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C’bean schools to benefit from Virtual Subject Association
CXC Registrar, Dr. Didacus Jules
The introduction of a Virtual Subject Association is expected to be created by next month, with a view of soliciting the collaboration of educators across the Caribbean, to help address concerns detected in the subject areas of Mathematics and English.
The move is being introduced by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and according to CXC Registrar, Dr. Didacus Jules, every teacher of Mathematics and English, every Curriculum Officer and University lecturer from across the Caribbean who is concerned about the subjects, should be a part of the proposed Association.
“The grouping will allow you to have Guyanese teachers as a sub-grouping working with their Guyanese curriculum Mathematics people to do all kinds of joint projects, working virtually to develop lesson plans; to develop pedagogical materials, quizzes and so on to put online.”
According to Dr. Jules, the beauty of such a move is that it would allow Guyana, for instance, to allow the entire Caribbean to access its work.
Already the CXC body has been working with e-learn in Jamaica, with materials already being posted online. CXC, Dr Jules revealed, is currently working with several Governments of the region to make the Virtual Association become a reality.
Virtual groups, he explained, could even be embraced by individual schools which may have large Mathematics departments, thereby allowing all teachers to do their own sub-groupings and collaborate.
Further still, he pointed out that at the individual level, students can have their own study groups with their peers by sharing notes and materials.
“So it is really the power of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) to create a community of learning that is focused on doing better, learning more, and being more excited about knowledge,” Dr Jules noted.
Additionally, CXC has developed a range of support materials, since according to the Registrar, “we recognise that as exciting ICTs are, not everybody has access, so there is still space for traditional books.”
For this reason, the examination body has partnered with different publishers to produce its syllabi, past papers and a range of study guides in all the key subject areas. ]
The study guides, according to Dr Jules, are workbooks that have been developed, and are certainly not like every other textbook that comes onto the market.
The study guides have been built from an analysis of what the core concepts are in every subject that students need to master, and also the concepts where they are constantly showing weaknesses.
In essence, Dr Jules noted, CXC is in the business of producing purpose-built materials to help with learning.
He stated that there are some persons across the Region who are of the belief that the CXC is in fact out to “make money.” While agreeing that the intent is to be independent in terms of its revenue base, Dr Jules said that the move by CXC is certainly not about making money.
“We belong to the Region and every cent that CXC makes is reinvested in initiatives like the learning portal, which is free.”
CXC, he said, has been able to create a portal that is currently customised for CAPE and CSEC to help students get with their programme and to do so even independently.
“If your child is sick, hospitalised for even months, hopefully they can go online and continue their studies without skipping a beat,” he said.
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