SKKN EFFECTIVE TEACHING APPROACH IN A DIGITAL AGE FOR STUDENTS OF UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL

NGHE AN PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HUYNH THUC KHANG HIGH SCHOOL - 000 - TEACHING EXPERIENCE “EFFECTIVE TEACHING APPROACH IN A DIGITAL AGE FOR STUDENTS OF UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL” SUBJECT: ENGLISH TEACHER: PHAM THI THANH VAN GROUP: LITERATURE-FOREIGN LANGUAGE SCHOOL YEAR: 2021 - 2022 PHONE NUMBER: 0941947918 TABLE OF CONTENT PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 Reasons for choosing the theme: The aims of the study: Scope of the study: Method of the tudy: Contributions of the study PART II: CONTENTS OF THE STUDY Theoretical background 1.1 The concept of teaching approach in a digital age 1.2 Principles of teaching in a digital age 1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of teaching in a digital age 1.4 The application of teaching approach in a digital age to improve effective skills 1.4.1 Synchronous teaching method (virtual classroom) 1.4.2 Asynchronous teaching method Practical background 2.1 Data investigation, survey the actual situation of students and the state of the research problem at my school 2.1.1 Setting of the study 2.1.2 Difficulties from the students 2.1.3 Difficulties from the teachers 2.2 Analysis and evaluation of the practical issues 10 Solutions and application activities to improving teaching and learning in a digital age 13 3.1 Some application activities of techtools and platforms of teaching implementation into lessons in “Tieng Anh 12 new” to support the two approaches 13 3.2 Classroom oberservation and lesson plans 16 3.2.1 Some applicationn of techtools and platforms of teaching implementation into some activities of „Reading‟ skill in “Tieng Anh 12 new” 16 3.2.2 Some applications of techtools and platforms of teaching implementation into some activities of „Project‟in “Tieng Anh 12 new” 23 Effectiveness of the teaching experience 35 PART III: CONCLUSION 38 Summary of the study 38 Conclusion 39 Recommendations for further study 40 REFERENCE 41 APPRENDIXES 42 PART I: INTRODUCTION Reasons for choosing the theme: - Applying digital technology to online education is becoming an inevitable trend of society However, with this method, teachers together with their students face many difficulties to achieve the desired results - Teachers and students are used to teaching and learning directly Students are not familiar with online learning - Students have difficulty in learning online, which makes them difficult to adapt to the online learning environment The habit of learning in the face to face class is hard to focus on online platforms - The teachers find out some general difficulties in teaching and learning in this period and apply some suitable methods, techtools as well as platforms, helping to diversify and improve flexibility in some skills - With online teaching challenges, teachers give out synchronous and asynchronous methods and approaches when teaching online and increase interoperability to improve teaching and the quality of education effectively and encourage the creativity of teachers as well as of students in the digital age - The mentioned reasons above, the writer choose the topic: “Effective teaching approach in a digital age for students of upper secondary school" to study and experimence in the online teaching process with the desire to contribute and help colleagues and students improve online lessons in some skills effectively The aims of the study: When choosing this topic for research, my research is carried out to achieve the following objectives: - To investigate the current situations of teaching and learning in a digital age at Huynh Thuc Khang High School - To find out the ways of approaches for improving effectively teaching in a digital age at Huynh Thuc Khang High School for the 12th graders - To suggest some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age for enhancing teaching some skills for the 12th graders at High Schools Scope of the study: - To focus on two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches in online procedures applied in some skills for the 12th graders of the new program - To provide some techtools, platforms to support the two approaches Method of the tudy: - Questionnaire research method - Observative method - Designing activities method Contributions of the study The teachers give out two ways of synchronous (virtual classroom) asynchronous approaches in online process applied in some skills for the graders of the new program with some techtools and platforms to support the approaches, helping students concentrate on learning, overcome difficulties promote students‟ creativity to have more effective lessons and 12 th two and PART II: CONTENTS OF THE STUDY Theoretical background 1 The concept of teaching approach in a digital age Teaching approach in a digital age is the innovative use of digital tools and technologies during teaching and learning, and is often referred to as Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) or e-Learning Exploring the use of digital technologies gives educators the opportunity to design engaging learning opportunities in the courses they teach, and these can take the form of blended or fully online courses and programmes Digital learning is an instructional practice that ultimately helps students It makes use of a broad range of technology-enhanced educational strategies It includes blended learning, flipped learning, personalized learning, and other strategies that rely on digital tools to a small or large degree According to Louise Starkey‟s “Effective teaching in the digital age requires a high level of professional knowledge and skill The teacher needs to be able to recognise what students know and don’t know, draw on discipline knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, educational psychology and knowledge of the context to teach the students concepts and skills that they will need to participate in society They also need to facilitate opportunities for students to collaboratively create and critique knowledge within and beyond the formal learning environment