Vision of blended learning will soon become reality

Challenge:

Rapidly implement a completely online learning experience.

Solution:

Partner with ClassIn to connect teachers and students in a collaborative online learning environment.

Result:

Teachers and students find new ways to interact and learn together online.

About YOLA

YOLA, a leading Vietnamese ESL training company founded in 2009, had online aspirations since its inception. It is right there in the name: YOLA, Your Online Learning Assistant. Despite this goal, it would be more than a decade before the company offered fully online classes. Having achieved success with in-person classes, YOLA waited for the right time to launch their live online classes. Then, 2020 came and with it, COVID-19. With students and teachers safely quarantined at home, they had to accelerate their plans.

YOLA uses ClassIn to achieve blended learning

In 2018, YOLA executives and leaders traveled to Beijing to learn from organizations who had already found success in online education. During that trip, they met with ClassIn. After building relationships and reviewing successful online-teaching business models, they returned to Vietnam. A couple years later, in March of 2020, they would offer their first live online classes with ClassIn.

When asked why YOLA chose ClassIn as their online teaching platform, Hien Chung, an academic leader, said that ClassIn was “user-friendly” and “incorporates many tools necessary for teaching and learning.” ClassIn allows teachers to “make the class more engaging and enjoyable for the students.”

YOLA believes in equipping their students with the skills and experiences needed to succeed in life and aspires to instill in their students a passion for learning. By offering a variety of tools, such as interactive blackboards and breakout rooms, ClassIn empowers YOLA’s teachers to design lessons that are interactive and enjoyable, both for the teachers and the students.

As with any transition, there were some bumps along the way. With ClassIn’s administrative features, YOLA’s academic team could monitor classes and provide valuable feedback to their teachers, allowing them to adapt quickly to a new teaching reality. YOLA teachers even began to enjoy the challenge of designing lessons for a new environment.

Feedback from both teachers and students has been overwhelmingly positive. Teachers enjoy the challenge of mastering a new medium, while students enjoy the interactive features and the convenience of online learning.

Going forward, YOLA has some decisions to make. When in-person classes are back in full swing, the demand for live online classes will likely be diminished. Ngo Thuy Ngoc Tu, a cofounder of the company, sees it this way: “The future will be blended … there will be online offerings and offline offerings depending on the students’ needs and levels [so] they can get to choose.” A proper balance of online and offline educational experiences will provide students with the flexibility they need and the level of quality they desire.

With live online classes up and running, YOLA has begun to fulfill one of their founding goals. While the nature of these classes may change with time, YOLA teachers and administrators now have an important new tool in their kit: ClassIn. With ClassIn, YOLA can ensure that their online classes, like their offline counterparts, continue to inspire and challenge their students.