KOTA SAMARAHAN: Community college educators across Sarawak are being trained to combine Lean management principles with artificial intelligence (AI) to cut repetitive tasks and free up time for student mentoring.
In the statement, Kolej Komuniti Kuching’s Director, Sumbang Mandaw, said AI in education should support lecturers, not replace their role.
“The Lean approach helps lecturers identify processes that genuinely add value to student learning.
“When combined with AI responsibly, this gives lecturers more room to focus on learning design, mentoring and interaction with students,” he added.
He was speaking at the ‘Lean Approach in Digital Teaching Workshop for Educators’, held for Sarawak Zone Community Colleges 2026 from August 12 to 13.
The two-day workshop took place at the Gamification Centre, myCapsule Space, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS).
It was organised by Kolej Komuniti Kuching with the Department of Polytechnic and Community College Education (JPPKK).
The workshop brought together 20 educators from six community colleges – Kuching, Mas Gading, Santubong, Sarikei, Sarikei Sibu Branch and Betong.
It was conducted by Dr Chuah Kee Man of UNIMAS, covering Lean thinking in TVET education, digital value stream mapping, AI integration and real-time feedback.
Participants also took part in hands-on sessions to identify teaching processes that could be simplified, automated or restructured.
Applications explored included Gemini Notebook, Lovable, Google Flow, ChatGPT and Claude AI, used to prepare teaching materials and reduce repetitive workflow.
Sumbang said the practices would be extended to the respective community colleges to strengthen digital TVET delivery across Sarawak.
