On 12 April, 2020, Dr. Dang Dang Tung, Director of Office for International Study Programs (OISP), of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HCMUT – Bach Khoa), shared his thoughts & sentiments when HCMUT – Bach Khoa has transformed traditional classes to online courses since Covid became more and more complicated in Ho Chi Minh City and the online courses have been implemented for a week.
Dear all,
The unseasonal rain suddenly came and hurried away on Saturday afternoon. Some iguanas moved around in the peaceful blue campus with the rustle of leaves. Never before are there no students on the campus. The atmosphere seems to come back when HCMUT – Bach Khoa has implemented activities to support online teaching. Since everything has just started, as an insider, I understand both the concerns of lectures, the feelings of students and the hard work of the technical support staff when having to switch from teaching offline to online.
Many lecturers have had comments and feedback. Many students and technical support staff have confessed about the difficulties they encountered. From the bottom of my heart, I just have wishes that everyone will understand and sympathize with the university in this Covid-19 pandemic. In order to maintain effective online learning, there must be a combination of three factors: the flexibility of the lecturers, the adaptability of the students, the dedication of the support staff.
The flexibility of lecturers
We all know that after the Tet holiday, we have returned to school and started a new semester. However, the information about the acute respiratory disease from China has led us to take a break from school for a while then consider making up for it later. It is getting worse when we have to take a long day off to prevent the spread of disease. Moreover, the Ministry of Education and Training issued an official letter recognizing online learning, as long as the universities must ensure quality. That means teachers and students are required to teach and learn in a very unusual condition. HCMUT-BK has made decisions quickly and updated frequently that lead to the pressure of lecturers when preparing teaching activities.
After a bit of confusion about how to organize, last week, teachers and students quickly caught up with online lectures, short videos, the live stream (live broadcast), and then interact via Google Hangout Meet. Overcoming the worries and new technology barriers, the teachers are now confident with the class hours through Slideshow, Short videos, Livestream, Google Hangout Meet… After every lesson, lecturers enthusiastically share experiences for others with more “tricks”, tips, and effective methods. Moreover, the teachers have flexibility in content preparation, choosing interactive tools to attract students as possible.
The schedules are crowded with many types of lessons (quiz, live stream,… ). Although teaching is the forte of lecturers, they have been worried about being alone in front of the camera, in a large classroom without students and becoming a reluctant “actor”. The key actions for Covid-19 prevention must also be taken so that teachers will feel more secure when teaching.
HCMUT – Bach Khoa is a prestigious university. Our teachers wonder if the quality would decrease when we teach online all the time. Or would students focus on learning? It could be doubtful in any way. However, HCMUT – Bach Khoa students have high self-esteem. They will always try hard and be proactive because they know their teachers are hardworking and wholeheartedly for them.
The adaptability of students
Covid-19 news updates every day. There is no end yet. Time is still passing while students are facing a busy schedule, internship, and thesis. HCMUT and teachers are making every effort to teach through online channels so that the studying of students won’t be impacted and keep up with the progress. Learners and their friends may compare tools or software which help to learn better and more effectively. However, in this situation, all universities are busy experimenting, applying, and deploying online teaching. There is no time and tools for schools to choose and evaluate exactly the most effective software because it depends on different criteria (subjects, students in classes…). Don’t expect the most professional online courses like you’ve seen on the internet. Just quickly adapt to this online learning method.
An online teaching in 50-70 minutes that is filmed once a week and without editing may not be as expected of the students. Everything is not perfect. However, seeing the teachers going to school and performing seriously, students will respect and admire them more. In the next lessons, teachers will improve more. We are also proud of the older teachers who have been familiar with the traditional teaching method for decades. But now they have to use technology in teaching. Besides, we admire teachers whose homes are far away to come to the school before 7:00 am for teaching.
In the first week, students have felt excited and also strange about tools and online lessons. In the next few weeks, students will get used to these things, and online learning becomes more effective. I am a bit worried that if there is no solution to adapt and maintain motivation, students may not study and lose focus, especially with busy schedules and more homework.
Students have already written many confessions for the university to reduce the load of knowledge in the final exam and suggest tuition reduced and waiver. Listening to these voices, HCMUT-Bach Khoa has announced a scholarship of 12 billion VND equivalent to 10% of the tuition. It includes 3 billion VND to support 4D data packages for students to study online and 9 billion VND to support students in difficulties due to the effects of the Covid-19 epidemic.
Learning online is definitely not the same as studying in the lecture hall even though the teachers still go to class, still have computers, projectors, blackboards, and chalk. It’s not easy for students and teachers to interact together as before, but this is a chance for some students who are often shy or find a seat at the end of the class, now can ask teachers comfortably.
In order to graduate on time, students must adapt to learning online in such conditions and not be too demanding for perfection. If learners feel concerned and cancel the subject, it will affect their studying later as other subjects, internship requirements, graduation. The level of absorbing the lesson of each student in a class is different, maybe you do not understand immediately but should not give up. You should quickly talk to teachers for solutions like interacting more through Google Meet or having more sample assignments and references…More importantly, students should keep the study pace and regularly interact with lecturers and friends. Through this pandemic, students are considered to know more about the application in information technology and learn soft skills such as time management, problem-solving, study planning in a short time.
The dedication of support staff
In order to ensure the quality of lectures during online teaching, technical support staff play an important role. They are from the Academic Affairs Office, OISP, health station and the Faculties. In addition, to ensure medical safety for teachers as recommended by the Ministry of Health, technicians must also assemble equipment, internal training, instructing how to use the device so that the teachers can get used to it. They must arrive early to prepare for live streams. After the lecturers started teaching, they had to check the quality of picture, sound, transmission speed to timely adjust to ensure the best quality of online teaching. This time is in the quarantine, but they are always in the classrooms to support lecturers who are not familiar with the new way of teaching. How sad it is when they had to eat lunch in a hurry with a piece of bread or instant noodles to be in time for online hours. Without their dedication, there would be no successful live streams. They would contribute silently as the role of a “production crew” in bringing the information of the editors to TV viewers. Although this is their duty, in this situation, teachers and staff are performing tasks much harder.
The Covid-19 pandemic will end, not only are we safe from infection, but we are also proud to have overcome this situation together to fulfill our mission. For many people, in the past few months, there is more time to reflect on what has happened in their life and around them. But, for others, suddenly everything in life is faster, more hustle, more busy and more work.
Time just flies, whether you’re wasting it or not. With our university tradition, with the pioneering and leading role, lecturers and students at HCMUT-Bach Khoa are more excited and busy at this time. Everyone now has to do more things that they have never done before. However, because of their responsibility to students, the community, and society, they have to try to overcome themselves.
I hope that the pandemic quickly comes to an end so that everyone can return to normal life. At that time, we will be proud of the fruits of our labor.
12-04-2020
Dang Dang Tung (PhD.)
