LITERATURE REVIEW

Group Members
1, Phạm Vũ Linh Chi
2, Nguyễn Hiền Giang
3, Nguyễn Xuân Hoa

I, Introduction (Nguyễn Xuân Hoa)

The outbreak of corona virus during the last quarter of 2019, events such as 2001 terrorists
attacks in New Yok City and Washington DC, the subsequent U.S. anthrax exposures, the
2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, the 2004 tsunami in Sri Lanka,
and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that devastated the Gulf Coast are quintessential apocalypses
that can potentially account for the stagnation of all nations’ segments, including education.
“The impact of the deadly coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 is likely to reverberate across global higher
education long after the outbreak is eventually brought under control”. The importance of a
highly trained and skilled workforce has never been greater than today. Blended learning, which
can also be referred to hybrid learning or flexible learning, despite being beneficial for all
educational systems, has not become mainstream since its occurrence. Only by filling the gap
of knowledge about the term “blended learning” can educators further implement the procedure
in a rational and pragmatic way. Many recent studies have focused on the mentioned approach
and this integrative review of the literature synthesizes findings of previous research studies
provides some fundamental understandings about Blended learning methodology as well as its
utilization and advancement throughout the years. Although there is a wide diversity of research
approaches, this literature review will focus on 4 imperative and pertinent facets : what blended
learning is, its global progression over the years as well as its potentials, some insights into the
development in Vietnam and finally, specific case studies of Blended Learning in Vietnamese
universities.

II, Definition of Blended Learning (Nguyễn Hiền Giang)

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19, blended learning has become one of the top searched
keywords in Vietnam. Blended learning is a new concept, not popular with many Vietnamese
students and parents, however, this term has become more and more familiar since universities
applied blended learning to teaching and propagandizing knowledge for students. Blended
learning is a combination of online teaching, using online education with "traditional" teaching
method or being known as traditional place-based classroom methods.

Basically, blended learning is also a combination of self-study, face-to-face and collaborative

learning (Alokiddy, 2017). With the model of acquiring knowledge through attending
conferences, seminars, personal study, group study of face-to-face learning method, combined
with collaborative learning method through blogs, forums, group chats, online learning and the
independence, fast, timely, spatial independence of self-study, blended learning is a combined
learning model that brings many benefits to learners because this model combines the
advantages of self-study, face-to-face learning and collaborative learning such as space
independence, fast, timely, convenient but still sufficient knowledge (DeamBox_learn, 2013). In
addition, this model also creates an environment that helps learners increase personal
responsibility and self-managing because for many students, the choice of academic topics,
how to approach the topics, when and where to study can make the difference (Alokiddy, 2017).
The blended learning model promotes its usability by allowing learners to use the abundant,
available, always updated, and accessible learning resources that most students find it hard to
refuse or be lazy to study. In addition, blended learning is not only a bridge connects students
and schools, but also helps connect students with parents. The superiority of this learning
method is that parents can access students' online learning records to see their children's
learning effectiveness, measure their learning effectiveness, and capture their learning ability,
and learning process. Blended learning is an effective temporary replacement method during
this period, with the benefits that this learning method brings, families, students and schools are
using this bridge effectively, and wisely of the modern blended learning method - a combination
of traditional and online learning methods.

III, Global development and Potentials of Blended Learning (Nguyễn Xuân Hoa)
1, Evolution of Blended Learning
Guzer and Caner in 2014 stated that blended learning was as a pedagogical concept in the
beginning of the year 2000. Poon (2014) supported that blended learning was introduced in
the year 2000 when e-learning lost its credibility, and was altered by a blended learning model.
He also noted that blended learning has been widely applied in many higher institutions
worldwide. Besides, it has also been widely practiced by corporate training and K-12 education.

McLean G. (2003) reported that when nurses were asked their teaming predilection for
emergency preparation competencies, online courses came second only after face-to-face
teaming.
In addition, in the 2001 National Household Education Survey by the National Center for
Education Statistics, 53.6% of respondents reported to have study activity involving technology
usage. Also, it is depicted that the higher the educational level is, the larger percentage of
technology is adopted. For instance, 74.5% of professionals interviewed in a post-compulsory
education activity, and 61.6% of those participants had an activity requesting the use of
technology to some extent.