Teaching will be a highly skilled and demanding profession.” Teaching and learning in the digital age combine traditional and modern approaches to make education more holistic and dynamic for the students In an online distance learning or remote learning setup, students study concepts and theories virtually or through the internet 1.2 Principles of teaching in a digital age To have good teaching effectively in a digital age, in principle, is fundamentally the same as good face-to-face teaching For online teaching to be successful, teachers need to adapt their facilitation strategies depending on how they intend to use the online learning environment For example, there could be differences in applied strategies for various modes of online teaching and their level of „onlineness‟ Online teaching, particularly for the fully online mode, does not necessarily mean transferring the exact same teaching approach and curriculum that would be applied in a fully face-to-face teaching situation In some instances this would be very problematic and others less suitable For example, a verbal presentation, commonly used in fully face-to-face teaching assessment, would be difficult to conduct in a fully online course Ko and Rossen (2004) remind us that “The move to the online format offers you opportunities to try new methods and approaches Preserving the quality of your course need not mean finding the exact translation of what you’ve always done in the past” (Ko & Rossen, 2004: 48) Depending on your course‟s learning outcomes or objectives and the course topic, there would be variations in approaches even within the same online mode So there is no one answer to what good online teaching looks like However, there are broader principles that can be applied to assist student learning Hodges (2004) found a number of consistent features that are important when motivating online students: - Self-efficacy: student confidence in believing they can achieve online - Relevance and authenticity - Meaningful application of feedback - Encouragement of student collaboration - Variety in all areas of teaching - Usability of the online learning environment Where possible, strategies that integrate these features into an online course should be applied as they assist online students adapt to the online learning environment and make the experience more student-centerd For more information regarding motivating online students, examples and discussion about these features see motivating and engaging online students  Being prepared to teach online To be a good online teacher, you need to be prepared for the various tasks required during semester Being prepared has many advantages: - Allowing you to anticipate potential problems and being in a position to make adjustments when necessary - Developing confidence that will have a positive flow-on effect to your students - Enabling you to better manage your course in areas such as workload, time management and sustainability to ensure schedules are maintained and stress is avoided There are many ways to prepare for online teaching: - Becoming involved with communities of practice - Collaborating with others involved in teaching about online pedagogical approaches and technical issues - Offering your own advice to others and receive feedback from others about your ideas - Enrolling in staff development programs - Knowing what will be expected of you as an online teacher developing a strategy to ascertain any extra necessary skills and competencies required  Communicating clear expectations to students Once you have established your facilitation strategy, it is important to communicate with your students what is expected of them This is especially important if your students have not undertaken an online course before Communicate with your students about the following issues from the beginning and throughout your course: - Assignments and how they are to be submitted - Communication protocols: when, how and netiquette - Exemplars of quality student work - The nature of online learning and that they will need to be more self-directed - Features of the online learning environment that you have established such as where resources are located, general navigation and any specific tools or software that will be used - Any other institution or Faculty-based policies related to your course  Building a sense of community Fully online students have reported tendencies to feel isolated It is important to establish a strong online learning community for students To achieve a greater sense of community: - Firstly introduce yourself to your students - Ask students to introduce themselves - Develop strategies for student-to-student collaboration and solving problems together - Provide opportunities for students to socialize - Use metaphors and symbolism to replicate the physical environment and infer further information  Selecting technologies for teaching Technology provides the platform for online teaching and an important aspect of good online teaching is the appropriate integration of technological tools Some teaching staff may be comfortable with a high degree of technology use while others may prefer less For those teachers who are not so confident with technology, trialing one tool at a time, such as a discussion board in a blended online mode, is a good place to start Other teachers may be highly confident and integrate more types of technology In either situation, it is important that your selection of technology is pedagogically grounded That is, you need to have a reason for using the technology that is related to the students‟ learning Technologies selected purely for their novelty value will soon lose their appeal with students Aligning technology features with student learning outcomes will assist in the most beneficial selection of technology Huddle stone and Pike (2008) have identified seven key areas to consider when selecting media for student learning: - The learning task: can the task be achieved using technology? - Media attributes: what features will support the learning activity? - Grouping strategy: students learn in group or individually? - Learning context - Learner characteristics - Instructional