From mid- February to present, due to the complicated situation of Coronavirus Epidemic, the online teaching and learning were conducted by University of Foreign Language, the University of Danang to ensure the safety, prevent the epidemic efficiently and maintain the effective training program as well as studying spirit for students during the time of temporary absence. From the very beginning, leaders of Faculties, academic and service staffs actively participated in lifting spirit, unifying the method as well as fully preparing lesson plan to deploy for each class and each student.
An online lesson of Le Thi Giao Chi, Ph. D, Dean of Faculty of Foreign Language Studies
Le Thi Giao Chi, Ph.D, Dean of Faculty of Foreign Language Teacher Education shared that: “ the online learning class would be not the same as the face- to- face class, but still the online distance learning class could solve about from 80% to 90% of learners’ interest, more importantly, students could have valuable experiences as well. Even I could deliver a lesson plan every time by utilizing divergent types of technology. Some days I used Zalo with the utmost efficiency, sometimes I opted for livestream on Facebook and I also taught on either Zoom or Viber. Students would get access to University’s Facebook in order to follow the online class and feel themselves as members of University”.
Assoc. PhD. Dr. Tran Huu Phuc – Rector of UFLS affirmed that in order to enhance the effectiveness and accessibility of e-learning for students, the university will continually update online lessons and interactive forums between lecturers and students and student’s forums, which enables students to reinforce their knowledge. In addition, lecturers will create online academic groups for discussing activities among students. Since teachers have a vital role in the outcome of teaching and learning activities, their effective teaching plan and student management are the most important requirements in exploiting educational functions of IT in foreign language training.
The university opens online classes in the current situation in order to enable students to reinforce their knowledge of each module. After back to the university, we will organize face-to-face classes so that we can ensure that students will have a grasp of proper knowledge domain”.
Being a Vice-Rector of the pioneer unit in IT application in language teaching and learning with the aim of teaching innovation and educational quality assurance, Assoc. PhD. Dr. Nguyen Van Long said that as one of the leading universities carrying out the national foreign language project, online examination implementation of the university is merely a part in IT application in language teaching and learning, which has been applied at some member universities of the UD since 2015 with feasible feedbacks from students.
We are finalizing testing software to meet the requirement of online examination. Typically, the university operates with Centre for National Testing to organize examination with computer module and grant Vietnamese Standardized Test of English Proficiency certificate (VSTEP) and implement software related to placement test, end of coure examination and end of year examination.
University of Foreign Languages Studies – The University of Da Nang is striving that the teaching modules in the training programs are all directly taught in combination with online teaching right on the school’s E-learning system. The school has invested in an Online language training system and a virtual set-up (Studio) to build up online lessons. In the upcoming time, the school will promote the application of these systems in real-life practice to foster foreign language skills for both teachers and students. We also advocate the selection of textbooks that incorporate online support software such as LIFE curricula to fully enhance students’ ability to self-study through IT applications; standardize online lesson plans, create a common resource of course materials for all lecturers participating in teaching English at member universities … Lecturers must also boost the application of IT in teaching such as using open Moodle to open online courses, use advanced language learning software like Dyned to support students in learning as well as practicing at home. In order to encourage the application of IT in teaching, the University of Foreign Languages Studies implements a coefficient calculation for teachers who apply IT in teaching.”
As one of the member higher education institutions of the University of Danang and one of the three specialized language universities of the nation, with the mission of “training and improving knowledge of human language and culture with a view to serving the career of national construction, development and international integration “and the philosophy of education ” Humanity, Creativity, Adaptability “, the school always pays attention to the training of qualified lecturers and staff members so as to carry out the task of teaching and training high quality human resources for the Central and Central Highlands regions, especially qualified and professional foreign languages human resources to meet the requirements of socio-economic development and integration trends of the locality and the region.