Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 1

Novel Approaches

In

Vietnamese Higher Education

C. G. Fuston, M.Ed.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 2

Table of Contents

Abstract…..………………………………………… 3

Changes in Vietnamese Higher Education…………. 4

Purpose & Benefit ………………………………… 5

Evaluation Questions ….………………………….. 6

Adult Learning Objectives ……………………….. 8

Alternative Course Activities………………………. 9

Professional Portfolio………………………………. 12

Scoring Rubric……………………………..……….. 13

New Assessment Programs………………………….. 16

Conclusion…………………………………………… 17

Cited Resources……………………………………… 18

Release Form………………………………………… 20
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 3

Abstract

Vietnam’s higher education system is going through dramatic changes. The government

has mandated all universities to change to a credit base system by the year 2010, develop more

student-centered curriculum, and fortify quality through self-assessment. However, most

universities are at a loss and unaware of how to make the appropriate changes. The proposed

project provides a variety of answers to these mandated changes, including critical thinking ideas

for classroom use, evaluation questions for instructors to strengthen course design, scoring

rubrics to guide course assessment, and suggestions for major assessments at the administration

level. The main audience would be instructors and administrators during a two to three hour

workshop, power point presentation included, to become more familiar with modern approaches

to higher education.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 4

Changes in Vietnamese Higher Education

Vietnamese higher education is undergoing drastic changes to compete globally in the economic race

pertaining to higher education and the job market. Many Vietnamese students find the universities lacking

in Vietnam and seek education abroad after high school. Furthermore, most lecturers are overworked

because they must work at several institutions, many under-qualified, giving lectures to the class by

reading out of a book. Once the students graduate from a noteworthy institution, they usually fail to return

to Vietnam, remaining in the country where they received their higher education. To counter the trend of

students leaving Vietnam for a quality education, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has mandated several

changes to the higher education sector. The higher education sector in Vietnam received a ranking system

in December 2008, and must strive to alter their current general course selection into a credit base system

by 2010, and the universities are being pressured to obtain lecturers that will introduce a more student-

centered approach in the classroom. With new change in higher education there must come some strategy

to fortify the decisions of such changes and understand the pedagogy as well as any related assessment

tools. This plan seeks to explore the student-centered approach known as critical thinking and create

goals, objectives, and assessment approaches for a higher education institution known as EQuest in

Vietnam.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 5

Purpose & Benefit

Working and using assessment strategies with adults in Vietnam is a challenge because the traditional

form of instruction has mainly considered lectures as a primary source of knowledge acquisition.

However, recently the government has mandated higher education institutions to consider introducing

more student-centered approaches to the lecture format of pedagogy to allow students to learn by doing.

One of the primary skills in adults needing to be assessed is the critical thinking approaches to problem

solving and the ability to learn how to learn. According to the “Principles for Assessment of Adult

Learning” the second principle dealing with the ability to foster self-assessment skills through critical

thinking approaches is relevant in the abilities of the adults to apply “new knowledge to the workplace”

(Kasworm 1997, p. 10). In addition, the new learning methods would offer adults the ability to interact

with diverse cultures, as exhibited through tourism in Vietnam and major foreign companies seeking

employees. Also, adults would be able to increase their ability to set career goals, and the comprehension

of knowing how to “analyze, synthesize, and apply data in context” (Kasworm 1997, p. 11). The cognitive

awareness of the implications of these methods would increase the likelihood of Vietnamese adults

finding better jobs and obtaining values coherent to their culture and society.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 6

Evaluation Questions

Teachers must begin preparing for a course by asking a variety of questions to ascertain the appropriate

direction and learning objectives. Planning is vital to success. An anonymous philosopher once said that

if someone is failing to plan then they are planning to fail. Instructors, administrators, and even students

should use evaluation questions, a process designed to help ask relevant questions to determine direction

and learning objectives during a course and to achieve maximum quality, satisfaction, and learning

outcomes. The proposal process should be one of the first steps for an instructor and organization when

beginning a new course.

