The USAID Partnership for HIgher Education Reform (Project) has been collaborating with the Institute for Education Quality Assurance – Vietnam National University Hanoi (VNU-INFEQA) to develop Vietnam’s first comprehensive set of standards for evaluating online courses. This effort marks a major turning point in Vietnam’s online education landscape, as the rapid growth of online learning during recent years has highlighted the urgent need for robust evaluation standards to ensure the quality of online courses in higher education institutions.

With more universities embracing online and blended learning, ensuring the quality and effectiveness of online courses has become a priority to Internal Quality Assurance Units. Until now, the lack of a set of standards and evaluation process for online courses has made it difficult for universities to consistently measure and improve the quality of their digital offerings. The technical support from the project to VNU-INFEQA aimed to fill this gap by establishing a rigorous and practical standards and process for evaluating the quality of online courses with survey tools to gather feedback from students and faculty alike. By developing these standards, VNU-INFEQA with the project’s technical support are setting a new benchmark for online education in the country, helping universities better serve their students and maintain high academic standards in an online learning environment.

The development of the standards for online course evaluation involved a rigorous, collaborative process over five months, led by INFEQA with technical support from the project’s experts. A task force of six key INFEQA staff members participated in a series of online coaching, training, and in-person sessions to develop a comprehensive set of standards for online course evaluation with 7 standards, 30 criteria and 93 indicators combined with guidelines and survey tools with detailed steps as follows.

Webinar to introduce the international standards for online education

The process began with a Webinar, where 53 participants from nine member universities of VNU gathered to learn about international standards for online education and online teaching. The expert introduced various global frameworks and demonstrated how these standards could be customized to suit Vietnam’s unique educational context. This session provided valuable insights into the development of a localized evaluation framework, laying the groundwork for further progress.

First Draft and Feedback

Following the Webinar, INFEQA team drafted the first version of a set of standards for online course evaluation based on discussed ideas and inputs from the Webinar. The Project experts played a pivotal role in reviewing and providing feedback on this initial draft through a series of online coaching sessions.

Online coaching session to provide feedback on the draft developed by INFEQA by the Project expert

Hands-on Training and Practical Application

To ensure the standards were relevant and applicable within the VNU system, a two-day in-person training session was held. This event, attended by 54 participants from the nine member universities, provided a deep dive into how to use the draft standard to evaluate online courses. Participants practiced applying the standards to evaluate the current online course from VNU “State and General Law” (Nhà nước và Pháp luật Đại cương). The practice enabled participants to provide crucial insightful feedback, informing the adjustments made to the second draft of the standards.

In-person training to define standard for Online course evaluation in Vietnam context

Refining the Standards

Building on the feedback from the training, a two-day in-person coaching session was conducted with 11 key INFEQA staff by the project’ expert. During this session, the group with the expert reviewed and provided constructive feedback on the second draft of the standards and procedures for online course evaluation and started to develop the guideline for online course evaluation. This collaborative process was essential in ensuring that the standards were both rigorous and suited to the specific needs of the Vietnamese higher education system.

The 1st standards for Online course evaluation developed in VNU Hanoi by the project support

Final Stages of Development

As the standards continued to evolve, the Project experts facilitated online coaching sessions on June 25th and September 27th. These sessions engaged nine core INFEQA staff and focused on refining the third and fourth versions of the standards. Additionally, feedback was provided on three survey tools designed to gather student input on online courses, as well as on the evaluation guidelines. Through multiple rounds of consultation and feedback, INFEQA team designed comprehensive standards with clear guidelines and survey tools to evaluate the quality of online courses.

Procedure to evaluate Online courses in VNU Hanoi

Completion and Next Steps

After five months of dedicated effort with the Project’s technical support, INFEQA successfully completed the development of the standards, guidelines, and survey tools for online course evaluation. This marks the first comprehensive framework of its kind in Vietnam, representing a major milestone in enhancing the quality of online education in Vietnam. Additionally, this development set a new benchmark for online course evaluation and ensured that VNU’s member universities are equipped to offer high-quality, modern online learning experiences.

“These standards will be used to evaluate all online courses at VNU and then possibly to support other universities in Vietnam for reviewing and evaluating their online courses” – said Associate Professor Nghiem Xuan Huy – Director of INFEQA on the potentials of the Standards.