By Kim Tae-gyu
While buying a subway ticket in Boston, a Korean elementary school student asks an agent what direction she should take. Following the instruction, the student takes the train at the platform.
The early teen checks a tour guide on the move to learn when she has to get off. She leaves at the right stop near the hotel where she is supposed to stay. Applause from the audience is heard.
This does not take place in the United States but in a class at a primary school in Daejeon, about 100 kilometers south of Seoul. The latest technology creates the above-mentioned virtual reality.
``Virtual reality is a real-time interactive program designed to teach English more efficiently at schools,’’ said Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) official Lee Jun-seok who developed it over the past few years.
``The pilot run started midway through last year in an elementary school situated in Daejeon and 13 more schools have embraced it in the city up until now since it helps students easily practice English.’’
The application is based on a two-way communication and every movement of the student is featured on the screen. For example, when he or she touches a door, it opens.
It is not a full three-dimensional (3D) solution wherein participants are able to feel the environment with the help of specially-designed goggles as if they are in the real world.
The state-backed ETRI, which is famous for its pivotal role in commercializing code-division multiple access (CDMA) for handsets here, is jockeying to develop full 3D technology within a few years to come.
``Last month, we asked for support from state funds and the decision will be made this year. Should we garner enough financial backup, we will be able to come up with English study programs based on a full 3D system in the not-so-distant future,’’ Lee said.
``The test run would start late 2012 before the products go on the market in a full-fledged manner in 2013 or 2014.’’
The ETRI said that the full 3D applications will help Korean students in remote rural areas or islands study English as easily as those in large cities full of native-speaking tutors.
It adds that the technology has other upside potential for educational purposes.
``Kids would be able to interact with tigers or dragons while reading fairy tales. A prototype is already available at the National Library for Children and Young Adults in southern Seoul,’’ Lee said.
``In tandem with the development of associated technologies, an increasing number of schools and libraries would employ such 3D experience-based material down the road.’’