ONLINE EDUCATION DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC - OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES: A CASE STUDY IN THE SOUTH OF VIETNAM

The Covid-19 pandemic has led all Vietnamese students to study at home since 2021. Therefore, a number of universities in Vietnam have shifted to online learning platforms to keep their academic activities going. The challenge is whether learners can absorb all knowledge through online learning? Between the two learning platforms, traditional and modern, what will be the impact on learners? and what needs to change in teachers? Therefore, in order to have an overview and partly clarify the questions of education 4.0, the authors carried out this research among 200 Vietnamese students to highlight the significance of online education. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents (91%) are willing to online classes to manage their studies during a time of the global pandemic. The respondents claimed that the convenience and flexibility of online classrooms make it the right option while students’ self-discipline and broadband connectivity matters in rural areas make it a challenge for most students when taking advantage of online classrooms.  Article visualizations

Enhancing Teachers' Competency In Using Video Games To Boost Students' English Vocabulary And Learning Motivation

In Vietnam, a significant number of university and college students are avid gamers, leading the author to recognize the potential of video games in motivating them to learn English. However, there is limited research on teachers' perspectives in this area. Hence, the author decides to conduct action research to explore how teachers can enhance their skills to effectively incorporate video games into their classes. This study involved 16 teachers and 24 students from the author's school. The teachers were surveyed through interviews and questionnaires, while the students were tasked with playing a selected video game. Combining the teachers' feedback with the author's observations of student progress yielded satisfactory results. The findings demonstrated that there was a substantial change in the students' vocabulary learning performance and increased motivation between the pre- and post-tests. The results of this study suggest that using video games in English classrooms can improve students' motivation and glossary achievements among Vietnamese university students

Using the Flipped Classroom Model to Improve Non-English Major Students’ Speaking Skills

The flipped classroom model (FCM) is currently a prominent topic in education circles. While there's been discussion about its positive impacts, there's limited empirical evidence in the literature regarding whether FCM can truly improve the oral proficiency of non-English major learners. In this study, FCM was utilized to explore its benefits in terms of improving students’ oral proficiency. The data was collected through one set of questionnaires, in-class observations and a pre- and post-test with a speaking rubric to check the effect of FCM on students’ speaking skills. In this study, there were 60 non-English major students of Dong Nai Technology University (DNTU) in Vietnam. In class A (the flipped group), 30 students studied the course using FCM, while the remaining students in class B (the traditional group) studied the course using traditional methods. Findings reveal that the use of FCM not only improved students’ speaking skills but also enhanced learners’ motivation. The results can serve as a guide when developing oral proficiency for non-English major students

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEBATE TECHNIQUE IN ENHANCING SECOND-YEAR ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS' SPEAKING ABILITY AT DONG NAI TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

Speaking is considered the most important skill when learning English since it directly shows how students can utilize English in communication to meet the goal of English learning. There are a number of techniques that can assist students to enhance their speaking ability and the debate technique is one of the suitable methods of improving students' speaking ability. As a result, the researchers wanted to determine whether the debate technique can enhance the students' speaking skills and to examine the classroom circumstance when the debate technique is used in a speaking class. The participants of this study are 30 English-majored sophomores at Dong Nai Technology University. In conducting the study, the researchers used classroom action research (CAR) with the pre-test, post-test, observation and questionnaire in order to evaluate the effectiveness of this technique in teaching and learning speaking skills. The researchers used a t-test to analyze the score of the students' results in pre-test and post-test. There was a significant difference between the pre-test results and the post-test ones, the mean scores obtained by the students in the post-test (7.0250) were better than the mean scores of the students in the pre-test (5.5267). The data of the score of students' attitudes towards the debate technique through the questionnaire was a high category. It could be concluded that debate was an effective method to enhance students' speaking ability in teaching and learning English.  Article visualizations

Synergistic effect of metformin and vitamin D3 on osteogenic differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells under high d-glucose conditions

Introduction: Vitamin D3 plays a vital role in bone health, with low levels of vitamin D3 being related to skeletal fragility, fractures, and metabolic disorders such as diabetes. Metformin is known as an antihyperglycemic agent for regulating blood sugar. A correlation between diabetes mellitus and osteoporosis is attracting considerable interest, and research to find the prevention and treatment is gradually being studied. In this study, we investigated the effect of metformin and vitamin D3 on osteogenic differentiation of human adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (AT-MSCs) under high d-glucose concentrations and optimized by combining vitamin D3 and metformin in the process. Methods: ROS production of AT-MSCs under high d-glucose conditions was measured by DCFH-DA assay. The differentiated AT-MSCs were analyzed by Alizarin Red S staining and optical density measurement. The investigation involved the examination of osteogenic master genes' expressions using quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) techniques. Results: Interestingly, the results have shown that human AT-MSCs will exhibit high ROS accumulation and low osteogenic differentiation capabilities, indicated by low calcium deposition, as well as low expression of indicative genes such as ALP, Runx-2 under high d-glucose conditions. The combination of vitamin D3 and metformin remarkedly accelerated the osteogenic differentiation of AT-MSCs under high d-glucose concentrations more effectively than the administration of either agent. Conclusions: This study partially explains an aspect of an in vitro model for pre-clinical drug screening for osteoporosis-related diabetic pathological mechanisms, which can be applied for further research on the prevention or treatment of osteoporosis in diabetic patients