IT / EdTech
Future of Education: AI and Edtech Connect People
Dong-A Ilbo |
Updated 2026.01.28
The paradigm shift of the artificial intelligence (AI) era is taking concrete shape in classrooms. The Association of Teachers in Computing (ATC) held “LINK (Learning Festa for Insightful New Kids, hereinafter LINK),” Korea’s only future education festival, creating a venue where teachers and companies leading change in the education field jointly explored the direction of future education.
The 5th LINK took place from January 21 to 23 at COEX in Samseong-dong as a side event of the “2026 Korea Education Expo.” Under the theme “Future Education Connecting People: Encounter of AI and Edutech,” education demand-side participants (teachers, professional instructors) took the lead, serving as a bridge connecting content and companies. Participants directly experienced edutech products and services on-site and shared exemplary education cases with each other.
In particular, unlike last year, which was centered on conferences, this year’s event featured an integrated format bringing together hands-on experience, exhibitions, and seminars in one place. By providing all elements needed by teachers in a one-stop manner, the education field and business were naturally connected. An ATC representative said, “We sought to build a collaboration model in which teachers communicate real needs from the school field to ATC’s edutech corporate partners, and companies reflect these and concretize them into business models.”
The venue was largely divided into four zones. In the corporate zone, nine edutech companies—Edugen, Better Tomorrow Education Lab, ESTsoft, Classting, WITN, Red Point, RoboRisen, Marusis Edu, and Class4Edu—participated, along with a booth for the “Game Literacy in the Classroom” project jointly run by the Korea Creative Content Agency and ATC, showcasing each company’s products, services, and educational content. A networking lounge operated as a consultation space linking companies with schools and institutions. In addition, an exhibition area was set up to present the outcomes of nine ATC teacher research groups, including those on robot education, game literacy, media literacy, and information/AI curricula.
300 members in the leading research group present cases of Hello Maple expansion
On the first day, the “Hello Maple Leading Research Group Class Innovation Case Presentation Competition” was held in the seminar room. The Hello Maple Leading Research Group is a community of teachers who were the first to experience Hello Maple, Nexon’s educational block coding game creation platform, and explore ways to use it. Over the past year, 300 elementary school teachers nationwide were divided into 17 teams and carried out activities. They developed and shared game-based learning lesson plans and achieved results by expanding Hello Maple education to approximately 7,500 students.
The event presented cases of curriculum integration and know-how in operating student clubs, followed by awards for outstanding teams. A total of six teams received awards: one Grand Prize team (KRW 5 million), one Excellence Award team (KRW 3 million), one Merit Award team (KRW 1 million), and three Encouragement Award teams (KRW 500,000 each). ATC stated, “Following the first year, we have successfully established the operational foundation of the Hello Maple Leading Research Group,” adding, “We have supported the use of Hello Maple in public education, enhanced accessibility, and confirmed its applicability across various subjects.”
Students’ creativity unleashed at the ‘Hello Maple Game Creation Contest’
In the afternoon, the finals of the “2nd Hello Maple Game Creation Contest,” hosted by Nexon Korea and the Nexon Foundation and organized by ATC, took place. The contest involves students directly using Hello Maple to create games with various themes. Since last September, 77 teams (57 elementary school teams and 20 middle/high school teams) consisting of teachers and students from elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide participated. At the venue, 15 teams (10 elementary and 5 middle/high school teams) that scored highly in the preliminary screening operated individual booths to promote their games.
Students presented story-driven games such as “Ancient Greece and Rome,” “History Escape Room Game,” “Endangered Animal Rescue,” “Climate Crisis,” and “School Ghost Stories,” encouraging visitors to participate and receive coins. Final rankings were determined based on the sum of preliminary online screening (80 points), on-site interviews (10 points), and coin evaluations (10 points). The jury consisted of five members: a teacher from the winning team of the first contest, a teacher serving as a development adviser for Hello Maple, a researcher from the Game Science Research Institute, and professors.
Grand, Excellence, Merit, and Encouragement Awards were presented in both the elementary and middle/high school divisions. The total prize pool of the contest reached KRW 10.1 million. An ATC representative added, “The process in which students directly plan and develop games and even promote them at booths is itself an experience that helps them understand the game industry,” and “The process of creating games that reflect various themes based on real-life elements will contribute to fostering integrated problem-solving skills.”
