Announcing draft standards, conversion process, and organization of appraisal of electronic textbooks

The issuance of the draft Circular is based on the Law on Education dated November 25, 2019, which stipulates: Textbooks implement the general education program, specify the requirements of the general education program on educational goals and content, requirements on students' qualities and abilities; orientation on teaching methods and methods of testing and evaluating educational quality; content and form of textbooks do not contain prejudices on ethnicity, religion, profession, gender, age and social status; Textbooks are presented in the form of printed books, Braille books, and e-books.

In line with trends, ensuring the best interests of learners

The draft Circular consists of 5 chapters and 17 articles, regulating the scope of regulation, subjects of application; principles of compiling electronic textbooks; standards for electronic textbooks; process of converting printed textbooks into electronic textbooks; organization and operation of the national council for electronic textbook appraisal; documents, order and procedures for requesting appraisal, approval and permission to use electronic textbooks.

Compiling electronic textbooks contributes to creating a rich source of digital learning materials associated with the specific conditions of Vietnam and in line with advanced educational trends in the world , ensuring the best interests of learners, while ensuring the goal of promoting national digital transformation and developing digital citizens.

Prerequisite: fully meet current textbook standards

Regarding the standards for electronic textbooks, the draft Circular stipulates that the prerequisite for electronic textbooks is to fully meet the current standards of textbooks. The content of electronic textbooks must be consistent with the content of printed textbooks; the digital format of electronic textbooks must comply with current technical standards and regulations, support multiple platforms (computers, phones, e-readers); fully meet current regulations on copyright, intellectual property rights, security standards, and deposit standards.

The draft Circular stipulates that the interface of electronic textbooks must be optimally displayed on different devices; suitable for the health and vision of students at all levels in terms of font, font size, color, visual effects, and sound.

The format of electronic textbooks must comply with national technical standards and regulations on file formats for electronic publications, be consistent with international open standards for educational electronic publications or popular formats, ensure multi-platform compatibility as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 6 of this Circular and support access for people with disabilities.

The draft also stipulates that advertisements, business content, shopping suggestions, and external introductions cannot be inserted into electronic textbooks.

Ensure stability, security, users can always use

According to the draft Circular, electronic textbooks have the features of searching, highlighting, taking notes, zooming in and out of content; allowing basic interactions (selecting answers, dragging and dropping, listening to repeat, entering text, etc.); flexible integration and updating features, and the ability to link with learning management systems according to popular standards, artificial intelligence, virtual reality technology, etc.

At the same time, electronic textbooks can be used online or downloaded when there is no stable internet connection, ensuring users can always use them.

Regarding infrastructure, the draft Circular stipulates that the data storage server system located in Vietnam, with a Vietnamese internet domain name, is assigned by the Ministry of Education and Training to a competent unit according to the provisions of law to organize operation, maintenance, and periodic updates under the supervision of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The draft Circular also states that electronic textbooks must comply with the provisions of the current Publishing Law, Cyber Security Law, and Digital Technology Industry Law. At the same time, they must strictly comply with regulations on security and privacy of personal data. There are measures to prevent and protect against cyber security threats, ensuring that they do not contain harmful or offensive links or content.

Organize technical experiments and evaluate experiences on target groups

The draft Circular stipulates that organizations, agencies, and publishers that fully meet the conditions for electronic publications or other organizations and agencies that have publishing links with publishers that fully meet the conditions for electronic publications are assigned by the Minister of Education and Training to convert textbooks from printed to electronic textbooks according to the provisions of law. Electronic textbooks converted from printed copies must fully meet the criteria specified in this draft Circular.

The draft Circular clearly states that the conversion unit coordinates with general education institutions to organize technical experiments and evaluate user experience on representative groups of students and teachers. The experimental results report includes indicators on latency, technical errors, and the level of convenience in operation and efficiency. The minimum number of experimental periods is equal to 10% of the total number of periods prescribed in the general education program of each subject and educational activity.

The conversion unit organizes the editing, proofreading, and completion of the electronic textbook template and requests the appraisal unit to appraise the electronic textbook template.

According to the draft Circular, electronic textbooks are edited and updated when printed textbooks are edited and updated. The process of editing and updating electronic textbooks is implemented as the conversion process prescribed in this Circular, except for the provisions on experimental electronic textbooks. In cases where it is necessary to organize experimental electronic textbooks for editing and updating, the decision shall be made by the Minister of Education and Training.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/cong-bo-du-thao-tieu-chuan-quy-trinh-chuyen-the-to-chuc-tham-dinh-sgk-dien-tu-post759096.html