An overview of the forum (Photo courtesy of the ASU) The"Digital Immersion" forum was hosted by the “BuildingUniversity-Industry Learning and Development through Innovation and Technology”or BUILD IT project, funded by the US Agency for International Development(USAID) and implemented by Arizona State University, and the Hanoi University of Industry.
Thefifth forum in the six-part Playbook forum series also explored how to maximisethe multiple modalities available to universities to best support theirstudents in an ever increasingly digital world.
Throughthe digital pedagogy in higher education playbook, BUILD-IT university partnershave access to proven best practices, methodologies, and approaches forteaching and learning in a digital environment. A collaborative effort betweenASU and its eight strategic partner universities, the Digital Pedagogy inHigher Education faculty training programme has launched at scale to expand theknowledge base and skill set of higher education educators in Vietnam.
Forthe past seven years, BUILD-IT has been helping Vietnamese universities supporttheir faculty and staff in the creation of professional developmentopportunities designed to better prepare them to be successful educators in the21st century. Vietnam’s technological infrastructure, some of the mostimpactful in Southeast Asia, provides a solid foundation for leveraging all thepotential digital education offers, whether synchronous or asynchronous.
Bringingtogether experts from local universities and Arizona State University, greatprogress was made in establishing a long-term, sustainable transformation inthe landscape of digital education. The Digital Immersion forum celebrated thededicated, visionary educators from BUILD-IT’s partner universities who stroveto build something that will positively affect education in Vietnam long afterthe end of their partnership.
Attendingthe forum, Dr. Bob Schoenfeld, Program Manager for BUILD-IT, said, “the realityof the tremendous opportunity digital immersion provides is here, now, in Vietnam.The access and impact that these opportunities offer can transform education,communities, and industries. Everyone here recognises that education is notstatic. It evolves. The people who attended this forum want to be part of thatevolution.”
Theforum also celebrated the winners of the USAID BUILD-IT "IncreasingDigital Assets" Programme. This participant-centered series of workshopsand mentor-supported instruction was designed to turn higher educationpersonnel – faculty, staff, administration – into content creators. Recognisingthat there is a need for professional instruction in many areas not limited toclassroom curriculum, faculty and staff gathered to turn their personal areasof expertise into digital assets that can be used by everyone in theiruniversity. This programme emphasised that relevant content can be created byanyone with the skill set and expertise to present accessible instruction totheir audience. The winners displayed their digital assets to a forum audiencehungry to see what a group of dedicated educators can do for their institution.
Theforum culminated with a workshop for audience members who wanted to create thenext steps for implementing digital immersion at their school.
Whilethe benefits of BUILD-IT’s programmes are obvious in real time, the real valueof BUILD-IT is in its long-term support of higher education. To leverage sevenyears’ worth of programmes, workshops, seminars, and training sessions,BUILD-IT created its Playbook Series to assist in sustaining BUILD-IT’s valuelong after the BUILD-IT programme ends in 2023.
The2022 series of BUILD-IT forums celebrates key topics from this BUILD-ITplaybook series, as prioritised by university partners. Topics in this playbookseries include Institutional Accreditation, Project Based-Learning, DigitalImmersion Learning, Program Accreditation (AUN-ABET), Industry Advisory Boards,Women in STEM, Maker Innovation Network, Faculty Development and ActiveLearning./.
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