In 2014, I was trained by Carnegie Mellon in Computational Thinking (CT) and Computer Science. But CMU had already been pioneering CT education as early as 2006. I realized I was already 8 – 10 years behind the curve – and that’s just me as an educator.
Now consider this: Malaysia’s primary and secondary school curriculum will only begin integrating CT in 2027. By then , Taiwan would be at least 30 years ahead of us in STEM education. And let’s not even compare ourselves to the U.S. or other Western countries.
Improving education isn’t easy. There are real, structural challenges:
1. High student-teacher ratios. Teachers are not trained in differentiated instruction. Managing a large, noisy class often leads to “chalk-and-talk” or spoon-feeding – “I talk, you keep quiet.”
2. Resource gaps. A computer lab may be built, but without proper maintenance, training, or backup. If one expert teacher falls sick, there’s no one ready to take over.
3. Content dilution. Education is free, and that’s good. But when private partners train one teacher, that knowledge is then shared – often diluted – across the system. Should we follow China’s model of banning enrichment programs, so school teachers are the only source of quality learning? I don’t think we want that.
So what can a small candle like me – or like many other passionate educators -do to light the way?
I know doing project work can directly address Challenge #1 – I’ve been trained in conducting true project-based learning (not just group work). It engages students and transforms classroom management.
I also know that training both teachers and students can solve Challenge #2 – when we build capacity at every level, we create a system that can sustain itself.
Honestly, I don’t have all the answers. But I believe in creating awareness, sharing what I can, and delivering high-quality training in the areas I care deeply about.
At the end of the day, I just want to see our students 百花齐放 – may a hundred flowers bloom and a million futures flourish.
Photo taken in 2018:
Back then, @mydigitalmaker had done a lot of amazing projects for the purpose of nurturing digital talent – from Digital Ninja to Cikgu Juara Digital (Nalini Inthiran), from Computational Thinking (headed by myself) to publishing teaching modules, from Champion Schools (Fara Husna) to MetaSkools (Nadya Jaafar) – wish that all these good work can continue on for at least another 10 years.