Redesigning
Korean History Textbook

| Senior researcher Hyelim Lim
| Researchers Yongju Yoo, Yejin Wi
| Advisor Kyungsun Kymn

Download PDF

History has been one of the most boring classes for Korean high school students. To interest students more in Korean history, this project proposes an interaction-based solution to make the learning process more enjoyable for students.

SYNOPSIS

When the Ministry of Education authorized the use of textbooks published by private publishers, there has been a huge debate about the decision. The debate raised a number of questions about the learning efficiency of the history textbooks authored by the government and the private publishers. It was not only about the content but also about the format itself. In this project, I analyzed history textbooks published by private publishers. Focusing on the interaction and experience aspect, I also proposed a new textbook design.

Is it possible to make students more interested in history? This project aims to make history classes more interesting to students by re-designing the textbook. I surveyed 6 different history textbooks used in Korean high schools to explore whether I can enhance the learning experience and efficiency by improving every design component of the textbooks.

CHALLENGE

Editors of history textbooks have been mainly focusing on the content itself rather than attempting to carefully integrate visual elements with the contents. They did not pay enough attention to editorial design, failing to provide compelling editing, layout, infographics, typography and color. Even though properly using visual elements can greatly improve the process of learning, the design elements in the textbooks I surveyed failed to play an important role in facilitating the learning interaction.