Korean Internet Volunteers (KIVs) is an International Linkage Project of Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO) and Korea Overseas International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) sponsored by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) of Korea in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Philippines.

The KIV Project started in the Aklan State University (ASU) on May 4, 2004 when Mr. Hoe jin jeong, the Deputy Resident Representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea in the Philippines sent information to Dr. Benny A. Palma; the University President on the first batch of KIVs dispatched in the university. The KIVs activities were implemented by the ASU Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Center.

The major aim of the project is to share the KIVs knowledge and expertise to the faculty and students of Aklan State University in the fields of computer science and applications of information technology and internet as a tool for the delivery of quality education.

The first batch of KIVs was dispatched at ASU on July 15 to August 8, 2004. This was headed by Professor Lee Seungjik from Deawon Science College together with his three students in computer science and engineering. Dr. Lee’s group conducted series of lectures and hands-on training to 100 ASU faculties on the basic windows operating system, word processing, excel, powerpoint and internet.  He also presented a video about Korean Culture and the development of IT industry in Korea to more than 1000 students.

The second batch of KIVs was dispatched at ASU on July 26 to August 23, 2005. It was also headed by Professor Lee Seungjik together with another group of students.

Similar to the first batch of KIV activities, Dr. Lee conducted series of lectures and hands-on training to 75 faculties and 1000 students were present during the video presentation.

Recently, the 3rd Batch of Korean Internet Volunteers (KIVs) was dispatched at ASU on August 2 to 26, 2006. The KIVs was headed by Mr. Jong-ho Jang as Team Leader of the KIV-IT Sejong Group together with Ms Ji-hyun Moon, Mr. Hae-seok Yun and Ms Noo-ry Oh.
Similar to Dr. Lee’s activities, Mr. Jang also conducted series of basic ICT Skills training to the faculty and students.

Fifty faculties participated in the training and almost 2,000 students attended the video presentation on Korean Culture and the development of Korean industries.

The KIVs activities were also extended to the 30 Secondary School Teachers of the Aguinaldo T. Repiedad Sr. Integrated School which is the adopted iSchool Outreach Project of the ASU-ICT Center. Aklan State University was blessed of having the three batches of KIVs for the three consecutive years. The technical assistance extended to the faculty and students helped improve the delivery of quality education. Likewise, they greatly showed the value of a good leader and commitment to their duties and responsibilities. They are innovative, self-starter and punctual who rarely need supervision.

Typically, they exceed expectations, handle pressures very well and work at night to meet deadlines in which we admire very much. English is the medium language for everyone to understand each other and the fact is that; English is not their native language but they were able to develop a good working relationship with the faculty, students and people in the community.

The KIVs from Daewon Science College and the IT Sejong Group’s performance are highly acknowledged by the faculty and students as an Excellent Performance in the implementation of the KIV activities in ASU. Even people in the community were impressed on how they adjusted to the new social environment while they were performing their works ecstatically. This is just one example among the many potential international linkage projects in which we valued the leadership, skills and work ethics of the Korean Internet Volunteers.