A) In the proposal process three questions should be asked to the instructor and the supporting

organization:

1) What are the overall objectives of the course and how will they be achieved?

(Organization & Instructor)

2) What teaching methods will be used to create critical thinking inside and outside the

classroom? (Instructor)

3) What job skills do you anticipate teaching and developing? (Instructor)

The above questions relegate the necessary course objectives to the job skills trough the

critical thinking processes.

B) During the planning stage the organization and the instructor will also be addressed

concerning job behaviors related to the economy and the classroom:

4) What job skills are needed in the economy? (Organization & Instructor)
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 7
5) How can the instructor create an environment that can be student-centered? (Organization &

Instructor)

6) What external resources will be used in the classroom to achieve appropriate job behaviors

and skills? (Organization & Instructor)

C) At the implementation stage the instructor and the student will be addressed about the job

skills and economic demands in relation to the critical thinking skills taught in the classroom:

7) Can you name the abilities related to your current job? (Student)

8) How do you expect using the skills you learn in the classroom on the job? (Student)

9) Do the class objectives relate to job related skills? (Instructor)

D) Finally, during the review process the instructor and the students will be addressed, asking

similar questions relating to the success of critical thinking skills in relation to their desired

job skills:

10) Do you feel the course met your overall expectations? Explain why or why not. (Student)

11) What did you want to learn and what did you learn? (Student)

12) How did the instructor use resources to his advantage? (Student)

13) Do you feel you could use these skills in a job environment? Explain why or why not.

(Student)

All of the questions should concern themselves with the use of critical thinking skills to achieve job

behaviors and skills that is desired by the student and the economy. Some of the review questions

might even be asked at the beginning of a course to allow the instructors some foresight in what the
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 8

students want to learn and achieve with the course, and this could be done formally or informally

through a question and answer session.

Adult Learning Objectives for Critical Thinking

Critical thinking skills should possess the ability to analyze, synthesize, interpret, evaluate, and

do so using personal experiences and knowledge against the context of a greater knowledge base. The

first two objectives an instructor could use during a course activity involving student-centered

involvement and to help the students achieve critical thinking might be:

A) Identify the main problem of the text’s argument. (Skill Objective)

B) Create a solution to the problem of the text’s argument. (Broad Knowledge Objective)

The adult students should be able to exhibit the ability to identify, evaluate, and resolve a problem

regarding the argument of a specific text. By doing so the adult develops the critical thinking skills

necessary to locate the problem and pose a response; thereby fulfilling the task and ability to analyze a

given problem. Another objective is used to allow the students to base their answers on their own

experiences:

C) Interpret the meaning of the text using your own ideas and experiences. (Individual Knowledge

Objective)

By having the students use their own experiences they will be better suited to develop a meaning and

understanding from a reading. The goal is to have the students achieve a task using their own empirical

knowledge to stimulate the process of critical thinking. The final objective relates to organizing data:

D) Arrange the mixed paragraphs in correct order. (Organizational Level Objective)

 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 9

In order for the students to achieve critical thinking they should be able to evaluate and apply data and

synthesize it in the correct form and model.

Example Objective:

Read and analyze the selected passage and give a spoken summary relating to its meaning through your

own interpretation.

Alternative Course Activities

Alternative assessments to achieve critical thinking allow students to learn by doing and they also fulfill

the government mandates. The Scenario Analysis and the Left-hand column approaches are just a few

methods an instructor could use to achieve a more student-centered approach in the course.

Critical Analysis or Scenario Analysis:

Critical thinking is not easy, and learning a foreign language is also difficult. Therefore learning how to

critically think in a second language must be the hardest of all. Van Gelder (2005) asserts the difficulty of

the problem for Vietnamese adults taking critical thinking courses by affirming, “that mastering critical

thinking is about as difficult as becoming fluent in a second language” (p42).

