If technology is utilized by teachers who have deep professional knowledge and good teaching methods, it will bring high efficiency.

With this belief, Quynh, a lecturer at the English Faculty of the Hanoi University of Education, stepped up to the podium to be honored at the 2019 Global Education Forum held in Paris.

Quynh was born to become a teacher. At the age of 9-10, she liked acting as a teacher to teach children living in the same residential quarter.

“I always have passion for explaining phenomena to make complicated things more understandable and clear,” Quynh, whose parents teach natural science subjects.

However, according to Quynh, teachers in modern times not only play a role of ‘explaining things to make things more understandable’. In the digital era, providing knowledge is just a very small part of teachers’ workload.

“The more important thing teachers need to do is encourage students and stimulate their creativity and passions,” she said.

She believes technology application will help teachers do this.

After finishing university, Quynh became a university lecturer of English. At that time, in 2006-2007, schools in Vietnam began encouraging teachers to use IT in teaching.

The then young lecturer immediately began working on using technologies. “I wish my students could approach new learning methods. I don’t want to give boring lessons,” she explained.

After winning the first prize at the competition on using IT in teaching organized by the school in 2006, she received an Australian government scholarship to study in the country.

She returned to Vietnam four years later after obtaining a doctorate and began teaching students belonging to Z-generation. The students are creative and dynamic who don’t want to sit in the same places to listen to teachers.

Luckily, she heard about MIE (Microsoft Innovative Educator) community, where the members want to discover reasonable teaching methods. She heard about Sway, an app that allows users to design simple lessons.

Joining the community, her dream of ‘bringing life into class and bringing class to the world’ has come true.

In the classroom, Quynh can connect with classes in the rest of the world through Skype. “During the lessons, students can have cultural exchange with foreign students. I can see the passion and enthusiasm of students in every lesson organized this way,” she said.

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