Written byEducation NewsDate2023-03-24

The era of the media flood, the era of YouTube, has arrived. In a rapidly changing media environment, we are encountering a vast amount of text and images. And we are always at a crossroads of choice about what information to accept. There is much to see, but not much that is actually worth seeing. In this flood of information, it is true that it is not easy to find the knowledge and information I want. I sometimes have doubts about whether this is the correct information. If so, is there a way to solve this problem?

<Kodaebaekgwa>, which aims for high-quality intellectual and cultural content, is a video project designed to 'deliver correct knowledge amidst the numerous short-form contents and fake news rampant on various platforms.' By selecting interesting materials, modern challenges, and themes that reflect trends, experts from each field appear and give lectures with interesting, fun, yet in-depth content. Cultivating cultural knowledge through interesting themes, the stories of professors who deliver only facts rather than fake news, and in-depth learning of themes through K-MOOC are the differentiating factors of <Kodaebaekgwa> from other YouTube contents. <Kodaebaekgwa> started with the first episode 'The Reason Why Koreans are Attracted to Ballads' released on February 20th, and a total of three episodes have been uploaded so far.

Korea University Encyclopedia promo image / Photo=Courtesy of Teaching & Learning Development Center

Why are you attracted to ballads when you're depressed? A psychologist tells you about depression symptoms and how to overcome them

Source: YouTube / EP 01 | Professor Choi Ki-hong / Korea University / 2023. 02. 20.

In the first episode of <Kodaebaekgwa>, Professor Choi Ki-hong of the Korea University Department of Psychology, who serves as the director of the Korea University KU Mind Health Research Institute and is active as a clinical psychologist, appears and gives a lecture on the theme of 'The Reason Why Koreans Like Sad Songs.' In the video, Professor Choi suggests ways to manage emotions along with the practice of acknowledging and noticing emotions for modern people who are depressed and anxious.

Why do couples fight while shopping? Physiological differences between men and women

Source: YouTube / EP 02 | Professor Na Heung-sik / Korea University / 2023. 02. 24.

In the second episode of <Kodaebaekgwa>, Professor Na Heung-sik of the Korea University College of Medicine, an expert in the field of neuroscience and active as a physiologist, appears and takes the time to physiologically analyze 'Why men and women fight while shopping.' In the video, Professor Na analyzes what differences exist in the behavior of men and women and what the fundamental causes of these differences are. Furthermore, Professor Na advises that acknowledging and understanding these differences between men and women will help eliminate conflicts and lead to a deeper understanding and closer relationship with each other.

What is the result of the hegemony competition between the US and China? The growth process of China through history

Source: YouTube / EP 03 | Professor Cho Young-heon / Korea University / 2023. 02. 28.

In the most recently uploaded third episode of <Kodaebaekgwa>, Professor Cho Young-heon of the Korea University Department of History Education, an expert in Chinese history and a history researcher, appears and intensively analyzes the history of the world's hegemony competition centered on China along with the United States. We will learn why China, which had held hegemony for a long time, lost its hegemony to the West and was pushed out of the hegemony competition, what historical significance maritime expansion has, and why China hesitated in such maritime expansion. Also, we can have time to think together about which direction our country should take in the midst of this hegemony competition among great powers.

Currently, the YouTube channel where this video is posted is dominated by positive reactions to the lecture content, such as 'It's great to be able to see great lectures that could only be heard at universities on YouTube like this,' 'It's helpful because there's a lot of interesting and useful content,' and 'It was good that you explained things I didn't know in an easy-to-understand and detailed way.'

This video content was planned by the Korea University Center for Teaching and Learning and produced by Kroma Entertainment. Jang Hwi-jin, the manager of the Center for Teaching and Learning who planned this video project, said, 'It is a program designed to deliver correct intellectual and cultural content to more people using the YouTube platform,' and revealed future plans, saying, 'We have produced a total of three <Kodaebaekgwa> contents since the end of the 2022 academic year, and from 2023, we plan to produce even more high-quality cultural knowledge video contents by recruiting eminent professors from various major fields.'

In addition, Kim Yo-han, CEO of Kroma Entertainment, who was in charge of producing this video content, said, 'Inspired by "knowledge and culture short-form content," which is one of the YouTube trends in 2023, I wanted to create "high-quality" video content that is interesting and informative so that even the general public can easily have curiosity and interest.' He revealed the production intent, saying, 'In producing <Kodaebaekgwa>, we focused on "maintaining high-quality filming quality, composing hooking points that induce curiosity, and merging the planning power of content creators based on appropriate materials."'

This content can be checked through the Korea University YouTube channel, and lectures related to each episode are provided separately on K-MOOC, where anyone can take all lectures for free. The list of K-MOOC linked lectures for each episode and the link addresses are as follows.