E-teaching in epidemic season, NHG advances smart school model

E-learning is not only a temporary solution in the epidemic’s context but also a key trend towards the "smart school" model in NHG education system.

Studying online in the Covid-19 epidemic season is a solution that many schools choose to partly ensure the learning progress since students can’t attend classes. However, due to the lack of preparation for e-teaching system, e-learning at some schools has not attracted enough attention and interest from students to achieve the same effect as the traditional way does. 

Although the back-to-school date is delayed due to the Covid-19 epidemic, teachers and students from UKA still catch up with the learning programme thanks to e-learning methods.

Students enjoy the "digital classes"

During the student's days off due to Covid-19, NHG school systems such as: iSchool international integration schools; UK Academy international bilingual school (UKA); International Schools of North America; Gia Dinh University, Ba Ria - Vung Tau University; Hong Bang International University (HIU) and Hoa Sen University (HSU) are implementing online direct training through applications appropriate with each student. In addition, schools also regularly organize training sessions for teachers on how to use the software in order to maximize the efficiency in teaching process.

With "digital classes" such as Microsoft Office 365 Teams and Quizizz, students can remotely learn through exchanging books, lectures, assignments, grading, taking tests, studying and doing online exercises, interact by livestream or interact in real time.

Mr. Ngo Thanh Nam, Deputy Head of Primary School in NHG, Microsoft Study Advisor said: “NHG has been regularly using e-learning methods for a long time. With the support of Microsoft Office 365, teachers can create a learning environment like regular classrooms from lectures, assigning tests, competency assessments, supporting students anywhere and anytime”.

“At the high school level, we have applied many e-learning programs like  double degree general education programs with many partner schools in the US through the online system. Students graduating from high school through these programs will be granted a high school diploma recognized by the top 200 universities in the US and guaranteed to get a student visa if they intend to study in the US", shared by Mr. Pham Tien Thinh, Director of Information Technology Department in NHG.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu, Vice President of HSU, said that HSU has built e-learning system, professional filming studio, issued policies to encourage the development of digital learning materials, training sessions for teachers about e-learning courses, purchasing artificial intelligence (AI) services integrated into e-learning systems to detect plagiarism and predict learners' results based on the data of attended courses and build virtual campus in Second Life.

The "Building E-learning course on Moodle system" training session took place at Hong Bang International University with the participation of nearly 80 school's lecturers.

E-learning: long-term solution

The e-learning system at HSU works well on both mobile devices and regular computers. Particularly in the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year, the system has served 2.73 million hits of the school's lecturers and students. The outstanding advantages of online blended learning model are the skills development and necessary critical thinking of 21st century employees; flexibility for schools, learners and lecturers; easy adaptation to a variety of learning styles.

If students are facing difficult exercises that do not know how to solve, they can take photos and send to Shub Classroom so that friends and other students can help them solve the homework.

“However, e-teaching with high quality is not that simple. The school must carefully invest in teaching methods, technology platforms and digital learning materials. Contrary to most people's thinking, e-teaching with high quality requires more investment than traditional way. Therefore, tuition fees for high-quality online degree programs of UK and USA are higher than traditional ones”, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu shared.

Mr. Pham Tien Thinh said: “In the near future, Vietnam should follow abroad e-learning models, even at high school level. Currently, e-learning is a trend. In some countries, information technology is applied right from preschool level, by the time you already know how to read, write, calculate, and math, you have already learned online by 40%”. He also said that artificial intelligence (AI) is also developing rapidly in our country, this technology will be applied in remote teaching and will outbreak in the near future.

Thanks to the e-learning system that has been completely built and deployed, schools from grade 1 to university of Nguyen Hoang Group (NHG) are always in the active position to adapt to Covid-19 prevention. At the same time, NHG determined this situation as an opportunity to accelerate the implementation of the smart school model, originating from information technology platform. For NHG education system, e-learning is a long-term direction and solution in the era of 4.0 technology.

BRANDING AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT