Project information
| Status | Finalist |
| URL | Go to website |
| Category | Education Training and practice |
| Country | Vietnam |
| Operational areas | Urban, Rural |
| Target groups | Children, Youth, Women, Men, Seniors |
| Fixed connection | DSL |
| Wireless connection | CDMA |
| Access points | Home, School, Telecenter |
| Interact | Landline Phone, Desktop Computer, Cellphone, Laptop |
| Software License Types | Proprietary |
Project location
Random images Challenge 2008
TOPIC64 - National network of E-learning centers in 64 provinces of Vietnam
- Brief description
- TOPIC64 is developing a national system of sustainable and locally adaptable e-learning centers that targets 100,000 degree students and hundreds of thousands of other trainees in the next 5 years. During 2006-2007 to date, the project has trained 10,446 students in its 64 member centers, 40% of whom free of charge, 474 teachers, benefited 70,692 other students in 426 affiliate centers, and helped 15/64 members reach economic sustainability. The project involves a 7-party public-private-partnership including Microsoft, USAID, Qualcomm, EVN Telecom, Hewlett-Packard, Vietnam government agencies, and is run by CRC-TOPIC Business Incubator of Hanoi University of Technology. In 2006, the project was selected by Development Gateway Award into the 7 finalists from 160 ICT project worldwide, and the organization recognized by World Bank InfoDev program among the 4 global best practices from 62 incubators worldwide.
- Vision, Objectives and Goals
- The project’s long-term vision is to develop a national system of sustainable and locally adaptable e-learning centers. In the next 5 years, this means targeting 100.000 degree students and hundreds of thousands of other trainees. During 2006-2007 to date, the project has exceeded initial expectations by having trained 10,446 students in its 64 member centers, 40% of whom free of charge. In addition, 474 teachers have been trained and 70,692 other students benefited from the new curriculum and and teaching methodology in 426 affiliate centers. 15 out of 64 member centers so far have achieved cash-flow break-even, an indicator of economic sustainability. The e-learning initiative helps bridge the gaps between supply and demand of skilled workers in an economy that grows 8% annually but still have over 40% of population working in agricultural sector. Each year, 1 million applicants apply for 200,000 college seats, a 20% chance for college-age students to attend degree education, compared to well over 50% in developed western economies or 30-40% in neighboring ASEAN countries. Even for vocational training schools, only 30% of the annual demand is met and training quality is low, resulting in 15% unemployment rate among the 20-25 year group. For the whole education system in general, there is a huge shortage of teachers, infrastructure and updated relevant content. All these issues can only be addressed efficiently with innovative and suitable application of e-learning technologies and methodologies, in an economically sustainable and locally adaptable context. From 2006 to 2007, the project has exceeded its short-term goal of “developing sustainable community ICT training centers in 64 provinces of Vietnam”. In order to deliver Basic IT training to communities, it granted hardware, software and capacity building services to 64 centers in 64 provinces (TOPIC64 centers), and also provided curriculum and coaching to 426 affiliate centers. Besides setting free-training quotas to meet social objectives, the project encourages the centers to design and provide market-relevant courses for fees. In order to achieve this, teachers are trained on the new curriculum and teaching pedagogies, and center managers are coached to be able to operate with economic sustainability.
In the next 5 years, the goal is to expand the system in both depth and reach. The training content will represent a wider variety including degree courses in IT, business, accounting etc., as well as vocational training programs and short courses. The target audience will be 100.000 degree students and hundreds of thousands of other trainees, in accordance with a National Master Plan for E-learning that the project’s manager helped Ministry of Education and Training to develop recently.
- How does ICT contribute to the organisational objectives
- ICT will contribute to the objectives through the advantages of e-learning: reduce the need for costly brick-and-mortar school infrastructure and travelling, reduce the need for personal delivery of repetitive lectures so teachers can be freed up to engage in more interaction with students, allow more timely and efficient updates of training content that are frequently needed in a fast-paced economy, address the needs of diverse student base by allowing flexible learning “anytime, anywhere”. The project leverages ICT pragmatically and efficiently considering the country’s overall level of technology infrastructure development. In the first period of 2006-2007, we focused on building access infrastructure in 64 provincial centers (10-20 PCs each, network equipment, office software), and e-learning and e-coaching was applied only for teachers and center managers (through a custom-developed support website), while students so far attended only face-to-face classes that aim to develop their basic IT skills. In the next 5 years, we will adopt suitable delivery and teaching models for different student groups with particular skills and infrastructure available. For example, the same learning content can be delivered through TV broadcast, VCDs and dial-up lines to remote-area students, as well as through online videos, multimedia downloads and ADSL connections to better-equipped students. We have developed ad comprehensive master plan that involves efficient investments at central, regional branch, local branch and student levels, balancing hardware (datacenters, multimedia labs, regular labs, studios, connectivity equipment, etc.), software (Learning Mangement Systems, Learning Content Management Systems, E-library, Virtual Classroom, Potrals etc.) and content (online video, audio, text, animation, CD material, traditional books, TV and radio broadcast etc.).
- Transferability
- Replication of the project could be considered on two levels: replication of a local centers, or of the whole project. For local centers, a replicating entity could be any not-for-profit organization with training profile. In fact our current 64 centers show a versatile picture: they are located in vocational schools (under state agency for vocational training), continuing education centers (under ministry of education), training centers belonging to other ministries or local government entities, high schools etc. It could also be an NGOs if it can show capability to attract students, raise funds and achieve sustainability. For the whole project, it is harder to replicate as there has been a combination of fortunate events and timely actions that led to a strong public-private partnership behind it. The project started out with Microsoft as a single sponsor and CRC-TOPIC as the implementation agency, with smaller budget and scope. When Microsoft saw encouraging signs of good implementation, they convinced USAID to co-sponsor, and then both of them invited Qualcomm, EVN Telecom and HP to join board. CRC-TOPIC for its part was flexible enough to accommodate multiple changes in project plans, budgets, governance structure, to engage a wide range of government entities as important stakeholders while avoiding their excess influence, all under the pressure of the upcoming APEC Summits that demanded early quantitative results.
- Project summary
- Major milestones include:- Jan 2006: CRC-TOPIC signed grant agreement with Microsoft, project planning, taking over 4 centers previously set up by Microsoft- Feb-Mar 2006: USAID, Qualcomm, EVN Telecom joined - Apr 2006: Launch ceremony attended by Bill Gates and Deputy Prime Minister, selection process start with 500 centers to choose the first 15: online and phone surveys, field visits- Aug 2006: First 15 centers up and running, Hewlett-Packard joined, website and online forum launched for experience sharing, customized Moodle-based e-learning system launched with courses for teachers and center managers - Nov 2006: 2,660 students trained in 15 centers, 120 teachers trained via e-learning, 11,000 students indirectly benefited from new curriculum and teaching methodology in 200 affliate centers. Project showcased at APEC Summit conference “Strategies for Workforce development”. Received visit from US Trade Representative Susan Schwab- Dec 2006: Selection process start to choose the remaining 45 centers- Jan-Feb 2007: Received visits from senior executives of Microsoft, Qualcomm, government agencies etc.- Mar-Apr 2007: Face-to-face workshops with 22+23 centers - Apr 2007: Start implementation of hardware, software, connectivity, capacity building activities. Center managers and teachers engage in e-learning courses and online experience sharing- Jul 2007: All 45 new centers up and running- Sep 2007: 10,446 trained with basic IT curriculum, 474 teachers trained via e-learning, 70,692 students benefited from new curriculum and teaching methodology in 426 affilate centers, 15/64 centers reached economic sustainability Main ongoing activities include: - Training and coaching of teachers and center managers, through a combination of momentum-building face-to-face seminars, VCDs, guidebooks, e-learning courses, quizzes, exams in Moodle-based system, and experience sharing in online forums- Gathering information from public surveys and center managers, teachers to study user needs in different communities, target groups- Customization and distribution of Microsoft UP basic IT curriculum to member and affiliate centers: book and CD-text format for 100% face-to-face delivery, multimedia self-learning format via CD or online for 30-50% face-to-face delivery.- Monitoring and facilitation of training and sustainability targets for 64 member and 426 affiliate centers- Advocacy of the project and TOPIC64 brand, via press releases, publicity events, high profile visits, contests, project website etc.
- Development of new training content – short courses and degree programs in ICT, business, finance etc. with various partners such as Microsoft, HP’s ICT for SME program, Small Business School on the PBS channel in the US, the Global Trade and Investment Management Network, the Open University of UK, Assumption University of Thailand, Hanoi Open University, MIT Open Courseware Initiative, Vietnam Education Foundation, IFC’s BusinessEdge program etc.
Printer-friendly version
