Nilai University holds National Rero Educators Conference
NILAI: Teachers from primary and secondary schools nationwide a ended the second National Rero Educators Conference and Launching of Outreach Campaign 2020 at Nilai University on Monday.
Jointly organised by Nilai University and Cytron Technologies, a Penang-based company that designs and manufactures educational robotics kits, this annual event serves as a platform for teachers who are actively involved in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programmes to meet, share experiences, and explore ideas for collaboration.
Nilai University first hosted Rero workshops and competitions last year, which received an overwhelming response from schools.
Vice-chancellor Prof Dr Roslan Zainal Abidin said in line with the government’s initiatives and the industry demand for STEM graduates globally, the university feels that nurturing and developing local talents in STEM is of utmost importance.
“Therefore, educators play an important role in cultivating interest and transferring knowledge,” he said.
Conference participants gained hands-on experience in robot building and programming using Cytron’s PikaBot – Maker Uno
Smart Car Kit.
They programmed the robot using Arduino IDE.
The teachers have been entrusted to transfer the knowledge to their colleagues and students.
During the conference, Nilai University and Cytron Technologies signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and further promote STEM education, especially in robotics and coding.
Nilai University was represented by Roslan while Tan Eng Tong, chief executive officer and co-founder, represented Cytron Technologies.
Ministry of Education Sports, Co-curricular and Arts Division head, assistant director Zalina Kamis, witnessed the signing.
The three jointly launched the annual Rero Outreach Campaign 2020, an initiative spearheaded by the education arm of Cytron Technologies to introduce robotics and coding to primary and secondary schools.
Endorsed by the ministry, the campaign is a joint public-private academia initiative in support of the MDEC #mydigitalmaker movement, which aims to transform Malaysian youth from digital users to producers in the digital economy.
Cytron Technologies Rero Eduteam head Cheryl Ng said this is the fourth year the company is organising outreach campaign.
“Last year, we conducted training workshops for over 600 teachers and a total of 884 teams across Malaysia participated in the Rero Robotics and Coding Competition (RAC19).
“This year, we will continue to conduct free training workshops in every state, and we hope to recruit more new teams to join RAC2020,” she said.
Schools interested in joining the workshops and competitions can visit www.rero.io/rac2020 for more information or email cheryl@cytron.io.
Nilai University will host the RAC2020 National Level Robotics and Coding Competition on Oct 6-7.
Nilai University offers several engineering, aircraft maintenance, and computing diploma and honours degree programmes.
Students and academics often participate in and lead various community projects with other higher learning institutions and corporations to promote STEM education among primary and secondary schools.
For more information about Nilai University and its programmes in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, visit www.nilai.edu. my, look for Nilai University on Facebook, or call 06-8502308. the