As a prompt reaction to the 4th Covid-19 outbreak in Vietnam, the third workshop in using digital tools in TVET for the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and the Faculty of International Electronic Engineering was conducted on May 28 and 29, 2021 by Dr. Christian Hoffmann – GIZ’s Digital Ambassador. The workshop was strictly compliant to 5-K hygiene principles of the Vietnam’s Ministry of Health, whereas all participants must wear a mask during the workshop and sanitize their hands before entering the computer lab room.
The course was launched on Atingi, a digital learning platform of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). For the first time, teachers were able to receive certificates right after they fulfilled the course’s requirements. The online certificates issued by Atingi are verifiable with an automatically generated code for individually successful participation.
The teachers had a great opportunity to experience a course on Atingi from a user’s perspective to see how training contents could be delivered with interactive exercises in which gamification elements were applied to encourage learners’ participation. Along with computer-based session, in the in-class exciting “TV battle”, teachers were divided into two teams, each team chose a leader to have arguments of the advantages and disadvantages of traditional learning and online learning. This activity clarified to which extent both types could be used in TVET.
The self-learning session on Atingi was about “flipped classroom” – a new pedagogical methodology -that could improve students’ outcomes by letting them read the theoretical materials at home and do practical work in class. The teachers, divided into six groups, worked through the provided materials on Atingi, presented about the free online tools to create interactive questionnaire, quizzes (e.g. Mentimeter, Poll Everywhere, Slido) and online conference (e.g. Google Hangout Meet, Skype, Zoom). This activity demonstrated how “flipped classroom” could be applied to enhance blended and online learning.
As part of the training, Mr. Vo Van Long, Vice Head of Training Department, presented improved functionalities of the current e-learning system of LILAMA 2 in which teachers could upload teaching materials and assign homework. Meanwhile, Ms. Pham Thi Bay, an experienced teacher of Faculty of Mechatronics – Information Technology – Telecommunication, presented about Google Classroom and the importance of sharing online materials between teaching staff, since this has now been the most widely used supporting learning application of LILAMA 2 teachers during the pandemic.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Dong, a teacher of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, shared her thoughts about the course: “I really enjoyed the course on Atingi, especially the interactive exercises. The user interface of this platform is outstanding and easy to navigate. Regarding e-pedagogy, I will also try to apply the flipped classroom techniques to my upcoming classes.”
This activity was held within the component “Supporting High-Quality TVET Institutes” as part of the Vietnamese-German “Programme Reform of TVET in Viet Nam”. The programme is financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) together with the Vietnamese Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA).
