The COVID-19 outbreak has affected all segments of people's lives and been particularly detrimental to educational aspects in universities. Therefore, promoting digital transformation in most of the activities such as organizing seminars, meetings and teaching via virtual platforms is deployed by universities in Da Nang. The effort in applying information technology into teaching and learning to remedy the effects of COVID-19 is a stepping stone for the digital transformation of higher education.

English Proficiency Contest (ETC-2021) was held online by the Viet Nam - Korea University of Information and Communication Technology (VKU) amid social distancing days. Photo: NGOC HA

Maintain educational activities

During days social distancing measures imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, apart from online teaching and learning activities, the University of Foreign Language Studies (UFL), the University of Danang (UD) also conducted a host of cooperation and integration activities as well as business connection programs to support students via  cyberspace such as the National conference on how to improve the efficiency of teaching foreign languages in the integration period, the 229th AUN-QA program assessment according to the quality assessment standards of the Southeast Asian University Network; Joint- training postgraduate program in Korea.

In a similar vein, University of Economics (DUE), University of Science and Technology(DTU), Vietnam-Korea University of Information and Communication Technology(VKU) also successfully organized online events attracting a large number of students in October such as the English Proficiency Contest (ETC-2021), the final round of Startup Runway 2021, Webinar “ Tech-sharing: AI For Youngster” on data science and artificial intelligence.

With the spirit of "temporarily suspend going to school but don't stop studying", ETC-2021 organized by the VKU creates an atmosphere of exciting competition among university students. According to student Pham Vu Thu Nguyet, a member of the Guardians team that won the first prize of this contest, all discussions with the team members, the Q&A session with the opposing team and the judges, the eloquence part were all implemented online; however, it still brings the same feeling as interacting directly.”

Gradually seize opportunities from digital transformation

As shared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Phan Cao Tho, Rector of University of Technology and Education, University of Da Nang, COVID-19 pandemic has forced the school must-have solutions to adapt and promote digital transformation in all activities such as building an open repository of scientific materials and resources; international cooperation conferences and seminars and international projects on digital transformation.

Till date, member universities of the UD have spent nearly two years adapting to teaching and learning as well as educational administration and foreign affairs activities via virtual platforms. According to Assoc.Prof.Dr. Le Van Huy, Vice-Rector of the DUE- UD, since early 2020, the school has changed its traditional teaching method to use digital platforms more often, focused on developing an e-learning system following international standards to proactively and quickly deploy online training solutions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Digital transformation brings great opportunities for the university to fulfill its mission and educational philosophy towards a research-oriented university, creating an advanced academic environment in the direction of reducing theoretical lectures or transmitting knowledge to enhance learners' capacity to increase self-study ability", said Assoc.Prof.Dr. Le Van Huy.

For the time being, according to statistics of the Ministry of Education and Training, Viet Nam has more than 70% of higher education institutions deploying the electronic library system and an inter-connected e-learning system sharing learning materials with other educational institutions in order to advance training and research capacity.

However, the quality of digital transformation in education depends closely on network infrastructure and technology equipment. As shared by Assoc. Prof. Dr Tran Huu Phuc, Rector of the University of the UFL, UD, thanks to proactively implementing a suitable digital transformation roadmap in tandem with actively applying technology in teaching and learning, the school have formed an advanced technical infrastructure till now.

However, Mr Phuc also emphasized that the technology application capacity of all staff, lecturers and students of the university is the main factor bringing efficiency in the digital transformation process. Thanks to the quick adaptation to new conditions of staff, lecturers and students, the school has successfully organized online teaching, exams, foreign language proficiency tests as well as online seminars.

“The application of information technology in teaching is not only a solution to respond to changes in the complicated setting of the pandemic, but also a strategy of the school in implementing the digital transformation roadmap, improving the quality of education in tandem with increasing competitiveness ", said Assoc. Prof. Dr Tran Huu Phuc.

Reporting by NGOC HA- Translating by T.VY