World Bank Group Online Development Learning Space is Launched in Korea
The Open Learning Campus Builds on Korea’s Experience in Development Learning
SEOUL, JUNE 24, 2016 – Today, World Bank Group (WBG) Executive Director, Republic of Korea, Heenam Choi launched the Open Learning Campus (OLC) in Korea, to reimagine learning for WBG staff and development practitioners around the world. For the first time, a vast amount of development learning is available in one easy to use space, in a variety of formats such as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), e-Courses, bite-size talks, peer learning forums, and webinars. Today’s Korea event builds on the OLC Global Launch by WBG President Jim Yong Kim in January 2016.
“Learning is key to solving development challenges, and to meeting the World Bank’s twin goals of ending poverty and building shared prosperity. E-learning is an increasingly integral component to supporting these international development efforts,” said Heenam Choi, Executive Director, WBG.
The OLC is a destination for development learning that builds and connects the leadership and technical capabilities of all development stakeholders – partners, practitioners, policy makers, WBG staff, and the public. The OLC uses the newest learning design methodologies and digital tools to integrate innovations such as open courseware, games and mobile formatting to provide easily accessible quality learning in a resource-efficient manner. In the last five years, the WBG has produced and curated approximately 6,000 digital learning activities, reaching over 350,000 learners in 190 countries through the e-Institute/OLC, all covering a wide array of thematic areas. This is set to grow exponentially. Since its global launch in January, the OLC has been visited by more than one million learners, which continues to grow.
Partners help the OLC achieve scale and impact. Partner institutions recognize the demand for WBG courses and offer insights on how to customize content to better meet learners’ local needs and contexts and maximize development impact.
The OLC also benefits greatly from donor partners. In particular, the Government of Korea and Korean institutions have played a vital role in the development of the platform through their financial support and sharing of Korea’s own development experiences, which has enriched many courses. The Korea-LLI Global Program on Knowledge Sharing (KGKS), established in 2013 with an $18 million grant from the Republic of Korea, provides significant financial support for development and delivery of OLC courses.
The WBG and Korea have a 60 year history of collaboration on knowledge and learning partnerships. The WBG’s first external training offerings were to Korean government officials in the 1960s, when Korea was an aid recipient. In contrast, Korea’s remarkable transformation into the worlds’ 11th largest economy and an important aid donor will be featured in upcoming OLC MOOC on Korea’s development experience, which will be launched on October 6-November 2, 2016. The Korea MOOC has been developed in technical collaboration with the Korea Development Institute. The OLC also features a dedicated KDI partner page, showcasing KDI’s e-KSP learning modules on Korea’s development knowledge and experience.
“Korea’s unique economic development experience have been developed into e-learning contents and will reach hundreds of thousands of people living in developing and developed countries through World Bank’s Open Learning Campus (OLC) platform” said Joon-Kyung Kim, President, Korea Development Institute.
The OLC benefits from a wide range of valuable Korean partnerships. Korea’s National Information Society Agency (NIA) announced today that the OLC platform and content will be promoted and made available at NIA’s 46 Information Access Centers (IAC) in 43 developing countries worldwide. The IACs, overseen by Ministry of Science, ICT & Future Planning (MSIP) and executed by NIA, provide multi-functional information and communications technology facilities with better access and opportunity to use ICT for the general public in the partner countries, thus contributing to the improvement of the information based environment.
Byung-jo Seo, president of the National Information Society Agency (NIA) said “the recent trend in the development cooperation in the international community is about knowledge exchange that presents a more customized development model by assessing the current status of the developing country, which is different from the past focus on providing financial and technical assistance. The World Bank Group’s Open Learning Campus (OLC) is a very efficient medium for knowledge exchange as it facilitates development learning in various areas through an easy–to-access and effective online platform. NIA will provide a link to the World Bank Group’s OLC in its information access center (IAC) webpage to enable use of various learning offerings of the Bank.”
The OLC is also being leveraged for innovative blended learning in Korea, combining a series of practitioner-oriented e-Learning products delivered through the OLC, with Korea technical partners. Recent high value blended learning workshops were successfully delivered in Korea in partnership with the Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, and the Korea Environmental Industry & Technology Institute – including approximately 65 delegates from 20 countries.
In an increasingly interconnected world the OLC aims to be at the forefront of digital learning for the development community. The OLC Korea launch and KGKS Program represent a valuable continuation of the WBG-Korea partnership for the future.
