The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education announced that the ‘Seoul Online School’ will officially open on March 1, 2025. Under the vision of ‘A School Without Borders, Embracing the World,’ the Seoul Online School is a public all-purpose school that does not enroll specific students but accepts course applications from regular schools to run real-time, two-way remote classes.
Since 2023, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has been actively promoting the establishment of the Seoul Online School. To this end, preparations have been completed, including curriculum design, survey and determination of demand for course openings, construction of a course registration system, development of specialized curriculums, teacher recruitment and selection, amendment of school installation ordinances, and facility remodeling.
In the first semester of the 2025 academic year, the Seoul Online School plans to temporarily operate 13 online classrooms in the annex of the former Deoksu High School. After the completion of the remodeling of the main building (a total of four floors), it will expand into a formal educational facility with 32 online classrooms.
Design competition winning image for the Seoul Online School
The curriculum of the Seoul Online School is divided into ‘order-made curriculums during working hours,’ which operates by receiving regular class applications from general high schools, and ‘open curriculums outside working hours,’ where students can apply directly.
In the order-made curriculum for the first semester of the 2025 academic year, 48 courses applied for by 22 high schools in Seoul will be provided through real-time, two-way remote classes. In particular, lectures will focus on subjects difficult to establish in unit schools, such as Basic Artificial Intelligence, General Intellectual Property, AI Mathematics, and Chinese I and II.
Furthermore, in the open curriculum, 13 unique courses will be offered based on students’ career paths and aptitudes for after-school and weekend learning. These include differentiated lectures such as the Seoul Project, Sports and International Society, Generative AI and Maker Practice, and Reading the World with Data, as well as high-demand subjects such as Practical Economics and Education.
The teaching-learning method of the Seoul Online School is designed to allow digital-based innovative teaching methods like discussion and project classes and flip learning to maximize learning effects, based on real-time, two-way remote classes. The latest digital education systems are actively utilized to enhance the tailored learning experiences for students, thereby providing education customized to the learning levels and career paths of individual students, creating a more flexible learning environment.
The evaluation method also deviates from the conventional relative evaluation, applying assessment criteria of a joint education curriculum among schools. Students are evaluated on a 5-step or 3-step achievement scale per subject group, with certifications (P) of completion, without calculating relative ranking grades. This approach helps students select subjects they want freely, without the pressure of grades.
The Seoul Online School is preparing for stable class operations through close cooperation with the schools that applied for courses. Additionally, at the end of February, a meeting was held with the course development managers of the online school to discuss operation plans, and orientation was conducted for students who participated in the classes.
Jeong Geun-sik, the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, stated, “The Seoul Online School will contribute to the diversity of public education and expand students’ subject choice rights.” He added, “We will do our best to become a new model leading educational innovation, in line with the vision of ‘A School Without Borders, Embracing the World.’
It is expected that the Seoul Online School will establish itself as an innovative example of public education that provides tailored learning opportunities for students beyond existing physical limitations. The attention is on what achievements it will make in the educational field following its opening in 2025.