Abstract:

This paper reports the result of an online professional course for English teachers across Vietnam. This is a collaborative digital learning project between a university in Vietnam and the partner in the UK and it is funded by the British Council. The project responds to the CPD need in a sustainable way by designing and delivering a digital teacher training and mentoring course on materials selection, adaptation and delivery of the new textbooks in Vietnam. 67 junior secondary teachers from a range of provinces in Vietnam were selected to join an online mentoring project and were divided into four groups with 15-20 teachers in each group. The project involved synchronous and asynchronous CPD with two main phases: a training course in 9 weeks followed by in-school application of ideas in three months. Different tools are employed to support the teachers during the course. Live training was hosted on Zoom; the teachers worked in their mini team to complete their materials tasks and post on Padlet; Google Classroom was used as the learning management system; Zalo groups were created for communication about tasks, logistics, requests for technical help, for social greetings. The data were collected via mid-course and final-course surveys and teacher written reflections. The findings showed that the teachers highly appreciate the structure of the course and the support they received. The main lessons identified in this project could be applicable to running similar projects in the future.

Keywords:

Online, professional development, digital learning, Vietnam, UK.