Studying online, how do students in Nghe An do the test?

Struggling with online learning

It's mid-semester, but up to now, teacher Thuy Thanh - a teacher at a non-public high school in Vinh city - has not been able to meet her students, except for daily images of them through cameras. This is not unusual for teachers who are teaching grades 11 and 12, but for teachers who are homeroom teachers in the first grade, it is really difficult. "Before, when teaching directly, depending on the schedule, I could have my time. However, since switching to online teaching, at around 6:30 a.m. I have to open the Zoom classroom and take attendance of each student. If a student falls asleep or doesn't see them log in, I have to contact their family to check on them," Ms. Thuy Thanh shared.

Vinh City students participate in online learning. Photo: My Ha

Although she has closely supervised her students, up to this point, teacher Thuy Thanh still admits thatonline teachingdifficult to achieve as expected: “Only for students who are conscious, online teaching will be effective. The rest of the students have many ways to deal with teachers such as deliberately not turning on the camera, not taking notes, not doing homework, or some students use 2 devices at the same time. Therefore, it is inevitable that students use their phones to turn on the camera to study but actually use the computer to play games or vice versa. If we check the students' notebooks, it is also difficult to be accurate because they can borrow notebooks from friends, or copy lessons from the internet to deal with the teachers…”.

High school students are like that, and it is even more difficult for first-graders if they do not have parental supervision. Teacher Hoang Tram Anh - Principal of Nghi Tan Primary School (Cua Lo town) said: "Many students at our school have their father or mother working far away, and the children stay at home with their grandparents. Therefore, when they study online, they do not receive support from their parents, so their studies are difficult to achieve as expected, especially for first-graders. We just hope to study directly soon, because that way we can monitor and care for each student and help them grasp each lesson."

Prolonged online learning puts pressure on parents, students, and teachers. Photo: My Ha

After nearly 2 months of online learning, many parents are also "restless" because they realize that their children's studies are becoming more and more neglected. The daughter of Ms. Ha Thi Thu in Le Mao Ward (Vinh City) used to be a good student and diligent. However, since the beginning of the school year, her academic performance has declined and she has started to get bored because of the prolonged online learning.

“Learning online without teachers to urge students to take notes or check homework regularly, many lessons are not noted and homework is not completed completely. Even if teachers urge them, they cannot check homework for 40-50 students every day. Meanwhile, primary school students are not very self-disciplined, prefer studying to playing, and like to explore and discover computers if their parents are not there to supervise them,” Ms. Thu shared.

Concerns also weigh heavily on parents whose children are preparing for their final exams. Mr. Huu Dung's son is in 12th grade this year and in just a few months he will take the most important exam for students. Since the outbreak, he has not left the house for almost 5 months and has been sitting on the computer all day, making his family extremely worried: "He studies online in the morning and afternoon, even in the evening because of the tight schedule of regular classes and extra classes. Although he still says he is fine, we cannot rest assured because it will affect his health and psychology."

Need to be objective in testing and evaluating students

In addition to Vinh city and Cua Lo town, in the past week, many schools in the province belonging to units such as Quynh Luu and Thai Hoa town have also had to switch to online learning after new Covid-19 cases appeared in the area. This is also the time when schools start taking mid-term exams to get the final score for the first semester, so the testing and evaluation are of great concern to schools, parents and students.

Prolonged online learning will put pressure on students. Photo: My Ha

Previously, although the Department of Education and Training had provided guidance on test making, testing, and evaluation, the implementation of the testing plan for online teaching still had to be carefully calculated. At Nghi Kim Primary School (Vinh City), according to the plan, mid-term testing will begin from the 10th week and under current conditions, the school will only organize mid-term testing for 4th and 5th graders in 2 subjects: Vietnamese and Math.

Sharing about this, Ms. Lam Thi Thuy Hoa - Vice Principal of the school said: "In the past time, although implementing the streamlined program, we still directed teachers to organize teaching to ensure standard knowledge and skills. Therefore, next week, when the mid-term exam begins, the school has proactively built a review plan for students with enthusiasm and care, and even though online learning is available, students' work is still guaranteed. We have also built a test matrix and plan to organize the exam on the LMS system. Teachers will directly invigilate and grade the exam, and the school board will check according to probability to ensure that teachers' assessments are accurate."

Throughout Vinh city, through discussion, Ms. Hoang Thi Phuong Thao - Head of the Department of Education and Training said: "Currently, schools in the whole city have used the online teaching software LMS quite well, so the organization of online testing will be deployed synchronously on this software. We also directed schools to build a test matrix with 70% of the test content at the level of recognition and understanding (instead of 50% as before) and 30% is application. The questions at the high application level are only 2 - 3%".

At Huynh Thuc Khang High School (Vinh City), from this week, the school has also started reviewing for students and developing a mid-term exam plan in both in-person and online formats. If the exam is organized online, the implementation will be carried out through the LMS system - online teaching and testing.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Kim Duyen - Head of the Math Subject Group said: “Our spirit is to evaluate online teaching through mid-term exams and make appropriate adjustments to the form of teaching organization. During the exam organization process, we will follow the spirit of reducing the workload of the Ministry and currently, the professional groups have developed a mid-term exam plan, built a test matrix and organized review for students. If the exam is organized online, we will ask students to turn on their cameras and microphones, encourage them to promote self-awareness and may ask parents to accompany us to evaluate their children's learning awareness".

“We will let schools take the initiative in the mid-term exam schedule for the first semester. For schools that have to take exams online, the Department will have specific instructions to ensure objectivity. Currently, the mid-term exam software on LMS is quite effective and to monitor students, the software will require students to set full screen mode, and to turn on the camera and microphone regularly. The software also only allows logging in on one device. If students open another window, the exam will be deleted, so we can rest assured about the accuracy of this year's exam" - Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung - Head of Secondary Education Department - Department of Education and Training.

My Ha