The future of non ‘social distance' education in the post-COVID-19 era 2020-06-10

 

We thought the car would fly in 2020. We didn't know that it would be a difficult time for all people like making coffee whipping 4,000 times and cannot go out without a mask. However, as always, companies quickly found the answer and pioneered a new genre called 'untact.'

The car lamp blinking becomes a clap, and headlights mean cheers. It is a scene of a drive-in concert held by an automobile company. The most important new car launch event, the most important event of the year, was also quickly replaced by a drive-through way. The e-commerce and fashion industry is creating a new shopping culture with 'live Commerce' which enables two-way communication through mobile. 

Smilegate goes a step further and applies the 'untact' method to in-house employee education and youth creative education. It is the result of trying to develop the program by recognizing the importance of online even before the COVID-19. Now we introduce Smilegate's unique 'untact' training that adds the strength of online while maintaining the advantages of offline.

  

| In-house training with increased immersion through dedicated training kits and facilitators

<Employees attending Smilegate online employee training>

Smilegate's HRD department started developing online employee training courses since March. Considering employees' safety as a top priority, they have developed a program suitable for a variety of education targets such as new entrants, promotions, and positions. They have transformed the offline training in the form of group and camp, which had been held in a single space, into online training using the group interactive video program (ZOOM).

What is eye-catching is the dedicated training kits and facilitators designed to increase the immersion of online education. The kit, which is pre-delivered to employees participating in education, includes textbooks, whiteboards and OX panels necessary for learning, as well as snacks and massage tools to prevent drowsiness. They also added fun elements, such as LED selfie lights, that make the trainee look handsome/pretty.

<Components of education kit provided by Smilegate's HRD team>

Facilitators (persons in charge of mediation and coordination during the execution of training programs) were assigned to each team to facilitate group discussion sessions, etc., online. Smilegate employees who participated in the training said, "Thank you for the company's efforts to support timely training in a safe environment."

Smilegate's online employee training course will be a positive precedent for the company's in-house training. It was applied not only to provide knowledge and information but also to leadership training and group's value internalization training course, which is relatively difficult to online.

| Future Lab's online creative workshop that goes beyond space and time limitations

Smilegate's Creative Environment Research Center, Smilegate Future Lab (FutureLab) has provided a leading alternative to the educational field through an online creative workshop based on 'micro:bit', an innovative coding tool. 

* Micro:bit is a tool developed by Micro:bit Education Foundation operated by BBC. It is a tool that has LEDs, sensors, and wireless communication functions on a small board that can implement a coding program. 

Future Lab has been conducting offline workshops for many years, researching the emergence of youth creativity with world-renowned scholars and prominent artists. This online creative workshop education is the result of the integration of Future Lab's know-how. It is a product of long-term efforts to provide creative education to more young people beyond time and space limitations.

<Smilegate Future Lab's online creative workshop training 'do your bit> 

The online creative workshop presented by Future Lab has a more considerable significance in that it broadened the horizon of online education. It is expected to provide a broader range of opportunities beyond the limitations of space, time, and cost to young people in the blind spot of creative education, which has a relatively high barrier to enter compared to existing subjects.

In the COVID-19 era, “social distance” continues, but education should have no distance, no restrictions, no stops. The new education paradigm introduced by Smilegate is breaking the existing stereotypes and expanding the range of opportunities for online education. The era of untact has already begun, Smilegate is planning further to strengthen the non-face-to-face online field in the future.