management: will technology be supported in wider organization? - Cost effectiveness  Making online courses accessible There are two main areas of accessibility for online students: - Technical: Online components of your course should be accessible to students, in terms of file size versus student download speeds, and providing alternative ways for students to access information if required - Inclusive: Your course should be accessible for students from diverse backgrounds relating to such areas as culture, disability and socioeconomic status 1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of teaching in a digital age Thanks to technology, online-teaching and learning are now made possible Many students worldwide can now access all kinds of courses online without leaving the comfort of their homes They are given opportunities to learn from competent educators and interact with other students from different locations But just like in-person learning, e-learning also has its share of advantages and disadvantages Take a look at some of them below: Advantages of online-teaching and learning: - Saves time and money - Better retention - Personalized learning - Cost-effective - Environment-friendly Disadvantages of online-teaching and learning: - Lacks social interaction - Inaccessible to others - Cheating is unavoidable - Requires self-motivation and proper time management skills - Focuses more on theory It‟s the most modern way of learning that requires only a gadget and internet access However, it‟s not for everybody Being aware of the advantages and disadvantages of e-learning can help students improve the ways of learning better 1.4 The application of teaching approach in a digital age to improve effective skills In that context, in order to prevent the spread of the Covid -19 epidemic; while maintaining the quality of teaching and completing the program on schedule, ensuring the learning of students; many schools have applied teaching in the online form for almost all levels of education In fact, the transition from traditional learning to online learning has created many challenges for students Suggestion of two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches of teaching in the digital age in some skills are necessary Synchronous and asynchronous teachings are different approaches in managing distance teaching Each has its advantages, both for teachers and learners With applying the blended synchronous and asynchronous teaching method mixture to combines the strengths of synchronous and asynchronous learning to provide a remote learning experience balanced with social interactions and the online lessons are more effectively, while developing the digital technology foundation and training the skills of using technology tools for both teachers and students better 1.4.1 Synchronous teaching method (virtual classroom) Synchronous learning means that the instructor and the students in the course engage with the course content and each other at the same time, but from different locations The instructor interacts with students in real time by means of tools such as WebEx to livestream audio, video, and presentations, Bongo Virtual Classroom to hold live classes or meetings, LEARN‟s chat feature to engage in live conversations, Google Docs to simultaneously edit documents, and more That is the process of applying information technology to increase interoperability Virtual classrooms allow students and instructors to communicate synchronously using features such as audio, video, text chat, interactive whiteboard, application sharing, instant polling, emoticons, and breakout rooms 28 - Digital Synchronous Education Tools: Using Zoom through LMS: Pictures are carried out by group class 12D3 - Students show, present slides and ask and answer the questions to join the whole class - Teacher asks other groups to comment and supple the opinion - The teacher guides the students to further discuss the questions raised - Teacher summarizes and comments 29 UNIT 2: URBANIZATION PROJECT Teaching aids - Digital Asynchronous Education Tools: a Using platforms: Zalo, email, video for the period: Project unit “The mass media in our life” English 12 Interview these classmates to find out how they used the social networking sites and apps Then report to the class The teacher gives the suggestions before learning through + Zalo: Here are some guiding questions: What social networking sites you use? What information you have on your webpage? Do you ever get on the Internet using your mobile phone? What you think of this method of using the Net? Do you have a blog? What you put on it? Do you read other people's blogs? What you think of blogging? Have you used any online gambling sites? How they work? b Using platforms: email, video The students prepare to discuss in groups and create their own products 30 - Digital Synchronous Education Tools: Using Zoom through LMS: - The students show, present slides and make and answer the questions together with the whole class by the video sent through the email 31 Pictures are about the percentage of social media networking usage surveyed by the class 12D3 - group - Teacher asks other groups to comment and supple the ideas - The teacher guides the students to further discuss the raised questions - Teacher summarizes and comments UNIT 5: CUTURAL IDENTITY Teaching aids - Digital Asynchronous Education Tools: a Using platforms: Zalo, email, video for the period: Project unit “Cultural identity” English 12 32 Choose one ethnic group in Viet Nam Look for information about the features that define the group‟s cultural identity The teacher gives the suggestions: + Zalo: Suggested ethnic groups: ● the Rhade (or Ede) in Central Highlands ● the Cham in central Viet Nam and An Giang Province ● the Tay in northern Viet Nam Population ● Region(s) with significant population ● Language ● Religion and beliefs ● Clothing ● Traditional food and drink ● Festivals and music b Using platforms: email, video The student prepare and discuss in groups and make their own products by the video 33 34 Pictures about “Cultural identity” project of Tay ethnic worked in groups of students – group class 12D3 - Digital