Shortly after announcing that Malaysian students will be able to taking programming lessons in primary and secondary schools, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has launch the #mydigitalmaker movement, an initiative to create a nation of digital makers.
The launch of this new initiative will see MDEC work with the Ministry of Education (MoE), as well as private sectors and academia in order to expose the youth of Malaysia to the creative and innovative aspects of digital technology. The first step in this initiative is to integrate Computational Thinking and computer science into the formal school curriculum. Right now, both the MoE and MDEC plan to integrate Computational Thinking into the new Standard Based Curriculum for Primary (KSSR) and Standard Based Curriculum for Secondary (KSSM) by January 2017.
Alongside the implementation of the new ICT-based syllabus, MDEC would also be introducing Digital Maker Clubs in schools and Digital Maker Hubs in communities. These clubs and communities would see private sectors and academia assist MDEC in nuturing and grooming Malaysia’s future digital innovators outside of the classroom. Also see: Advantages and Disadvantages of Computer Technology
“#mydigitalmaker movement is a public-, private- academia partnership to create a nation of Diital Makers. This movement will transform Malaysian youth from mere digital users to makers in the digital economy by infusing digital competencies into the formal school curriculum and complementing it with co-curricular digital maker activites,” says Dato’ Yasmin Mahmood, CEO of MDEC.