The main problem with teaching critical thinking courses to Vietnamese students is the very fact

that it is done in another language other than their native tongue. Thereby, the problem inherently includes

cultural beliefs that must be overcome, language barriers, and the novel ability to actually perform the

critical thinking skills. Up until recently memorization and drilling were the key forms of education;

however, with a turn in education policy by the Vietnamese government, critical thinking skills have been

mandated to replace older, more traditional teaching techniques. But therein lay the problem. Most
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 10

current adult students at EQuest have been trained in the traditional form of pedagogy and are relatively

new to the term and practice of critical thinking.

The problem can be verified by having the students perform critical analysis, also known as

scenario analysis, of any given problem. A critical analysis activity might ask students to read about a

married woman and her family that are struggling to maintain income, and ask the students what might

they do to resolve the problem of financial support. However there may be problems encountered by an

instructor. For example, one student in a course at EQuest (A Quest for Excellence, a test preparation

center) complained when performing a scenario analysis. Being a single, male high school student as he

was, he argued there was no way for him to know the assumptions of a married woman considering

taking on a job to relieve her husband of extra duties. Regardless, simply by having students doing the

scenario analysis provides substantial feedback of the problem.

Several plans exist to overcome similar problems with the critical thinking activity. Scenario

analysis is one method to help students overcome the issues of critical thinking. Brookfield (1997)

suggests that the scenario analysis will most likely help the students develop skills in seeking out new

assumptions about hypothetical situations (p20-21). Van Gelder (2005) also reiterates that students will

need full concentration in the skill, engage themselves in special exercises, and have the students begin

with easy exercises working their way up to more difficult ones over time, and to have the instructor to

offer guidance and timely feedback (p43). In conjunction with the scenario analysis, having the students

map out their thought processes will allow the students and instructor to visually see their cognitive
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 11

reasoning skills (Van Gelder 2005, p44-45). The mapping of the scenario analysis, along with substantial

practice, will provide a key plan to resolving the problem the students face with developing new critical

thinking skills. In closing, the students are not trained in critical thinking skills and must be trained in the

skill to overcome the problem. The answer is the problem and the problem is the answer.

Left-hand Column:

One assessment method created by Argyris, Putman, and Mc Lain Smith in 1987 deals with the left-hand

column method which would be great to develop critical thinking skills (as cited in Inman 1997, p82).

The left-hand column stipulates the students should take a piece of paper and draw a line down the center,

and the right column should pertain to spoken contributions and the left column dealing with unspoken

ideas (Inman 1997, p82). The use of this method in the classroom would be used to see how the students

are processing and using information concerning a discussion concerning a topic or a reading passage. By

understanding the spoken and unspoken thoughts, the critical process can begin to be mapped and

determine if the critical thinking skills are taking place and are continuing in the right direction.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 12

Professional Portfolio

Teaching critical thinking can be quite difficult since no two classes are alike. The areas of instruction in

critical thinking include reading, writing, and reasoning. Since many universities may be used as

preparation centers for testing in Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), Graduate Management Admission Test

(GMAT), Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), The International English Language Testing

System (IELTS), and Graduate Record Examination (GRE) a portfolio method would prove fruitless for

the students, but may be very beneficial for the teaching staff.

A professional portfolio kept by the teachers could keep track of any experiences, behaviors, or

performances regarded as successful or unsuccessful in the instruction of critical thinking. The teachers

can control the pace of their portfolios, keeping track of their teaching methodologies and practices, and

any signs exhibited from their students regarding the criterions of learning. A professional portfolio by the

teachers would display their work experiences in a recorded manner for the organization and

administration to review at any time necessary. Furthermore, a portfolio will allow the additional

“responsibility of identifying, articulating, and demonstrating the learning” by the teachers, since teachers

must be life long learners, and any learning taking place, or not, by the adult students (Hamilton 1997,

p36). A portfolio is a novel way of keeping documented records of what a teacher is doing in and out of

the classroom and how the students are responding to the instruction. The portfolio will be evaluated by

administrators on the quality and not quantity of the lessons performed by the lecturer. The instructor

must contain student-centered approaches and details about the lessons and activities used. In addition,
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 13

the portfolio must contain student reactions. These reactions can be done informally or a more formal

method, like questionnaires and surveys at the end of the course. Finally, the instructor must submit in the

portfolio comments about the successes and failures of the course through a one-to-two page written

admission. A copy of the portfolio should be handed over to the administration after the conclusion of

each course, while the instructor retains the original.