Synchronous Education Tools: Using Zoom through LMS: - After emailing, students present and ask questions to join the whole class - Teacher asks other groups to comment and supplement the ideas - The teacher guides the students to further discuss the questions raised - Teacher summarizes and comments Effectiveness of the teaching experience It is clear that I used and combined the ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools and platforms for improving effectively teaching in a digital age in two skills „reading and project‟ in two other classes: 12A10 and 12D3 When I put them into teaching, I realized that what I carried out with these new teaching approaches, in fact that the results were very effective, improved the quality of the lesson, helped the students understand, concentrate on learning, have positive and enthusiastic learning attitude, active interaction and communication with teachers and groups, at the same time, promote students‟ creativity more, as well as created a learning environment and atmosphere in the classroom online Specifically, in 12A10 class, the number of students who had positive and enthusiastic learning attitude has increased significantly 24 students out of 46 students with a remarkable rate of 52.2%, the students who had active interaction and communication with teachers and in groups in this class were 17 students with 37.0%, and only student still are boring, stressful and uninterested learning attitude was 10.8% In addition, the students in 12D3 class also positively changed 23 students out of 46 students to 35 reach 50%, they were very excited, actively participated in the online lessons more, they interacted and communicated with their teachers and in groups more with 41.3%, the rate of 19 students The percentage of students who were still boring, stressful and uninterested learning attitude with very few numbers dropping to students 8.7% which has changed compared to the results I taught in 12A9 or 12D4 classes In generally, all of the students took part in the active learning and learnt more creative and understood the lesson better and more effectively Comparing the percentage of students who had positive and enthusiastic learning attitude and interaction and communication with teachers and in groups when I havenot applied and have applied the ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools and platforms in two skills „reading and project‟ in English 12 new program, I got the following results: Classes Number Positive and enthusiastic learning attitude Boring, stressful and uninterested learning attitude Active interaction and communication with teachers and groups Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 12A9 46 22 47.8% 8.7% 20 43.5% 12A10 46 24 52.2% 10.8% 17 37.0% 12D3 46 23 50.0% 8.7% 19 41.3% 12D4 47 23 48.9% 12.8% 18 38.3% Table 3: Comparing academic results before and after using some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age in classes 36 Chart: Comparing academic results before and after using some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age in classes 37 PART III: CONCLUSION Summary of the study Using and combining the ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools and platforms for improving effectively teaching in a digital age are necessary Currently, there are many types of techtools and platforms and their cope of use is also very wide The softwares can be applied to teach for different fields, ages, levels, etc However, within the scope of this theme, I only focus on studying of the application two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools and platforms in a digital age in two skills „reading and project‟ of English 12 new program The number of participants is the students from classes and the teachers of English in my group and the study is conducted at my high school From the above study, I summarize the following research process: - The theme initially builds the theoretical and practical background of the application two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools and platforms in a digital age in two skills „reading and project‟ of English 12 new program, especially increasing interoperability is to improve teaching and the quality of education effectively and encourage the creativity of teachers as well as of students in this period - I designed, selected and edited two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools and platforms as synchronous forms tool and platforms: zoom through LMS , Google handouts, creative apps for collaborative learning in synchronous environments and student response system (SRS) which students can use their own devices, be it a mobile phone, tablet or laptop Tools for asynchronous form: video, email, blogs and platforms for asynchronous form: kahoot, padlet and wordwall into two skills „reading and project‟ - I have seriously implemented, applied in teaching with these two ways of approaches and found them effective in some of the 12th classes I taught in the first semester of this school year and specifically proven as 12A10 and 12D3 classes The introduction of these approaches into the online teaching is very effective both learning attitudes and the number of students with good knowledge of improving some skills It can be shown that using techtools and platforms after the teachers supply the suggestions related to the lessons before, and the students‟ preparations as well as the used apps into the online lessons which made the students excited, interested, innovative, creative differently and enrich the lessons as well as enhance their ability to use technology Resulting in higher learning outcomes 38 Conclusion Online teaching still has a lot of research and practical applications in the digital age, especially the transformation of the Covid-19 epidemic The theme focuses on effective online teaching approach; However, the theory of technology application in teaching has not been mentioned yet, but only some applications are proposed in synchronous and asynchronous methods Of course, no method can completely solve online learning and teaching since each method has its strengths and weaknesses Therefore, the