Malaysia has introduced coding in schools since 2017, starting with year 6. The Ministry of Education has been offering workshop and training to the teachers since then. The teachers play an extraordinarily important role because they are the mould who shape the future generations. Hence, they should develop proper mindset and skillset in the students. Coding, in multiple ways, can stimulate the students’ problem-solving skills and creativity. However, there are numerous challenges to kick start and implement such subject which has not been introduced before. Thus, this article will cover some guides to hopefully grant some ideas for the teachers out there on how they can introduce interesting teaching styles and contents regarding coding for beginners especially students in Malaysia.
Start From Basic
As starter, the teachers can focus on building fundamental knowledge in coding and digital skills in the students. As no building was built in a day. The students’ ability in absorbing inputs are limited. For an instance, MCQ or yes/ no game can be effective as the students are given options, they just have to choose in between the given options instead of thinking of the right answers without any hint. Next, a small group at one time is encouraged as the teachers can focus on each student instead of a large group of students at one time. Some of the passive students can be at disadvantage when it comes to a big study group. Moreover, each lesson should be short but informative so at the end of the day the students can fully absorb and understand the lessons taught. On top, the teachers should create a sharing session at the end of the class so the students can clear their doubt as the teachers can correct them throughout the session to avoid the students from being confused and misled. The teachers should implement a good mindset to the students, that by learning coding & digital making skills, making a good living out of it is part of it but more importantly, they can enhance their life skills as our daily lives revolve around coding, even a rice cooker has coding in it. Thus, coding, in a long run, makes our life way easier.
Seek For Mr GOOGLE!
Nowadays, Google has become everyone’s teacher as it contains information shared from people all over the world. Some students who get on track fast might wish to attain more knowledge in coding and programming. Thus, the teachers can enlighten the students on websites and online resources such as The Lab, General Assembly, Chumbaka, Codeinfinity, Google, Havard and etc. These online resources provide both free and paid courses at the students’ choices. Some of the free courses might not be extremely informative or well organized. However, beggars cannot be choosers. As they advance, they should not expect free courses and lessons to be found anywhere and informative. Afterall, nothing for nothing and very little for a half penny. On the other hand, the students should not take things for granted. They should try to attain knowledge on their own instead of getting spoon fed all the time. There are endless knowledge in the world and the technology is improving as day passes. Sometimes, there might be questions where not even the teachers know. However, the teachers should not feel ashamed. Instead, they should discuss and find out the answers together with the students so at the end of the day they can improve and attain new knowledge together.
Sign Up For FREE Trainings — They Are EVERYWHERE!
There are numerous free trainings out there such as Google Education Conference, Young Innovators Challenge, Junior Innovate, online conference by Scratch Foundation and etc. The students, or even the teachers are more than welcomed to join. The trainings are provided by experts from the industries. Thus the students can attain not just knowledge, but their personal experiences as well. It took years for the experts to manifest such knowledge and experiences however they are giving away these precious knowledge and experiences for free on various platforms. There should be no excuses for the students and school teachers to skip such valuable sessions.
Start Small, Think Big!
In era where everything is surrounded with coding, the students in Malaysia especially beginners should start off early to learn coding and digital making skills. As Malaysia has implemented coding classes in schools, based on our experience over the years, we truly believe that the teachers in schools can come out with creative ways to manifest great creative skills in the area of coding and digital making in the younger generations. Not just the government, but also the private sectors are trying their best to bring such skillset or knowledge not only to youngsters but everyone.