(CJ OliveNetworks = March 25, 2021 [Thursday]) CJ OliveNetworks (CEO Cha In-hyok) announced on March 25 (Thursday) that its leading social contribution program “CJ SW Creative Camp” will hold remote AI and SW education for middle school students in Jeju Island.

The company will provide remote learning for 15 weeks starting this week until mid-July at three middle schools in Jeju Island, namely, Jeju Middle School, Aewol Middle School, and Jeocheong Middle School. This program shall be combined with the year-free-from-exams system.

Now in its sixth year, “CJ SW Creative Camp” is a talent-donating activity engaged by staff, enabling elementary and middle school students to experience SW coding for free. Staff members personally plan the programs, develop the curricula, and provide education as pro bono activities. About 3,000 students have participated in the program to date. 

What particularly distinguishes the current camp is its remotely held digital classes for middle school students in Jeju Island to solve the educational gap in the region, as well as its special AI classes. 

In particular, the camp developed new AI classes to promote the understanding of its basic principles and for students to learn AI’s diverse cases practically. Starting this year, AI classes have become a part of the regular curricula and are of high social interest.

Students will experience making chatbots using AI machine learning and learn how to check whether masks are worn using face recognition, among others, to see how AI can be applied in daily life. Special AI classes will also be administered for four weeks.

Afterward, classes aimed toward promoting the understanding of information communications technology (ICT) and coding education will be held for eight weeks, with the theme of smart city as an indispensable technology of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The camp plans to enhance the education’s effect by providing Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) education where the latest technologies, such as smart unmanned automobiles and smart stores, are applied.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the classes will be held digitally and remotely, and the latest training aids and systemic curricula will be provided. Students participating in the program may ask questions and get answers in real time during the classes from CJ UNIT lecturers, who are college student volunteers, through the screen.

“Systemic coding education using future technologies is foremost important to build the ability to think in a convergent way among the youth … Students will naturally learn how to think logically and creatively through CJ SW Creative Camp, equipped with a professional curriculum based on the latest IT technologies,” said Jeju Middle School Principal Kang Bong-seok. 

“As face-to-face education has become difficult because of the breakout of COVID-19 last year, CJ SW Creative Camp rapidly switched to remote digital education to enable many students to participate in AI and SW education despite the physical constraints posed by the pandemic … We will continue to upgrade the curriculum and apply diverse practical coding education programs and AI classes to expand education in regions with relatively less educational opportunities,” said CJ OliveNetworks CEO Cha In-hyok.

CJ OliveNetworks also plans to provide remote digital education for middle school girls in Gangwon-do Province in line with the “CJ-UNESCO girls’ education campaign” during the second half of the year to narrow the educational gap among different regions further. (The end.)