combination of synchronous and asynchronous methods to create a mixed method to apply to the online teaching process more effectively and support the quality of teaching classes as well as help students overcome difficulties in online learning Most of these platforms are a powerful enabler of distance language teaching and learning However, for the method to be optimally effective, teachers also need to design lessons appropriately, use flexible applications for each activity and skill Normally, the students are familiar with the previous form of direct learning After approaching the request of the content in the 'project' lesson, the students discuss and give the ideas in class, and the teacher supplies more They mainly give the outline of their ideas at that time, then they will give a presentation If they are not prepared, it takes a long time to carry out in that period which puts them some pressure, is not enough time to be creative, just give a presentation, make their talk boring, have few ideas When the students are guided and prepared in advance to share through the using of techtools, platforms like this which will make the talk more interesting, have deeply creative contents with pictures and sound illustrations The products will be shown along with the content presented by the students to make them excited and the lessons are more ebullient and attractive Discussing and interacting each other as well as the quality of the lesson will be more in-depth Online teaching is effective, it is a combination of diverse applications of technology, innovation in teaching methods Thanks to the actual experience, the teacher will choose the most suitable and effective online teaching method On the other hand, the learning process also becomes richer and more engaging, does not apply one-way teaching method Online form, the exchange and face-to-face discussions need to be increased to ensure that students firmly grasp the knowledge and focus on learning In addition, depending on the characteristics of each skill and each lesson, teachers can apply different approaches and choose appropriate platforms to help increase students' interest That success is a part of teaching through the platforms mentioned above With this kind of approach in this digital period will help students absorb, interact and concentrate on the lesson more effectively 39 From those positive sides, the approach of these two methods in this period brings optimal results When studying this theme, the writer presented my experience to my colleagues in the professional group, then they have commented, supplemented, modified and unified to apply in teaching at my school After a time of application, I have achieved very encouraging results The classes in 12th grades are no longer boring and tedious ones Most students are very interested in cooperating in the activities, the awareness of online learning is raised Because of the better effect, I have bravely applied the two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools, platforms to support them in online procedures applied in some skills for the 12th graders of the new program to make the effective teaching in a digital age Recommendations for further study Applying the two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools, platforms in online procedures brings positive effects in teaching in a digital age The research is only proposed for some skills „reading and project‟ and applied with some techtools and platforms in English 12 Therefore, further research on the theme might be studied larger scopes and applied to all grades and teachers of English It is necessary to continue researching the ability to apply two ways of synchronous and asynchronous approaches with some techtools, platforms to organize online learning activities of students into the lessons effectively On the other hand, teachers need to continue designing the activities and using other techtools and platforms to teach other knowledge and skills such as teaching writing, listening, vocabulary, grammar structure, etc… Although the research was carefully prepared and made every effort to invest in this research theme, the shortcomings were inevitable I hope that all levels, teachers and students will read, consult, and contribute feedback to help the theme become more complete and become a useful reference source for teachers and learners The writer 40 REFERENCE Vietnamese Bộ GD & ĐT: Sách Tiếng Anh 12 chương trình NXB Giáo Dục Việt Nam 2021 English Giesbers, B., Rienties, B., Tempelaar, D., & Gijselaers, W (2013), A dynamic analysis of the interplay between asynchronous and synchronous communication in online learning: The impact of motivation, Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, [1] Johnson, G M (2006), Synchronous and asynchronous text‐based CMC in educational contexts: A review of recent research, TechTrends, [2] Kinshuk & Chen, N (2006), Synchronous Methods and Applications in E-Learning, Campus- Wide Information Systems, vol 23, no (2006) [3] 41 APPRENDIXES Table 1: Results from students‟ online learning situation questionnaires Table 2: results before using some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age in classes Table 3: Comparing academic results after using some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age in classes Chart 1: results before using some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age in classes Chart 2: Comparing academic results before and after using some methods, techtools and platforms of teaching implementation in a digital age in classes 42 ... Principles of teaching in a digital age 1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of teaching in a digital age 1.4 The application of teaching approach in a digital age to improve effective skills... the internet 1.2 Principles of teaching in a digital age To have good teaching effectively in a digital age, in principle, is fundamentally the same as good face-to-face teaching For online teaching. .. areas as culture, disability and socioeconomic status 1.3 Advantages and disadvantages of teaching in a digital age Thanks to technology, online -teaching and learning are now made possible Many