Academic organization system promoting digital transformation

(NLĐO)- In June 2020, the Prime Minister approved the National Digital Transformation Program to 2025 alongside with the orientation towards 2030; in which, education and training (Education-Training) is one of the top 8 priority areas in implementation.

The requirements set by the Prime Minister for education and training is to develop a support platform for distance learning and teaching, to apply digital technology thoroughly in management, teaching and learning; to digitize documents and textbooks as well as to build a platform in order to share teaching and learning resources in both face-to-face and online forms. Developing technology for education towards personalized training mode.

Powerful movement

In 2018, the Education sector put into use a nationwide database on education with 53,000 schools, 710 education and training departments, nearly 24 million students and more than 1.4 million teachers with identification code. The collected information of 393 universities and colleges with 2.5 million students and 120,000 lecturers is also updated on the academic database system.

The development of digital learning materials is paid attention by the Ministry of Education and Training. Up to the present time, 5,000 E-learning lectures; 2,000 TV lectures, 200 popular textbooks, 200 virtual experiments and more than 35,000 multiple-choice questions and so on have been published and put in to practical use.

In the current practical circumstance, the digital transformation has been implemented step by step by schools for many years and accelerated in the recent time. At University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH), the digitization process began in 2009 when the credit training system was first deployed. Since 2013 until the present, information systems have been continuously built to serve teaching, research and school administration. In particular, the E-learning system was put into operation in 2016 in accordance with the teaching model in combination with the whole UEH; so far, 100% of classes have deployed auxiliary online tools. Thanks to that, during the recent volatile Covid-19 epidemic, the entire UEH activities were quickly changed to adapt and have been ensuring quality and progress.

By the end of 2020, most of UEH activities, from management to teaching and scientific research, have been digitally converted; from monitoring the learning process, research, collective activities of students and lecturers to intelligent university management tools listed as human resource management, lecture schedule, timetable, scientific management, KPI assessment for employees. Students can also experience the learner care system and perform UEH public services completely online.

In 2021, UEH is to continue to follow the Digital Transformation Project, UEH will review and assess the development process to orient the digital transformation in accordance with future technological developments listed as the application of new technologies artificial intelligence, cloud computing, mobility, data analysis, resource optimization, innovative utility application development with the purpose of creating a comfortable experience with the orientation of developing the future global citizens.

Take the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education (HCMUTE) as an example. HCMUTE has established a Virtual Teaching Center (UTEx), organizing online courses. This university also built a large data center and diverse digital transformation programs listed as management software systems. Currently, 100% of classes can be taught online. Assoc. Dr. Do Van Dung, Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education, stated that the bottleneck in digital transformation that lies in the leaders’ mindset and those who perform does not often keep up with the technology development. Digital transformation needs to constructed more professionally in order to improve efficiency

The Ministry of Education and Training does acknowledge that the recent Covid-19 epidemic brought pressure to educational activities; at the same time, creating a driving force for stronger digital transformation as well as opportunities and motivation for teachers and students to adapt and apply online teaching methods. The results of online teaching during the Covid-19 epidemic are evaluated effective. However, the education and training industry needs to reorganize digital transformation activities in a more methodical and professional way to improve efficiency.

Sharing regarding what needs to be performed for digital transformation implementation, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha emphasized that, first of all, it is necessary to have a unified national technology foundation for each collective, individual, and each teacher, student and staff can participate and function effectively. On that foundation, we will continue to perfect the industry database, to build a repository of digital learning resources, through which management, learning, research, teaching and knowledge sharing activities become effective and practical.

At the seminar on Digital transformation in education and training organized by the Ministry of Education and Training on December 9^th, Minister Nguyen Manh Hung asserted that the education sector currently “lacks an effective implementation tool”. That is digital platform which must be an open platform to be constantly updated and better day by day. This foundation refers to not only the content but also the way of teaching, the way of learning, the way of testing, or in other words, the processes or the procedures. Vietnamese digital technology businesses can help the education sector build these platforms as required.

Minister Nguyen Manh Hung emphasized: “Let’s think carefully, to choose the right belief, to go to the end, to build excellent universities through digital transformation. Excellent universities together with excellent education and training are important foundations for Vietnam to break through and prosper. The Ministry of Information and Communications is committed to accompanying the Ministry of Education and Training on this challenging and glorious journey”.

4 fundamental issues in terms of digital transformation enhancement in education and training

During the Covid-19 epidemic, with “Delay going to school, Don’t stop learning” motto, 80% of high schools and 240 training institutions organized online teaching and learning; of which, 79 institutions organize and manage teaching entirely online. With the flexibility of applying information technology and digital transformation in this education and training, the education sector has completed the task of the 2019-2020 school year, ensuring students’ and teachers’ health.

In order to promote and effectively implement digital transformation in education and training in the 2021-2025 period, Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son affirmed that the Ministry of Education and Training will focus on implementing four basic issues: Developing national data system on education and training; Developing and exploiting the system of learning materials and digital learning environment; Building and implementing a digital competency framework for high-school students; Developing highly qualified human resources in information technology and digital transformation fields.

Source: Labor Newspaper