In 2025, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education introduced the "International Educational Exchange Activation Project," providing over 140,000 Korean-language e-books and audiobooks to twenty-six overseas Korean Education Centers. While this project substantially broadens access to Korean language and cultural resources abroad, the long-term impacts on heritage learners and international students engaging with these digital materials remain insufficiently examined. Without recognizing how these resources mediate social and cultural learning, stakeholders risk limiting learners' ability to fully engage, acquire language skills, and develop global competencies. By applying Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory, this study conceptualizes digital textbooks and e-books as mediating cultural tools that scaffold development within socially and culturally embedded contexts. The research employs a qualitative case study of policy structures and institutional practices, tracing how digital resources circulate from Seoul's producers to overseas education centers and learners in diaspora and international communities. The focus is on structural and symbolic dynamics rather than individual usage patterns, emphasizing the distinctive role of a municipal authority in leading educational exchange, as opposed to conventional state-led or institution-based models. This study explores how digital mediation may support heritage language retention and equitable access cultural knowledge. This study further investigates whether such initiatives can strengthen learners' identities and provide international students with opportunities for cultural and linguistic engagement. More broadly, the Seoul case examines whether municipal-level digital initiatives can operate transnationally, offering a replicable model of public education that promotes global citizenship, intercultural understanding, and educational collaboration under SDG 4 on inclusive and equitable quality education.

Authors:
Seri Yoon, Waseda University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Seri Yoon is Master’s student at Waseda University focusing on economic growth and higher education under macroeconomics and education professors, exploring sustainable development and fostering economic resilience through higher education policies.

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/seri-y-711ab5333

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