VietNamNet Bridge – E-learning, with its high usability and interaction level, has become more and more popular in Vietnam. The market is expected to witness a boom once more big e-learning app developers jump into it.

The story of VNG

In late 2012, Zuni.vn, an e-learning project was introduced by VNG. A trial version for examinees to take mock exams and listen to online lectures was introduced in May 2013.

However, no further progress has been reported by VNG since May 2013. People thought the project fell into oblivion, while VNG, the developer, paid no more attention to it.

But it seems that VNG has re-started Zuni.vn. On “Kiem The” and “Vo Lam II”, the two games distributed by VNG, one can see the banners advertising the e-learning product.

Buu Dien newspaper has quoted its sources as saying that VNG plans to market a free e-learning product in March 2014.

As such, VNG, following the successes in the development of games, OTT apps and social networks, now eyes the e-learning sector. Analysts believe that VNG now moves ahead with the e-learning project after a period of interruption because it has a feeling of the boom of the e-learning market.

Why e-learning?

E-learning courses have become more and more favored by students thanks to their convenience and time flexibility. Learners can learn every time convenient to them and everywhere, at office or at home. Especially, they can repeat the same topics several times. These advantages cannot be provided by the traditional education method.

E-learning obviously helps learners save their money. A report released at a workshop on e-learning in late 2013 showed that an e-learner could save 50-70 percent of the costs.

Meanwhile, according to Brandon Hall, a research organization, e-learner can save 40-60 percent of learning time.

E-learning is not only useful for general education and higher education, but it can be helpful as the short term training courses to enterprises’ staff. A lot of Vietnamese big corporations, such as VNPT or Viettel, have been using e-learning for internal training.

The number of enterprises to apply e-learning is believed to increase rapidly in the time to come. With e-learning, businesses only have to spend money once, but can train hundreds of thousands of workers at different times.

It is expected that 10 percent of big corporations would utilize e-learning solutions for their training in 2014.

A growing tendency

While in the past, e-learning establishments focused on building up the lectures for English and information technology teaching, the training courses’ topics have become more diversified.

VietnamLearning, for example, besides the English and information technology training courses, also provides the training on soft skills, customer services, personnel management…

Topica has been well known as the training establishment that provides university education online. Hocmai.vn and Moon.vn target general school students who need materials to prepare for their high school finals and university entrance exams.

The best known online training establishments in Vietnam include VietnamLearning (www.vietnamlearning.vn) of GK Corporation, TOPICA (topica.edu.vn), Cleverlearn (www.cleverlearn.edu.vn) of Cleverlearn, BEA (http://bea.vn/course/).

Tien Phong