Hyo Kim, Director at Naver Cloud, gives opening remarks at NWEC 24 | Image by Naver
Naver Cloud (CEO Yuwon Kim) held its third NAVER Whale Education Conference, ‘NWEC 24,’ on October 26. The conference unveiled Whale’s latest edu-tech solutions based on its web technology advancements. This year’s theme, “Assessment as a Learning Process,” attracted 350 attendees, including officials from education offices, edu-tech partners, and teachers across Korea.
The main highlight was the debut of Whale UBT (Ubiquitous-based Test), a tailored public education assessment platform that integrates question provision, evaluation, and management. In addition, Whale OS FLEX was introduced, enabling users to access Whale’s educational platform on non-WhaleBook PCs, thus creating a unified assessment and management system for academic settings.
Since 2020, Whale has supported a “test mode” browser specifically designed for assessments, providing stability in digital education environments. Now embedded in the Whale Space EduTech platform, the Whale browser has been widely utilized in Korean educational institutions and major exams, including the Korean Language Proficiency Test (TOPIK) and Korea’s legislative examination.
Designed for the Korean public education system, Whale UBT offers comprehensive assessment management, essay and discussion-based evaluation, reliable, high-quality questions, standardized metadata, and question authoring features. Scheduled for official release in March 2024, Whale UBT will expand its range of questions through collaborations with various publishers.
Additionally, Whale OS FLEX provides an option for low-spec PCs to install Whale OS, bringing the features of WhaleBook to any classroom device with a simple USB setup. Demonstrations and consultations on Whale UBT and Whale OS FLEX were available, alongside booths from edu-tech firms like Lesson, Readingn, Chunjae Education, Quizn, Tuning, Solbook, Bubblecon, and Fulis School.
A guest speaker, Professor Gyumin Lee of Yonsei University, commented, “Meeting directly with educators and industry professionals was invaluable. Education will increasingly embrace personalized learning, and I hope Naver will continue to play a pivotal role in this evolution.”
Hyo Kim, Director of Naver Cloud, stated, “Unlike last year’s focus on digital education direction, ‘NWEC 24’ centered on assessment, a crucial area in education. This platform allowed us to showcase Whale UBT, the unique public education assessment service, Whale OS’s latest updates, and NWEE research outcomes. Whale remains committed to creating an accessible education platform that aligns with the needs of all stakeholders.”
Pangyo Techno Valley is a global integrated R&D hub focused on IT, BT, CT, and NT, integrating Research (R), People (P), Information (I), and Trade (T). As Gyeonggi-do’s representative innovation cluster, Pangyo Techno Valley was established to secure national new growth drivers such as technological innovation, human resource development, job creation, and enhancing international business competitiveness. As of 2023, 1,666 companies employ 78,751 people, and it has positioned itself as the most innovative hub in South Korea, with sales amounting to 167.7 trillion KRW (125.5 billion USD).
Furthermore, the Techno Valley Innovation Division of the Gyeonggi-do Business & Science Accelerator (GBSA) holds monthly events such as the Pangyo Evening Meet-Up, Pan-Pan Day, and the Pangyo Startup Investment Exchange “In-Best Pangyo” to maximize the value of Pangyo Techno Valley. They also support the Pangyo Overseas Promotion Program to publicize information about Pangyo’s companies, products, and services to domestic and foreign investors and the media, thereby facilitating foreign investment.