The main reason that is causative to participants to adopt blended learning approach is that the
model is highly flexible when it comes to time management, which otherwise will be an
insurmountable task when considering their accountability for career and family. Additionally, by
accepting blended learning courses as credit for education may further stimulate learning
engagement.

Dinning et al. (2016) analyzed the progression of the student marks awarded, it is suggested
that overall 48.5% of students showed progress in their marks over the assessed period, with
24.6% staying the same and 26.9 % showing a decrease in marks. Of those students who
engaged in all tasks, 51% showed progression in their marks compared to only 40% of students
who engaged in 90% or less.

The results show positive progression in relation to the numbers of students who moved into a
higher band over the four weeks, suggesting that they were making progress in their level of
attainment. For example, those achieving 70% or higher increased from 10% to 19% and those
achieving 40% or higher decreased from 19% to 6%.

The participating students reported polarized when being asked whether the beginning of the
university experience was the ideal time to introduce the blended methodology. One group
supported the idea because they had a “long period of time in the summer without intellectual
stimulation” while the latter would suggest releasing later in the semester as they will be more
prepared for the work. Also, the students preference is a mixture of reading and videos as their
focus and interest will be maintained.

One of the students in the research reported to be more organized and productive “I’ve always
been slacker, I have become more organized, and it’s something that I’ve learned since I’ve
been here. I’ve started to plan my Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays because I know it takes me
longer to read so I’ve learned already that I might not be as good as I thought in preparing for
university work. It is important that a balance is achieved in enhancing the students‟
 2, Potentials of Blended Learning

Although Blended learning is not considered to be a complete alternative for conventional

classes across the globe, still seemingly deployed with high degree in various instructional
models. “Universities, federal employees, and private businesses are among those employing
blended learning technologies in training students and personnel currently in the workforce”, as
Moore et al (2006) stated.

In “The Handbook of Blended Learning” in 2006, it is reported that 93 percent of the

interviewees were already applying blended learning in some aspects of their academic
progress. Nevertheless, the figures for application is still moderate, not to say limited for the
respondents. More than a half of the people when being asked indicated they only use blended
learning less than a fifth of their study courses.

The future of blended learning, on the other hand, seems to be much more luminous. The study
in the book illustrated the figure showing the forecast of implementation of blending learning
according to participants expectation. Four out of ten anticipated that 21 to 40 percent of their
study curriculum will ‘be blended’ by 2006, and just under 40% expected that that would be
higher than 40 percent. And by 2013, more than 70 percent predicted to have more than 40
percent in their courses.

The new generation growing up in the digital age may require a different way of learning.
Krause (2005) claimed that in order to discover the emerging peculiarities of students, also their
backgrounds, their worth and expectations, he labeled first time undergraduate students in 2005
as Generation Y. This specific generation is knowledgeable about computers and other digital
devices due to the exposure to these devices since they were born. Reem A. Alebaikan in 2012
referred to this generation as ‘technoliterate’ and they are confident in with the use of the
computers and other technologies. Not only so, they are capable of acquiring knowledge rapidly
and by being ‘fast learners’, they can handle the volume of study materials with usage of
technology in an efficient way. Krause mentioned that email, cellphones and online chats are
used as methods to form and maintain relationships and connections between peers and
teachers-learners.

The capability of the web in the near future is seen as an apparatus for virtual collaboration,
critical thinking, and as stimulation for learners' engagement. In his article, Alebaikan (2012)
pointed out the discrepancy between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 in educational context. While in
Web 1.0, study materials is distributed in a one-way fashion, where information is in read-only
format without any interactions from learners and “has been associated with a transmission or
behaviorist style of learning in an environment that generally supports the notion of
constructivist learning as the preferred approach” Web 2.0, for instance, blog, Twitter, You Tube
and Facebook assists the progress of interactive activities and ‘collaboration knowledge’.

In a study about potential of blended learning Using MIT edX’s 6.002x Online Massive Open
Online Course (MOOC), Ghadiri et al. (2017) stated that there were 3 distinct phases of
learners’ reactions to the new approach, which are ‘initial resistive mode, guarded skeptic mode,
and final receptive mode’. At the beginning, complaints about expanded hours of study (12
hours per week) comparing to traditional peers were reported. However, after positive exam
results of 11 percentage point higher than their previous semesters, students gradually were
more enthusiastic about the learning model.

