June 2024—As part of the USAID Partnership for Higher Education Reform project, two experts from Azusa Pacific University, USA, conducted a series of online and in-person training sessions at three partner universities in Vietnam. Through this initiative, 130 core faculty members received training that enhanced their knowledge and skills in blended teaching methods, equipping them to implement these techniques in their own classrooms and share them with their colleagues.

In the post-COVID-19 era, blended teaching – combining online and in-person instruction – has become a cornerstone of modern education. Recognizing its importance, Vietnamese universities are striving to build faculty capacity to deliver blended courses, catering to the diverse learning needs of students.

The USAID Partnership for Higher Education Reform (the project) collaborated with a team of experts from Azusa Pacific University to develop a training program focused on blended teaching methods. These experts led both online and in-person sessions for the participating core faculty towards the program’s goals. Faculty members acquired essential skills in teaching blended courses, such as designing blended course syllabi, applying instructional design models to create effective blended learning strategies, and integrating appropriate technologies into the learning environment.

In the post-training survey, participants agreed that the course equipped them with new methods to engage students more effectively, ultimately enhancing the quality of teaching and learning in blended courses. Dr. Nguyen Thi Hao, Dean of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Sciences at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM), praised the course’s scalability: “From the perspective of training the trainers, this course clearly met its objectives. Observing the way the experts designed and conducted the course, as well as organized learning activities, I gained valuable experience for future training sessions with my colleagues.”

The feedback from these faculty members demonstrates their commitment to applying the newly acquired knowledge and skills in their teaching and spreading the course content to their peers, aligning with the project’ rolling out plan. An extended training program for 250 additional faculty members from partner universities is scheduled for late September and October 2024. This expansion will occur after the English and Vietnamese versions of the course are integrated into the universities’ learning management systems (LMS).

This initiative, including in-person and online sessions, is part of a broader effort to enhance the quality of university faculty by building training programs, developing trainers, and eventually transferring the capacity to the universities for future implementation. The support in strengthening faculty’s blended teaching skills reinforces the project’s commitment to enhancing student learning outcomes at Vietnamese universities.