Vietnamese manufacturing teaching software, technology platforms needed for online study

Minister of Information and Communication Nguyen Manh Hung

Phuong, a teacher in Ha Tinh, said she was worried when she had to continue meeting students during the new academic year via the internet because of Covid-19.

“No one told us what to do. Last year my school provided a Teams account, but they are not providing one this year for financial reasons. We chat with each other and try Zoom, then use Google Meet, ”she said.

“We managed to make clips and then publish the clips of the lessons on the platforms. We teach ourselves which platforms we need to use, which ones are high quality and which ones we can use for free, ”she said. “A few days ago we used Zoom. It was ok even though we were automatically kicked out every 40 minutes. But there’s too much lag these days, so we went with Google Meet. “

Phuong and other teachers said that despite some drawbacks, it is still easy to use foreign platforms for online education.

Nguyen Hong Hanh, deputy headmaster of Ly Thai To Primary School, said most of the local schools use Zoom for online education because it is simple and easy for elementary school students. Google Meet is best suited for high school and high school students.

Hanh said the school had tried apps provided by national companies, but “teachers said they weren’t really effective and didn’t have a lot of utilities like Zoom.”

The ability to interact was the biggest problem with software made in Vietnam, according to a teacher in Hanoi.

He said that while the interfaces of Zoom, Meet and Teams are user-friendly and simple, some Vietnamese platforms have too many features and contain superfluous information, including advertisements.

“Software developers might think that having a lot of features will be an advantage. But in fact, teachers and students only need a few basic features. The most important things are simple connection, easy use and good interaction, ”he said.

The online learning market has seen a growth rate of 150% per month for the past two years. Over 80% of the market share is held by Zoom with 300 million users, while Microsoft Teams has 250 million and Google Meet 120 million.

Meanwhile, according to To Hong Nam of the Ministry of Education and Trianing (MOET), 90% of schools use Zoom because platforms made in Vietnam do not meet their requirements.

Chu Cam Tho of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, said that the software products, both foreign and Vietnamese, used in online education in Vietnam simply allow communication with others, but do not not the function of management, evaluation and total systematic interactions.

Learning Management Systems (LMS) such as Teams, Google Classroom, and Canvas are not specifically designed for administration in education and are not tied to digital education data.

“Education is a system of separate activities and subjects. And education technology must be tools used only to solve educational problems, ”she said.

She said teachers use Zoom and Zalo only to see student faces, but they can’t show slides or e-books. They cannot give exercises and supervise the learning process of the students, and the achievements of the students cannot be assessed immediately.

Tho pointed out that Vietnam does not have a real technological system specifically designed for online education, and this is the reason for the problems.

Specific requirements

Phuong, a teacher from Ha Tinh, said she didn’t know which platforms to use if Meet was no longer useful.

Meanwhile, Nam said the online education platforms have servers located overseas and don’t have representatives in Vietnam, so it is difficult to deal with violations.

Nguyen Dinh Duc from Hanoi National University said there was a need to create a software product for common use in online education across Vietnam. Schools use different products, making it impossible to share resources in lesson plans and online tutorials.

Tran Nam Dung, deputy headmaster of the High School for the Gifted at National University of HCM City, said schools and teachers are ready to use Vietnamese software in online education, provided the vendors improve the software to follow the requirements.

Experts believe that even if the Covid-19 does not erupt again, online education will continue to grow thanks to its great benefits. Education and Training Minister Nguyen Kim Son, during the National Assembly question-and-answer session on November 11, said online education would continue even after the pandemic was brought under control.

The government and the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) recently created policies to develop digital technology products, including a “Make in Vietnam” strategy and national digital transformation; and have held competitions to encourage companies to create useful technology solutions, such as the Make in Vietnam and Viet Solutions awards.

Vietnamese tech companies now have great opportunities and encouragement from the government to enter the e-learning platform market.

Ha Anh

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