Scoring Rubric

Another excellent resource to use as an assessment tool would be the scoring rubric. Kerka (1995) in

“Techniques for Authentic Assessment” defines a scoring rubric as having “a stated standard, objective,

behavior, or quality… a rating scale…. [and] specific performance characteristics arranged in levels

indicating the degree to which the standard has been met” (p4). The scoring rubric would clearly state the

student what is expected of them throughout the course and would help them to clearly understand the

criteria they would be judged on. The scoring rubric would mainly deal with critical thinking skills, self-

directed learning, and individual responsibility while using tools like checklists, simulations, essays,

interviews, observations, oral presentations, and self-assessments (Kerka 1995, p3).

The rubric is designed to assess the students in a scenario analysis, the mapping stage, and an

essay of critical thinking. The objectives of the projects are to determine the cognitive abilities in

structure, organization, examples, details, citing sources, grammar, spelling, and the comprehension of

understanding a topic and completing the task in an original manner. In addition, the instructor’s portfolio

will also be assessed on merit.

 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 14

Example Rubric:

Below Average Above Excellent

Average 2 Average 4

1 (Middle) 3 (Advanced)

(Low) (High)

Essay The writing is very difficult
to understand and very
short, using no examples
and details. The assignment
contains original ideas but
without any APA cited
sources. The writing
contains a vast majority of
mistakes in grammar and
spelling. The written project
does not fully answer the
question and does not
follow the prompt. There is
no organization or structure.
The writing is slightly The writing is easy to
difficult to understand and understand and well thought
not very well thought out, out, using examples and
using some basic examples details (with some
and details. The assignment elaboration). The completed
contains original ideas and assignment contains
correct APA cited sources original ideas and correct
with many major errors. APA cited sources with
The writing contains a large some minor errors. The
amount of mistakes in writing contains some
grammar and spelling. The mistakes in grammar and
written project slightly spelling. The project
answers the question and answers the question and
barely follows the prompt in follows the prompt in a
a moderately structured structured manner, but
manner. contains noticeable
mistakes.
The writing is easy to
understand and well thought
out, using elaborate
examples and details. The
completed assignment
contains original and
thought provoking ideas
and correct APA cited
sources. The writing
contains only a few
mistakes in grammar and
spelling. The written project
fully answers the question
and follows the prompt in a
well developed and highly
structured manner.

Scenario Able to discern the problem
but cannot effectively state
Analysis
any solutions with broken
speech.
Mapping a Able to draw and write a
Problem problem, but unable to
discern any solutions to the
problem, and unable to
continue the mapping task.
Able to discern the problem
and provide a limited
response (not coherently or
accurately and implausible)
in the stated response semi-
fluently.
Able to draw and write a
problem along with
understanding some
solutions, but unable to
relate the process to the
speaking ability (by not
being able to give an
effective oral response).
Able to discern the problem Able to discern the problem
and provide a response and provide several
containing coherent and supporting solutions in a
plausible responses fluently. clear and concise manner
fluently- with little or no
mistakes.
Able to draw and write a Able to draw and write out
problem and effectively problems and solutions
map out solutions, and also rather quickly and
provide a clear response understand how they relate
related to the written to the mental processes by
processes with some providing a fluent and
mistakes in the speaking. coherent response
pertaining to their mental
map.

Contains all required

Instructor’s Able to contain a few of the Contains several of the Contains all required materials and additional un-

Portfolio required items but not all. items required but not in a materials and exhibits some required materials aiding

clear and coherent manner. details about the course in a the instructor in the

clear and coherent manner. cataloguing of the course,

providing many specific

details in a coherent and

fluent manner.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 15

New Assessment Programs

(Suggestions)

