if you think about the fact that some large portion of your job could be to teach. And by the way, even if you’re not a professor, that could be the case. Even if you’re a researcher in, say, a government institute, there’s a lot of teaching that goes on in seminars and conferences and other outreach, talking to members of a board for a grant; so much of what we do is disseminating information. So yes, I love KAIST and this is something I want to add to the KAIST community.

To end on a lighter note, what’s one thing you’re looking forward to most next semester?

I really look forward to the cherry blossoms; I like to see the campus during that time. It’s fantastic. The weather’s great. I like to ride my bicycle and I commute to work by bicycle every day, and that ride is fantastic during that season. So, for me, that would be it, other than this class — I’m super looking forward to [it].

Anything else you would like to say to our readers?

I hope to see you next semester in [HSS195] — we still have some spots available. I think it will be a lot of fun, and I think it will be a good chance for us to approach a very fun [but useful] topic together.