III, Blended Learning Development in Vietnam (Nguyễn Hiền Giang)

In the 1960s, blended learning was introduced early, students in many countries around the
world were no strangers to this phrase, and over time, and thanks to the development of the
digital - technology 4.0 world, the non-traditional place-based classroom methods became more
and more popular on the world-wide education system (Martyn, Margie, 2003).

By the time the COVID - 19 epidemic reached its peak, the question of whether or not to return
to school for teaching and learning was raised as a primary concern for many parents, students
and schools, and finding the answer to this question is urgently needed. During the epidemic in
the first months of 2020, schools all over the country decided to let students drop out of school
and use temporary alternatives to meet their full knowledge (Le Van, 2020). During the school
holidays due to COVID - 19, universities have applied blended learning method to meet the
teaching and learning needs of parents and students nationwide. Blended learning is a new
method of teaching in the world, but this method is not really popular in Vietnam. The keyword
"blended learning" or "combined learning" in the first 2 months of 2020 was searched most on
the search engine of the Internet. According to Google trends, from the beginning of January
2020, the number of people searching for "blended learning" keyword in Vietnam has shown a
strong increase, and in early February this year, the number of people searching for this
keyword reached its peak. In 2016, according to Michael Horn - an EdSurge columnist and a
principal consultant for Entangled Solutions, this spike in keyword search is partly due to the
novelty of the Blended learning method, many people are unaware of this method and want to
learn more about how blended learning works, how effective it is, or just curious about why
universities choose this new way to teach instead of using traditional place-based classroom
methods: "Although blended learning remains small in Vietnam, excitement is building "said Mr.
Michael Horn, and he also gave his prediction: "I predict we will see two more pockets of
blended learning emerge in the next couple years. First, rural areas that cannot afford English
teachers will embrace blended learning through mobile devices. And innovative education
programs will pop up to serve ethnic minority in remote areas of Vietnam where students
currently drop out of public schools as early as first grade. "

The trend of learning by Blended learning method in Vietnam will become more and more
popular, especially after this time. From high school to university or higher levels, learners
across the country have been applying new teaching and learning methods, because of this, the
popularity of the form of learning " Blended learning "is increasingly expanding. Many
universities in Vietnam such as National Economics University (NEU), Academy of Finance
(AOF), Hanoi Law University (HLU) , etc. has been applied blended learning method to connect
teachers and students to continue teaching and learning to ensure sufficient knowledge as
when studying in school (Le Van, 2020). Blended learning methodology has been promoting its
benefits by allowing learners to learn and work anytime, anywhere, easily, conveniently, and
personalized learning with a rich knowledge bank. However, in order to use this learning
method effectively, lecturers and researchers at higher education institutions themselves also
update themselves to be able to master technology and make the most of mobile applications.
Master Dau Thi Le Hieu of Hanoi University of Science and Technology wrote in a research
paper "Principles and trends of developing E-learning technology in the world and lessons
learned for higher education in Vietnam": “Lectures and learning materials are open source
resources and teachers, instead of pointing to a class as a class, must now be individualized in
the process of teaching and evaluating students. The form of communication with learners also
becomes diverse, taking place in space with open time will be a big challenge for teachers”.
Indeed, blended learning is a big challenge if users do not know how to use technology
effectively, because the world of technology is growing fast, but in general the technology agility
of lecturers like modern young people, keeping up with technology and working with them
requires an investment of time and money.

Blended learning will and will always be one of the most effective teaching and learning
methods. The trend of using this modern method of learning is being applied very well by
Vietnam and will grow stronger in the coming years. We can rely on a more modern, developed
and flexible education like countries with developed education, such as Canada, USA, Qatar
and Italy because, according to David Hooser, president of Franklin Virtual School and founder
and chairman of the Franklin Group in the US, said: "In the context of Industry 4. 0, education is
no longer confined to a physical framework. "

IV, Blended Learning methodology in certain Vietnamese Universities (Phạm Vũ Linh Chi)

In recent years there has been growing interest in the implementation of Blended Learning into
Vietnamese universities’ traditional curriculum. From the experiment duration to research scope,
each university illustrates its diverse point of view about this state-of-the-art learning method.