Vietnam universities need their own department of assessment; a separated entity within the organization

itself to monitor and provide feedback of improvement in the field of higher education. The reason the

universities should take the initiative is that there are currently very few other private or public

institutions to offer sufficient quality assessment services. By the individual university offering

transparency and continual procedures of evaluation, both at the classroom and administration levels, the

quality and competitive strength of the university will in all likelihood increase. In the United States there

are programs to provide assessment to higher education. The National Survey of Student Engagement

(NSSE) and the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) offer critical evaluation, monitoring, and

feedback to many universities in the United States. The accountability NSSE and CLA offer services in

“studies that measure how often students at a given college do the things that have proved to be

associated with real learning: writing papers, speaking in class, interacting with professors” and

“measuring how well individual colleges teach their students to think and write” (Fallows, 2005, 45). The

NSSE may ask questions like: “How many papers did [the students] write? How often did they see a

professor outside of class?”; while CLA focuses on three dimensions of higher education: “critical

thinking, analytic reasoning, and written communication” (Mathews, 2005, 57). Since Vietnam has

mandated higher education to incorporate critical thinking approaches, then it is fundamental to either

mandate a national organization or provide universities the ability to self-assess themselves using similar
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 16

approaches to NSSE and/or the CLA.

In Conclusion

There are several methods for following the government mandates of incorporating student-

centered approaches into a Vietnamese institution of higher education. A few of the critical thinking skills

mentioned in the plan, a scenario analysis, written assignments in the form of essays and journals,

mapping mental processes, and documenting these outcomes through an instructor’s professional

portfolio, need careful consideration before implementation. These assessment tools, however, allow the

students to analyze their own work, creating a more student driven environment while holding the

instructor to a higher standard, one the Vietnamese government is seeking and the students deserves.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 17

Cited Resources

Brookfield, S. D. (1997). Assessing critical thinking. In Amy D. Rose and Meredyth A. Leahy (eds.),

Assessing adult learning in diverse settings: Current issues and approaches, 17-29. San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Fallows, James. (2005). College Admissions. In Richard H. Hersh and John Merrow (eds.), Declining by

Degrees, 37-46. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hamilton, R. (1997). The Assessment of Noncollegiate Sponsored Programs of Instruction. In Amy D.

Rose & Meredyth A. Leahy (Eds.), Assessing adult learning in diverse settings: Current issues and

approaches, 31-40. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Inman, P. L., & Vernon, S. (1997). Assessing Workplace Learning: New Trends and Possibilities. In Amy

D. Rose & Meredyth A. Leahy’s (Eds.), Assessing adult learning in diverse settings: Current issues

and approaches, 75-85. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Kasworm, C. E., & Mariena, C. A. (1997). Principles for Assessment of Adult Learning. In Amy D. Rose

& Meredyth A. Leahy (Eds.), Assessing adult learning in diverse settings: Current issues and

approaches, 5-16. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Kerka, S. (1995). Techniques for authentic assessment. Eric Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and

Vocational Education. Columbus, Ohio. Retrieved on October 28, 2008 from:

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/13/d6/14.pdf

Mager, Robert F. (1997). Preparing Instructional Objectives: A critical tool in the development of
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 18

effective instruction, 3rd edition. Atlanta, Georgia: CEP press.

Mathews, Jay. (2005). Caveat Lector: Unexamined assumptions about quality in higher education. In

Richard H. Hersh and John Merrow (eds.), Declining by Degrees, 47-59. New York, NY: Palgrave

Macmillan.

Van Gelder, T. (2005, Winter). Teaching critical thinking. College Teaching, 53, 41-46.
 Novel Approaches in Vietnamese Higher Education 19

STUDENT WORK CONSENT AND RELEASE FORM

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Material:
[Brief description of student’s project]
The plan explores new approaches in higher education within Vietnam and designs tools pertaining to
critical thinking and student-centered approaches for a course at EQuest (a Vietnamese institution). A
Power Point Presentation has also been created to compliment the research.
Course: EDU 669
Term: February-March 2009
Please sign this form below, indicating whether you accept or decline to have your work added to the JIU
Course Project Library. Acceptance is optional and is in no way a requirement of your course.
ACCEPT

Signature:

Printed Name: Cody G. Fuston

Date: March 24, 2009