AI and robot education demonstrations: launch of educator training
On the second and third days, a series of professional lectures broadened teachers’ insights. The “Google-Linked Education Innovation Case Sharing Conference” by the ATC Google Teacher Research Group explored the intersection between global edutech trends and Korean classrooms. This was followed by a session titled “Proposal of Five Key Tasks for AI Education in Korea” by Kim Jeong-nam, a researcher at the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), which fostered discourse on how to reflect voices from the education field in policy.
In addition, sessions were held to further enhance teachers’ expertise, including ▲ the “2025 Game Creation Contest Awards Ceremony” hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency and organized by ATC ▲ the 2026 Educator Briefing Session ▲ an Educator Competency Enhancement Workshop ▲ and a Future Education Forum on the Spread of Field-Oriented AI Literacy.
On the final day, the focus shifted to practical training in the use of AI tools. In Professor Park Gwang-hyeon of Kwangwoon University’s “AI Physical Computing Application Workshop,” practical class models using robots and AI cameras were presented. The “Class Demonstration in the Era of Generative AI” and the “Conference on Sharing Cases of AI Education Using Robots,” held in connection with the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement’s service robot demonstration project, showed that technologies such as AI and robots can become powerful partners that support teachers’ creativity. This was followed by ▲ the 2025 Outstanding Instructor Awards Ceremony ▲ the 2026 Educator Briefing Session ▲ and an Educator Competency Enhancement Training Workshop.
The three-day education festival concluded with the closing ceremony. ATC Chairman Shin Gap-cheon stated, “This year’s LINK was a meaningful occasion where teachers, companies, and education stakeholders met directly and expanded collaboration possibilities,” emphasizing, “The networks and education cases formed through the event will become a solid foundation for expanding AI-edutech convergence education in future classrooms.”
Meanwhile, ATC received a Meritorious Service Award at the Education Expo Awards in recognition of its efforts to build a teacher-centered edutech ecosystem.
IT Donga reporter Kim Ye-ji (yj@itdonga.com)
The 5th LINK was held at COEX in Samseong-dong from January 21 to 23 / Source=IT Donga
The 5th LINK took place from January 21 to 23 at COEX in Samseong-dong as a side event of the “2026 Korea Education Expo.” Under the theme “Future Education Connecting People: Encounter of AI and Edutech,” education demand-side participants (teachers, professional instructors) took the lead, serving as a bridge connecting content and companies. Participants directly experienced edutech products and services on-site and shared exemplary education cases with each other.
In particular, unlike last year, which was centered on conferences, this year’s event featured an integrated format bringing together hands-on experience, exhibitions, and seminars in one place. By providing all elements needed by teachers in a one-stop manner, the education field and business were naturally connected. An ATC representative said, “We sought to build a collaboration model in which teachers communicate real needs from the school field to ATC’s edutech corporate partners, and companies reflect these and concretize them into business models.”
At the 5th LINK, an exhibition was held alongside ATC partner companies’ edutech experience booths to present the outcomes of ATC teacher research groups / Source=IT Donga
The venue was largely divided into four zones. In the corporate zone, nine edutech companies—Edugen, Better Tomorrow Education Lab, ESTsoft, Classting, WITN, Red Point, RoboRisen, Marusis Edu, and Class4Edu—participated, along with a booth for the “Game Literacy in the Classroom” project jointly run by the Korea Creative Content Agency and ATC, showcasing each company’s products, services, and educational content. A networking lounge operated as a consultation space linking companies with schools and institutions. In addition, an exhibition area was set up to present the outcomes of nine ATC teacher research groups, including those on robot education, game literacy, media literacy, and information/AI curricula.
300 members in the leading research group present cases of Hello Maple expansion
Participants in the Hello Maple Leading Research Group Class Innovation Case Presentation Competition / Source=ATC
On the first day, the “Hello Maple Leading Research Group Class Innovation Case Presentation Competition” was held in the seminar room. The Hello Maple Leading Research Group is a community of teachers who were the first to experience Hello Maple, Nexon’s educational block coding game creation platform, and explore ways to use it. Over the past year, 300 elementary school teachers nationwide were divided into 17 teams and carried out activities. They developed and shared game-based learning lesson plans and achieved results by expanding Hello Maple education to approximately 7,500 students.