With regards to the subjects chosen for the Blended Learning course, it is evident that English-
related subjects are the most preferable of them all. Tam (2017) conducted the research
evaluating Blended Learning method application in teaching Phonetics at Multimedia room in
Van Lang University (VLU). He clearly states that while the majority of university students are
from the suburb areas, they don’t have the opportunity to practice their English speaking skills
with foreigners. He also points out the targets of his research : 1, to rate the effectiveness of
Blended Learning; 2, Set a background for further development and 3, Renovate English
teaching methods. A resemblance in ideas can be observed in Thang Long University (TLU),
where Dung, Hang, Huong, Lan, Trang (2013) put the English Discoveries Online (EDO) course
into practice for 3 terms (2013-2014). With its deployment in 30 countries and millions of
learners worldwide, they expect to witness the advantages of this course along with in-class
textbooks. Nevertheless, not all colleges decided to walk along the “English subjects only” path.
Thinh & Dinh (2016) arranged a Blended learning execution event in University of Economics
Ho Chi Minh City (UEH). Their focus is on not only English, but also more traditional languages
such as : Marketing, Economics, Finance, Informatics etc. This opens up a much more
interesting field of results and pushes the potential of Blended Learning implementation in a
variety of subjects.

1. Benefits of Blended Learning in Vietnamese universities

Researches are conducted on both universities’ teachers and students who have the direct
access to the hybrid learning system and experience the forum to the fullest in the period of one
term (the shortest) to more than a year. A large percentage of students acknowledge the
effectiveness of Blended Learning upon improving their comprehension skills. This is
demonstrated in Nam (2014) as he states that he can witness significant improvement in
students’ soft skills (Word skill, Powperpoint skill, Internet skill, etc.) through his learning
activities in the Introductory Physic Course. Ngan (2014) points out the main benefits as
suggested by his 13 participants in Hanoi Open University (HOU). The most obvious advantage
includes flexibility and convenient timing. Quan in Ngan (2014) states that in his Business
Management course, he can study whenever and wherever he wants; and if he is busy, he can
reschedule his studying time. Another remarkable benefit is the abundant availability of
resources that can be accumulated from the majority of English courses. Huong (2018)
mentions in her paper that 78% students participants in English foreign language (EFL) courses
in Da Nang University (DNU) recognize big advantages of the online sources including
“interesting style-plentiful learning sources, costless online materials such as audio or
download-free print sheets of guidebook, wordlist, etc.” The same viewpoint is seen in HOU, as
Lan in Ngan (2014) leaves a comment on the practicalities in this course since the knowledge
all stems form successful people in their career, in this case, teachers. This massive advantage
perceives to be one of the main attractions for people who wants to obtain a deeper
understanding of certain areas.

It should also be conceded that the students are not the only party who receive all the good
aspects, teachers also benefit from the Blended Learning system. Thinh & Dinh (2016) come to
the conclusion in their research that lecturers in UEH have a positive feedback about the
website. From the fear of inability to catch up with technological advancements, teachers are
now able to upload their lecture files (94%), homework in the form of both questionnaire and
essays online (70%). The Blended Learning network in general also provides teachers with an
opportunity to try out new teaching methods corresponding to each course. After finishing the
courses, university students are ask to complete a survey about teachers’ performance. This is
applied in Dung et al. (2016)’s research in TLU, where students are allowed to state their
opinion freely about each teacher in each period like : EDO, New Headway. Along with positive
comments such as constant stick to the lessons, understandable teaching styles and capability
to answer students’ questions, straight-forward judgement demanding for more explicit grammar
explanation and thorough lectures is also mentioned so that university teachers can further
improve their lessons in order to bring out the best of their teaching level.
A conclusion is easily come to due to the fact that Blended Learning clearly creates a win-win
relationship where both teachers can improve their teaching methodology and students can
advance their studying habits. By adding the technology factor to the traditional classrooms,
teachers have the ability to directly provide students with selected knowledge, which reduces
the time needed for further searching with no concrete outcome from students.

