Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed educational settings around the world, making a drastic shift to online learning. This health crisis affected schools and the educational systems in developing countries like Vietnam in a major way as they struggled with problems because variations existed at levels of technology availability, readiness for distance.
This research aims to discuss the development of self-learning abilities in Vietnamese students during the pandemic. It will emphasize how the students cope with online learning, how effective were the digital platforms for it, and the systems that helped bring about this change. This is a mixed-method study that incorporates quantitative data in the form of student and teacher surveys as well as qualitative insights derived from interviews and foci groups. This methodology would enable to provide a comprehensive understanding of student experiences and challenges faced by students while adapting to self-learning. The findings report on a plethora of adaptive strategies employed by the students and successes and challenges. The major challenges are with respect to the discrepancies in accessibility to digital tools, varying levels of self-motivation as well as the need to be better online pedagogies. However, in the midst of all these challenges, so many students showed outstanding adaptability and resilience in self-learning development skills. The research firmly draws the conclusion that the pandemic has proven a catalytic effect over significant educational shifts in Vietnam, and practice reorientation must require robust digital infrastructure, equivalent learning resources accessible to all students as well as new pedagogical appropriateness interventions. The findings of this study inform the policymakers and the educators in every capacity in charting their future education strategies not only for Vietnam but also for other similar setups across the world.