The event presented cases of curriculum integration and know-how in operating student clubs, followed by awards for outstanding teams. A total of six teams received awards: one Grand Prize team (KRW 5 million), one Excellence Award team (KRW 3 million), one Merit Award team (KRW 1 million), and three Encouragement Award teams (KRW 500,000 each). ATC stated, “Following the first year, we have successfully established the operational foundation of the Hello Maple Leading Research Group,” adding, “We have supported the use of Hello Maple in public education, enhanced accessibility, and confirmed its applicability across various subjects.”
Students’ creativity unleashed at the ‘Hello Maple Game Creation Contest’
Scene from the 2nd Hello Maple Game Creation Contest / Source=IT Donga
In the afternoon, the finals of the “2nd Hello Maple Game Creation Contest,” hosted by Nexon Korea and the Nexon Foundation and organized by ATC, took place. The contest involves students directly using Hello Maple to create games with various themes. Since last September, 77 teams (57 elementary school teams and 20 middle/high school teams) consisting of teachers and students from elementary, middle, and high schools nationwide participated. At the venue, 15 teams (10 elementary and 5 middle/high school teams) that scored highly in the preliminary screening operated individual booths to promote their games.
Students presented story-driven games such as “Ancient Greece and Rome,” “History Escape Room Game,” “Endangered Animal Rescue,” “Climate Crisis,” and “School Ghost Stories,” encouraging visitors to participate and receive coins. Final rankings were determined based on the sum of preliminary online screening (80 points), on-site interviews (10 points), and coin evaluations (10 points). The jury consisted of five members: a teacher from the winning team of the first contest, a teacher serving as a development adviser for Hello Maple, a researcher from the Game Science Research Institute, and professors.
Participants in the 2nd Hello Maple Game Creation Contest / Source=IT Donga
Grand, Excellence, Merit, and Encouragement Awards were presented in both the elementary and middle/high school divisions. The total prize pool of the contest reached KRW 10.1 million. An ATC representative added, “The process in which students directly plan and develop games and even promote them at booths is itself an experience that helps them understand the game industry,” and “The process of creating games that reflect various themes based on real-life elements will contribute to fostering integrated problem-solving skills.”
AI and robot education demonstrations: launch of educator training
ATC and partner companies / Source=ATC
On the second and third days, a series of professional lectures broadened teachers’ insights. The “Google-Linked Education Innovation Case Sharing Conference” by the ATC Google Teacher Research Group explored the intersection between global edutech trends and Korean classrooms. This was followed by a session titled “Proposal of Five Key Tasks for AI Education in Korea” by Kim Jeong-nam, a researcher at the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), which fostered discourse on how to reflect voices from the education field in policy.
In addition, sessions were held to further enhance teachers’ expertise, including ▲ the “2025 Game Creation Contest Awards Ceremony” hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency and organized by ATC ▲ the 2026 Educator Briefing Session ▲ an Educator Competency Enhancement Workshop ▲ and a Future Education Forum on the Spread of Field-Oriented AI Literacy.
Closing ceremony of the 5th LINK / Source=ATC
On the final day, the focus shifted to practical training in the use of AI tools. In Professor Park Gwang-hyeon of Kwangwoon University’s “AI Physical Computing Application Workshop,” practical class models using robots and AI cameras were presented. The “Class Demonstration in the Era of Generative AI” and the “Conference on Sharing Cases of AI Education Using Robots,” held in connection with the Korea Institute for Robot Industry Advancement’s service robot demonstration project, showed that technologies such as AI and robots can become powerful partners that support teachers’ creativity. This was followed by ▲ the 2025 Outstanding Instructor Awards Ceremony ▲ the 2026 Educator Briefing Session ▲ and an Educator Competency Enhancement Training Workshop.
The three-day education festival concluded with the closing ceremony. ATC Chairman Shin Gap-cheon stated, “This year’s LINK was a meaningful occasion where teachers, companies, and education stakeholders met directly and expanded collaboration possibilities,” emphasizing, “The networks and education cases formed through the event will become a solid foundation for expanding AI-edutech convergence education in future classrooms.”
ATC Chairman Shin Gap-cheon receiving a Meritorious Service Award at the Education Expo Awards / Source=ATC
Meanwhile, ATC received a Meritorious Service Award at the Education Expo Awards in recognition of its efforts to build a teacher-centered edutech ecosystem.
IT Donga reporter Kim Ye-ji (yj@itdonga.com)
AI-translated with ChatGPT. Provided as is; original Korean text prevails.
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