2. Drawbacks of Blended Learning in Vietnamese universities

Much as all the marvelous aspects are appreciated, the disadvantages cannot be ignored. This
is one segment that is mentioned with a low frequency in many papers and authors usually
avoid writing about it. When surveyed in a small scale, the general reviews have a tendency to
be highly positive; this is clearly observed in Ngan (2014), explaining that the participants all
have positive experiences of Blended Learning. However, the results are diversified with a much
larger audience of participants. The first drawback involves the complexity of some procedures
and features. Huong (2018) estimates that 15.4% of the students in DNU “expresses their
negative comments on the instruction for registration procedure and the first access to course
Life”. In their overview of Blended Learning, Dung et al. (2013) as well claim that there is a
noticeable number of students who are not satisfied with the Record Myself section since it is
not easy to use at all. Student no.51 in Nam (2014) actually prefers the convenience of
Facebook over the discussion on Learning Management System (LMS) due to the slow access
speed of LMS. The outcomes show that adding too many features and steps to a single app will
not only not provide any convenience but also cause unnecessary disturbance. The second
issue comes from the curriculum and instructors of the course themselves. Students in TLU
express their boredom with difficult topics alongside with long reading essays and listening
exercises in the EDO’s Intermediate 2 course (Dung et al., 2013). Their homework is described
as “long, repetitive, not interesting and diverse enough”. In addition, Huong (2018) points out
that one third of the students surveyed misunderstand their online tutor’s feedback, which
increases their fear of showing mistakes to their peers. Last but not least, although
technological parts are considered a breakthrough in the educational environment, getting used
to it is never a quick and easy process. This can be traced back to studies in UEH, where Thinh
& Dinh (2016) discuss the low percentage of video lectures (11%) and video conference (8%)
posted by teachers. Furthermore, most of the videos are presented by young lecturers who
access to the Internet with ease. University students also struggle in the learning progress,
when more than two thirds of the participants in Huong (2018)’s research have little or no past
IT experience, which makes it difficult for them to exploit all the possibilities in their blended
course. The lack of IT knowledge prevents lecturers from transporting their lessons to students,
dissatisfies students during their experience and affects their overall results.

V, Conclusions (Phạm Vũ Linh Chi)

This all-inclusive literature review has introduced the definition of Blended Learning, explained
the worldwide development and capabilities of Blended Learning, justifies the methodology
progression in Vietnam along with exploring further into the real situations of implementing this
methodology in to the traditional Vietnamese education system. It is vital to bear in mind that
some of the data collected in this review should be considered with precautions, due to
limitations during the original researches.
By researching the Blended Learning methodology implementation in National Economics
University (NEU) in the middle of the Covid-19 outbreak, this report expects to cover a wide
variety of subjects and courses created by NEU’s lecturers. The research will also illustrate
students’ expectations, experiences and thoughts after the courses; evaluate courses’
effectiveness under the viewpoint of students.

Thinh, D. T. & Dinh, V. H. Q. (2018), How is Blended Learning model suitable for higher
education-especially in economics majors? - An empirical case study at University of
Economics Ho Chi Minh City, Journal of Science, 15(10), 90-99, Ho Chi Minh City
University of Education

Huong, P. T. T. (2018). Applying Blended Learning Method in Teaching English at the

University of Da Nang, Viet Nam. The Educational Review, USA, 3(1), 16-21

Vu, H 2014, Students' expectations and experiences of blended learning: a case

study at Hanoi Open University, Vietnam, Masters by Research, Education, RMIT
University.

(Báo cáo đánh giá kết quả áp dụng khóa học trực tuyến EDO vào chương trình giáo dục Tiếng
Anh đại cương) Nguyễn Thị Kiều Dung, Đỗ Thu Hằng, Trần Thị Thanh Hương, Mai Lan, Phí Thị
Thu Trang Bộ môn Ngôn ngữ Anh, Trường Đại học Thăng Long Kỷ yếu công trình khoa học
2015 – Phần III

Tam, N. D. (2017, August 20). Blended Learning, a creative model of teaching

successfully applied for teaching phonetics at Van Lang University, Van Lang Science
Journal, 39-44, Retrieved from Van Lang University database
Nam, N. H. (2014). Utilizing the Active and Collaborative Learning Model in the
Introductory Physics Couse, Journal of Education and Learning, 3(3) Canadian Center of
Science and Education doi:10.5539/jel.v3n3p108