Smart classrooms in need of innovation

Smart classrooms bring many benefits to students, teachers and school administrators. Using smart devices and advanced technology helps students access knowledge effectively. That is the opinion of many officials and teachers before the requirement of fundamental and comprehensive education reform.

An hour of teaching and learning on the IT application platform of teachers and students of Hoang Hoa Tham Primary School (Hac Thanh ward).

As one of the schools selected to pilot the construction of a smart classroom model from the 2020-2021 school year, up to now, 100% of classrooms of Hoang Hoa Tham Primary School (Hac Thanh ward) have been and are being operated on the platform of applying smart devices to teaching and learning. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hanh, Vice Principal of Hoang Hoa Tham Primary School, said: “Applying information technology (IT), AI technology in management and teaching is a current trend. This task has also been identified by the school as one of the key tasks in each school year. Especially since the school invested in 7 smart classrooms with many modern equipment. From the initial smart classrooms with positive effects in teaching and learning, up to now, 31 classrooms of the school have been equipped with modern equipment such as: large screen smart TVs, sound systems, internet connection... and are operated according to the smart classroom mechanism. In addition, the school also has 2 computer rooms with 35 computers/room, serving well the requirements of digital transformation as well as teaching and learning of computer science for students from grades 3 to 5”.

To apply IT and effectively operate smart classrooms, in addition to raising awareness for each staff and teacher; building a digital learning resource warehouse, every year Hoang Hoa Tham Primary School develops and implements topics to bring IT into all educational activities. For example, in the 2025-2026 school year, the school has developed the topic "Application of AI technology in teaching"; "Improving the capacity to effectively use active and modern teaching methods and techniques"... These topics require each teacher to develop lessons using IT, applying AI technology. Thereby creating changes in innovation in teaching methods, improving the quality of education of the school.

Similarly, from 3 smart classrooms invested by the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa City (old) in the 2021-2022 school year, up to now, classrooms at Nguyen Van Troi Secondary School (Hac Thanh Ward) have all been invested with modern equipment to serve teaching and learning in the direction of applying IT and AI technology. Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy, an IT teacher at Nguyen Van Troi Secondary School, shared: "Smart classrooms have brought a "new wind" to the innovation of teaching and learning methods for both teachers and students, thereby creating a strong change in the quality of education. When teaching in smart classrooms, teachers not only have access to and apply IT, use AI technology to create videos and materials for lectures, but also create excitement for students through intuitive and vivid images".

According to the assessment of schools, when teaching in smart classrooms, teachers' lectures are more lively and attractive; students are interested in the lesson; teachers' teaching methods are also more flexible. In particular, teachers' lectures have effectively exploited images and videos to directly serve the lesson, especially virtual experiments. At the same time, many active teaching methods brought by smart devices can be used, such as: individual working methods, group working methods, lectures combined with indirect practical experiences brought by technology...

Operating interactive screens for teaching and learning at the smart classroom of Nguyen Van Troi Secondary School.

Thus, the benefits of smart classrooms are easy to see, however, the actual implementation in schools still faces many challenges, especially in investing in equipment. According to the schools' calculations, the cost to invest in a smart classroom that meets standards is up to hundreds of millions of VND. With this amount of money, without investment from local authorities, functional agencies or calls from socialization, schools will find it very difficult to implement. Teacher Hoang Thi Hau, Principal of Nguyen Van Troi Secondary School, said: "If considered according to smart classroom standards, the school currently has only 3 classrooms invested by the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa City (old) from the 2021-2022 school year. With the conveniences and effectiveness of smart classrooms, the school hopes to continue to receive the attention of local authorities and people from all walks of life in investing in building more standard smart classrooms, towards building smart schools in the process of integration and development".

According to statistics from the Department of Education and Training, the rate of schools applying the smart classroom model in the province is currently only 18%. This number is quite modest compared to the scale of more than 2,000 schools and over 28,000 classrooms at all levels in the whole province. In fact, smart classrooms are not the decisive factor, but on the basis of the 4.0 industrial revolution and practical requirements, this classroom is an inevitable trend that requires the entire education sector to make more efforts with the cooperation of the whole society to realize the goal of fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education in the "digital age".

Article and photos: Phong Sac

Source: https://baothanhhoa.vn/phong-hoc-thong-minh-truoc-yeu-cau-doi-moi-268572.htm