Speaker 1: Hello everyone, my name is Pham Nguyen Duc Anh and I am a senior student from Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, majoring in International Relations. So how have you been doing with online classes so far? For me, I was supposed to graduate and obtain my bachelor's degree this year, as well as to get my very first full-time job ever. But unfortunately, I had my final exams postponed because of the coronavirus fourth wave and social distancing in Ho Chi Minh City. At that very point of time, I was totally lost and frustrated when things didn't fall into place. But then I asked myself a question of whether I can change the situation. Well, hardly possible. Then I came to the very difficult next step of rethinking and replanning my to-do list for vocal times, the times of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. Then I've seen that virtual learning pops up as one of the most optimal choices to enrich my knowledge, as well as broaden my network with like-minded people in virtual environment during this time. So over the past one month, I was lucky to successfully applied for four online courses, short courses. The first one of those were the Vietnam School of Development, VSOD, wherein I was mainly taking education, arts and culture, and other interdisciplinary subjects built from the three main pillars of science, economy, and society. The mission of the program was to promote the spirit of self-development in parallel with the development of society in the future. The second program of those was the e-ASEAN Youth Volunteer Program Philippines 2021, featuring over seven ASEAN-focused online webinars, six project management workshops, as well as 22 masterclasses under the theme of strengthening ASEAN education delivery system in challenging times. And the third course was the Vietnam Active Citizen Startup Dream, wherein I was learning about self-awareness, social awareness, design thinking, and the canvas business model. Last but not least, I wouldn't forget to mention VJN Stations Summer Course 2021, where I took 10 subjects in liberal arts. So, with four courses in one month, I have to admit that I did have challenges to stay 100% focused with all the classes. However, here are the three things that I did to help myself stay motivated and effective during virtual learning experiences. The very first tip is to have clear objectives. I usually ask myself what do I want to get the most out of these lessons. For instance, my main objective is to get these points of knowledge or be confident enough to ask my lecturer a question and get responded. Easy things done first, then get yourself prepared and be more confident and motivated for the more difficult steps. In the case that you don't have final exams or scores as a method of assessment for you during the course, I personally think that intrinsic motivation should be built to help you stay longer with the course. Additionally, I also set personal tasks to stimulate my learning habits, like writing recaps or knowledge sharing on social media. So if you come to my personal Facebook page, you can see some of the recaps that I wrote on my Facebook to share what I have learned, my lesson learned from those courses. The second tip is to find your study buddy or a study group. Firstly, they can help you to develop positive competition among the group members. I do think that a study group can offer you a safe space and an open forum for further discussing and debating after the lessons. You can reinforce your knowledge by building up your arguments in your own language to produce that knowledge again, sharing that with other people, and convince them that you are right. You can get constructive feedback from your friends to see what you missed out during the lessons. During the VGEMS summer course, I do have my group and after every lesson, there was a member. She constantly asked us to list out our three things that we were grateful for, our three lessons learned from every session. And through her sharing, you know, she was a pioneer to share her three lessons learned and from her sharing, I was able to get knowledge from other's perspective. That's called mutual learning. I think the study group can also boost the team spirit and motivation for studying. For me, I have a study buddy. Her name is Junie. We encourage each other to apply for different courses during this time because we are still waiting for final exam from school, we cannot do anything else, we cannot work full time. But I have her as a study buddy. We register for courses together and also have further discussions and motivation for each other to enrich our knowledge and learning during this time, that's the process. And the very third tip I would like to share with you guys is how you redesign your timetable for study and life balance. Because virtual learning might take time and you guys have another life out of the screen. If you are staying with your family, try to develop healthy dialogues with your parents at home to let them understand your needs, your timetable. For example, you are staying with your parents and you need quiet and private space for studying. So how can they offer that space for you in the home? For me, healthy dialogues help me to compromise with my parents' expectations of my contribution to household chores at home because sometimes I cannot help them out with housework when I have classes. So whenever I have classes in the morning, I will get up early, try to sweep the floor, I will spend some time during lunch time to wash dishes before afternoon sessions start. It's also very important to allocate some time for physical exercise, family time, nature time, or even me time to recharge your batteries from Zoom fatigue. Okay, final thoughts. From my perspective, we might have to live with this coronavirus in the long run and there is no way else to escape from virtual learning. In addition, there would possibly be more options for blended learning wherein virtual learning and offline learning would be conducted at the same time, or virtual learning would be preferred to cut the cost of traveling, to reduce carbon emissions, or even for more convenience. Therefore, accepting this reality would be the very first vital step to help you adjust yourself and adapt to the so-called new normal. So do you want to take one step back to reflect and take action now, or do you want to have your virtual learning time all wasted? I will keep that question open for all of you guys. Thanks so much for listening, and happy e-learning, bye bye.