Author’s Blurb: Even before the pandemic, the concept of online learning was on the rise with platform after platform dedicated to it popping up. They came in the form of offering pre-recorded classes, revision materials, or a combination of both sometimes. But one Malaysian startup wants to take the concept of online learning to a higher level.
Compared to offline classes, online classes already have a few advantages. Firstly, teachers are able to save time by not having to repeat classes for different students, they’re able to earn extra income, and the reach of their classes extends far beyond a small circle of students.
Parents don’t have to worry about the time and cost of sending their children to tuition centres, especially if they’re enrolled in multiple classes across different centres.
Students can now access the services of top-grade teachers and tutors all across Malaysia, since they’re no longer bound to the closest tuition centre for the sake of saving time and money.
It’s no wonder that online learning platforms have been booming, and the pandemic has further helped them out. One that was recently launched in May 2020 is MyTuition, founded by Eddie Lim.
What sets it apart from existing platforms is that it aims to transfer the entire physical classroom learning experience into the virtual space by integrating all necessary functions for conducive teaching and learning on a single platform.
400 schools & 15 years of experience behind it
MyTuition’s model champions livestreamed classes instead of the usual pre-recorded ones. This allows the lessons to be more interactive, as students will be able to chat with the teachers and even have Q&A sessions throughout the class.
In case students miss the livestreams, recordings of them will be available on MyTuition for the following 7 days.
To ensure the quality of classes, Eddie also gathered a team of renowned and award-winning teachers from both the private and government sectors to offer their services on the platform.
This is where he used his network of over 400 schools in Malaysia built from 15 years of being in the education industry himself to his advantage.
He owns a sister company called Youth World Development Sdn Bhd that specialises in organising PT3 and SPM seminars nationwide.
In 2013, they had already begun experimenting with online learning spaces by recording their live seminars and making them available on their website. Interested students could then purchase a User ID to access these.
“Since then, we have seen a gradual increase of sales for our online seminars, which was the first hint to us that there is a demand for online classes,” Eddie told Vulcan Post.
Following that, they also began conducting surveys after their seminars to ask students if they were interested to continue learning from seminar teachers (as these were usually only one-day events) if there was a way to do so.
Close to 50% of their seminar students responded positively, and that was enough for Eddie and his team to begin the groundwork for MyTuition in early 2019.
A learning process for teachers too
While MyTuition assembles excellent teachers, there’s still a vetting process in place to ensure that its teachers are actually competent enough for online teaching.
They’ll have to go through training to upskill themselves to use the technology behind MyTuition’s platform for creating and managing courses, teaching, and following up with student performances and assignments.
The way lessons are delivered online also differs, so the teachers are trained on the various ways to keep students engaged in a live online lesson.
Once they’re deemed suitable for the platform, they’ll have the liberty deciding on the timing, capacity, and fee of their classes.
“For the first phase of our launch where the classes begin in June, we will be focusing on the national secondary school syllabus, the A-levels and the IGCSE,” Eddie shared.
“So, it will include subjects like Bahasa Melayu, English, Maths, Science, Sejarah, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Accounting, Commerce, etc. For our second phase, we will expand to the primary level and Form 6 syllabus as well.”
All the classes currently listed on the platform will be free for the entire month of June, open to students, other teachers and even parents. There’s also no limit to how many subject classes they can choose to enroll and partake in for this month.
“Currently, we have integrated Zoom and Google Meet into our Learning Management System (LMS). Therefore, the teachers will be able to use either application when it comes to livestreaming with students,” Eddie said.
“Having said that, we are currently in the midst of developing our own app. Once that is ready, our own livestream server will be integrated as well.”
MyTuition is looking forward to collaborating with publishers to expand their content for students, and they also see a gap to fill in terms of incorporating AI into the platform to assist students in their studies and other education related decisions.
“But for now, we will be focusing on the core aspects of the platform, which is improving user experience first along with the upskilling of our teachers in their journey of transforming into digital teachers,” Eddie concluded.
Bottom Line: I do not look upon the memories of my tuition days fondly. The quality of my teachers was subpar, the travel time and costs were annoying, and at the end of the day I didn’t feel like my tuition helped me much, especially for subjects that I really struggled with. I think online tuition from home would have been preferable instead, as I already had to juggle school and homework on the regular.
- You can read more on what we’ve written about education here.
Featured Image Credit: MyTuition
