KUALA LUMPUR: Educationists have lauded the Education Ministry's move to relaunch TV Pendidikan as DidikTV KPM, which went on air yesterday.
They are confident that using television to teach will address the education gap caused by the use of online learning.
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia's Social Sciences and Humanities Faculty dean Professor Dr Zaidatun Tasir said many countries, such as Austria, Brazil and China, had gained benefits from introducing educational TV for students as the Covid-19 pandemic had forced schools to close.
"DidikTV KPM will widen the reach and impact to make teaching and learning sustainable at the school level.
"To make the channel more effective, DidikTV KPM should employ active learning strategies where students should be given learning tasks to solve in each session.
"We need to transform the DidikTV KPM instruction format from a talking head to exploration and informal explanation to get students' attention," she told the New Straits Times.
The educational technologist said teaching and learning videos for DidikTV KPM need not be shot in studios.
"Instead, the shooting should be done in a school environment, such as science laboratories, to give students an authentic learning experience.
"Allow teachers to give instructions using self-recorded videos."
To ensure the channel's sustainability, Zaidatun said it was necessary for the Education Ministry to plan a systematic and integrated curriculum that was not just based on textbooks.
"DidikTV KPM should consider other learning activities, such as assessments and science experiments.
"In doing so, DidikTV KPM will be a vital teaching and learning tool to boost STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning, critical thinking and problem-solving skills among students.
"Most importantly, DidikTV KPM requires teamwork from parents, teachers, the National Union of the Teaching Profession and non-governmental organisations to provide the best learning experience for students."
Anuar Ahmad, an education expert from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, said DidikTV KPM would ensure that students without Internet access could follow remote learning.
"This move should have begun earlier because online learning has led to greater disparity and widened the education gap between urban and rural students.
"Compared with Internet-based learning, TV-based learning has far better accessibility since rural and interior areas can access it."
Anuar said the Education Ministry should prioritise two things to ensure DidikTV KPM became an effective learning instrument.
"Firstly, DidikTV KPM should be the primary mode of learning and not as a supplement to online learning.
"Secondly, the ministry must invest in developing content and teaching materials for the channel. Only then will teachers and students from urban and rural areas refer to the channel as the primary source of learning.
"The ministry must also get guru cemerlang and examiners
who mark public examination papers to teach in the programmes.
"It is equally crucial that curriculum development experts are hired to design the programmes. If all these are done, then DidikTV will be a success."
Parent Action Group for Education president Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim welcomed DidikTV KPM as a positive development to ensure students did not lose out on education.
"All homes have a television, unlike online learning, which requires fast Internet connectivity, smart devices and storage.
"Nonetheless, the Education Ministry must continue equipping all students for remote learning, which offers interaction with teachers since DidikTV KPM allows only one-way communication.
"DidikTV content should excite students and sustain their desire to learn and be independent."