INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN PROMOTING INTERACTIVE ONLINE EDUCATION

50 educators from 25 Universities and Training Institutes in 8 countries, including FUNiX Online Education Vietnam gathered to discuss how to build rewarding experiences in online education.

The international webinar on “Opportunities and challenges for universities in building online programs in COVID-19 pandemic” organized by FUNiX Online Education (FPT Corporation) has been a success with lots of  ideas and initiatives shared by participants.

At the beginning of the webinar, Professor Bas Baskaran, Pro Vice-Chancellor for International Research Partnership of Deakin University (Australia) stated: “Online education will be the future of higher education”. He emphasized that online education develops in parallel with traditional education.

Deakin University has a more than 40-year history of implementing distance learning programs. As one of Australia’s leading universities, Deakin ranked in the top 10 globally for offering online courses on MOOC platforms. With practical experience, Professor Baskaran emphasized that online training is not only a replacement of traditional training during COVID period. This point of view was agreed by educators from other countries such as Japan, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore. Mr. Jeroen Schedler from Rangsit University (Thailand) shared that it is important to distinguish between the concept of “interaction” in online and offline training mode as the two types are different. The educators also shared the idea that online education is an opportunity to open up more benefits for students such as online-offline (hybrid) programs; or cross-border projects on online platforms where students in different countries can easily connect & learn together.

Professor Takako Ochi of Gunma University (Japan) focused on using online platforms to maintain interaction for students. Accordingly, Gunma University is trying to implement many online interactive activities for students such as the Smart campus to campus (SCC) program in collaboration with FUNiX, which aims to bring all activities of student exchange and transnational education on an online platform. 

During the open discussion, the educators also discussed the most popular challenges of online education in delivering practical components, maintaining students’ motivation and communication between students and teachers.

Discussing how to bring practical activities online, Professor Bas Baskaran of Deakin University emphasized that it is important to clearly define the learning outcomes of each activity. As long as the learning outcomes are achieved, online or offline is not a matter anymore. Technology can give great support if we think in the right way. 

Director of FUNiX Global, Cuong Hoang also shared: “At FUNiX, online education is not just about forcing students to sit in front of laptops to watch video lectures and do assignments. It should be an ecosystem of many interactive activities on the cloud”. Besides studying, FUNiX students participate in game shows, debate, and work on projects together in a fully online environment, which help them to maintain a strong connection despite the geographical distance. 

In order to find more long-term solutions to innovate online training programs, the webinar participants agreed to establish the Global Online Educators Community Network (GOEC), which is coordinated and operated by FUNiX. The community will be a place for innovative educators around the globe to share and discuss best practices in developing highly interactive online education programs./. 

Register to become a member of GOEC here: GOEC REGISTRATION