For the first time in Vietnam, TAAS-a breakthrough education model proposed by Edu2Review

Background of how TAAS came to be

Teaching as a Service (TAAS) is a combination of ideas, trends and technology advancements coming together for the first time. Edu2Review is proposing TAAS as an education model of the future.

The concept of TAAS was first developed by Ho Duc Hoan and Austin Carter in October 2021 while implementing a foreign language training project. The two Founders of Edu2Review are the first in the world to define the concept with practical applications of the TAAS model.

So what exactly is TAAS? How does it work and what problems does it solve for the betterment of global education?

Definition of TAAS

What is Teaching As A Service (TAAS)?

Teaching as a Service (TAAS) gives educational institutions the ability to enhance their curriculum by accessing 3rd party teachers, and to develop curriculum, and materials to integrate with their program offering to students.

Schools can access teachers, curriculum and teaching aids via a cloud-based platform for a subscription fee rather than having to hire, design and build similar methods of educating students in-house.

The concept draws inspiration from Software As A Service (SAAS), "where a cloud provider hosts applications and makes them available to end users over the internet".⁽¹⁾ Similar to companies, educational institutions face the question of "Build vs Buy" for aspects of their curriculum where they must determine if they should invest their resources into building a new curriculum or work with a third party to supplement their offering to students.

Problems with existing institutions that TAAS solves

What problems does TAAS solve?

1) It takes time, resources and expertise to develop a new course

It can take months or even years for an education institution to develop a new course. New materials require people with expertise to create and develop the most effective means to deliver the knowledge.

Developing new courses from scratch can be extremely time intensive and expensive, taking hundreds of teacher hours to thoughtfully design and put together the required materials for delivering the course. Institutions constantly face the question of if they should allocate the resources to update their curricula in accordance with developments in global knowledge.

2) It is difficult to attract, hire and retain teachers with specialized knowledge

For an institution to launch a new course, it must have the human resources with the expertise to create, teach and evaluate the progress of the students who are taking the course.

For example, if a secondary school were to offer a new introductory programming class for students, the school administration would need need to find a teacher with appropriate knowledge to design and teach the age-appropriate content for the class. This can be especially difficult in regions where access to specialized teaching expertise is limited by geography such as rural Vietnam.

One solution commonly used by institutions is to retrain an existing teacher to deliver the course. While the teacher can likely learn the surface-level information to present in the class, they lack the depth of knowledge and ability to explain "why" learning is being structured in the way it is presented in the book.

Even when an institution can overcome the hurdles listed above, they are then required to repeat the process if they wish to open more classes.

3) Traditional education institutions are closed loop systems, dependent on the educators within the institution

Traditional education institutions operate by themselves, with minimal external collaboration. The result is a silo effect⁽²⁾ where knowledge and information are separated within the institution. As a result, the quality of education delivered is dependent on the knowledge and expertise of the educators available.

Similarly, the evolution of courses and curriculum is dependent on the capabilities and time of the educators at the institution, limiting the opportunity for new concepts and knowledge from outside to be absorbed into the curriculum.

Educators are busy, focused and working hard to provide the best for their students. It is difficult to allocate time and resources from the educators to develop new curriculum, resulting in a slow evolution of new concepts and delivery methods.

Benefits of the TAAS model

Benefits of the TAAS model for institutions:

1) Gain access to educators with specialized skills

• Get access to educators who have a specialty in teaching the specific content
• Teachers are employed by a third party so the organization does not need to be concerned with onboarding and retention
• The online delivery method means that teachers are not restricted by geography, greatly benefiting schools in rural areas where specialized teachers are more difficult to attract and retain
• Schools existing teachers learn new methodologies and subject matter through participation with 3rd parties delivering the content

2) Improve student engagement with personalized and activity-based learning

• Digital delivery of TAAS means learning is tracked digitally making it possible for automated learning reports and real-time assessment
• Content can be personalized based on student's individual needs as teachers and students can select the materials, lectures and assignments they interact with via e-learning libraries
• The digital delivery method is consistent with how most students spend a significant portion of their free time

3) Focus on building specific skills, integrating theory and practice

• Classes tend to include hands-on learning activities, with active participation by students throughout the lessons
• Classes use a combination of learning methods including project-based learning, games and team-based learning activities.
• Schools can select the courses or modules that complement their existing, theory-based course content to give students opportunities for practical application

4) Fast, low-cost means of launching a new course or testing new subject matter

• Because the requirements for delivering a course are already prepared, schools can quickly get started with launching a new course or module of subject matter
• Cost is greatly reduced because the fixed cost investment of developing a new course, especially in a new subject area like programming, is already completed

5) Synchronize with the school's training program, easy to customize, and regularly updated.

• Customize the content delivered in the course to enhance the existing school curriculum
• Continuous improvement of the program as new resources are added to the TAAS provider's library of materials
• Save time by accessing prepared materials, activities and educational content which would take time, money and specialized skills to develop
• Using TAAS can facilitate schools/centers/teachers to easily choose a synchronous program suitable for their education objectives, without the cost of developing the program

6) Institutions gain access to outside knowledge through open content repository and collaboration with TAAS providers

• Access specialized content and learning services, typically restricted by human resources, geography or technology
• Quickly add new knowledge that aligns with the working world and the latest trends
• Examples of content and trends:
  • Programming → cryptography
  • Art → Digital art
  • Web design → Material Design by Google

Vietnam Application: Why should training institutions use TAAS?

The Vietnamese education system is gradually transforming from a closed training system - where knowledge, teaching and new learnings only circulate within the school - to an open training system, where schools begin to integrate programs, curricula, teachers, material repositories and more from the outside.

The TAAS solution is aligned with the open education orientation of the Ministry of Education and Schools. Specifically, through the use of the TAAS model, schools can capture global trends and values, effectively using external resources to optimize internal training efficiency. They help students expand their access to learning compared to traditional training by enabling flexible study anytime and anywhere using modern communication technology.

• Improve value offered to students

By tapping into a global network of teachers and content, schools can offer a more robust service offering to their students, strengthening their curricula and producing better learning outcomes.

• Differentiate curriculum offerings from other schools

This is especially important in private education markets where schools need to compete to attract students. By leveraging third-party offerings, schools can offer specialized programs which set them apart from others in their industry.

Drawbacks & issues with TAAS

• Consistency in teaching quality & meeting exact school objectives

The quality of the provider's training may be at odds with the training program and the organization's goals. Issues related to the synchronization of training results with the organization's curricula are a significant challenge.

The use of any 3rd party for delivery means that one is limited to what 3rd parties are able to provide. For some institutions, it may be a perfect fit while others may only partially meet the needs of their organization. With the continued evolution of TAAS models, more specific needs of education institutions will be met, similar to how SAAS has evolved to meet the needs of almost every business organization.

• The online delivery method means students require a stable internet connection and appropriate device to access

Connectivity remains a challenge for all e-learning. We are seeing global improvement year over year and expect this issue to become less over time as devices become cheaper and internet delivery methods evolve to serve all communities.

Exciting Future for TAAS

With the opportunities existing and outstanding benefits, TAAS is becoming a training trend in a digital society, an opportunity for schools to transform and catch up with the rapid change of the digital world.

Hồ Hoàn & Austin

References:

⁽¹⁾ https://www.techtarget.com/searchcloudcomputing/definition/Software-as-a-Service
⁽²⁾https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3813367/#:~:text=The%20silo%20effect%20is%20a,autonomous%20units%20within%20an%20organization