.png)
The partners on this pilot project are the Ministry of Education, who contributed seed funding, curriculum advice and volunteered teachers as content creators; Research Studios of Austria; One Laptop Per Family Programme (OLPF), onto whose devices the software was preloaded and made available to children; and eNetworks business, who provide pro bono wireless connectivity & related support to the schools in its footprint.
The 160 fourth formers in the pilot were drawn from Saint Stanislaus College, Anna Regina Multilateral, President’s College, West Demerara Secondary School, Mackenzie High School, the Tagore Memorial Secondary and New Amsterdam Multilateral.
Students who have used this software were present at the event, held at the Herdmanston Lodge at Peter Rose and Anira Streets in Queenstown, Georgetown, and they gave the audience a step-by-step demonstration of how they go about using this programme.
Students use a log-in name and password to log on to the programme, which can also be downloaded if there is no Internet access, and they are immediately able to access various answers to questions in these two subject areas.
The students’ interface has different courses (topics) in the subject areas of chemistry and mathematics, and there is even a context button which gives students a better understanding of the questions they are asking.
This programme is also useful to teachers, since they are able to access information on the weaknesses and strengths of the students, and can know on which areas they need to place more emphasis in the classroom.
Teachers can access information such as which topics are answered the most, what are students’ individual performances, and the amount of courses the students have completed. There are also statistics that can be used to compare the questions which are answered and the students who answer them.
Statistics which can be accessed by administrators of the programme also include the most active users, most popular courses, most active groups (schools); and they can also compare access within schools, and how each school performs in the various courses.
Present at the event and gaining a first-hand look at the programme was Education Minister Priya Manickchand, who acknowledged the importance of such programmes through partnerships with the private sector.
“Guyana cannot develop at the pace we ought to be developing if we cannot be innovative about educating our population, young and old alike,” she declared.
Manickchand explained that the Government alone cannot deliver the kind of education the Guyanese population needs, so they have partners, such as the RLT, which she said is a partnership that was very welcome.
“We have a solid Guyanese whose patriotism has been manifested in his deep interest in helping to develop his country through its young people, and actually physically bringing to us programmes that can work,” she asserted.
She added that if Guyana is able to garner from other partners more innovations like these, then the country would be well on its way to holding its own in this world.
Meanwhile, Chief Executive officer of RLT, Mr. Kojo Parris, said this is a learning project for the public good, and RLT is looking to increase the programme to 10 subject areas.
According to him, RLT has no jurisdiction over the curriculum, and the subject areas would be decided on by the Education Ministry. He described the partnership with the Education Ministry as crucial to the success of the pilot project.
Mr. Parris said the project benefits teachers, and contains valuable management information; increases high value human capital imperative, and presents the opportunity to deploy technology creatively.
Strategic imperatives, he said, include deepening the RLT/Education Ministry partnership and embracing the inevitable mobile telephony, since it is intended that the programme be migrated onto a mobile platform.
He also said that RLT wants to resolve the connectivity conundrum, and persons who wish to access the programme can be given a link to do so.
Parris explained that the company also wants to crystallize a local software group, and is approaching the University of Guyana and students to create a software company which would develop confidence and capacity, and enable changes to the platform to be made locally.
In the area of emerging partnerships, he listed the Caricom Diaspora, Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), which would enable the platform to be replicated across the Caribbean, and large local corporate and civic entities.
Parris explained that the company wants this platform to be one of the top 5 platforms globally by 26th May, 2016, Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary.
This pilot has been the first step in this journey, which aims, at a minimum, to cover by mid-December 2013, Guyana’s teenagers’ core academic needs; by June 2014, the Caribbean/CXC footprint; and by June 2015, the global Anglophone primary, secondary & tertiary sectors.
The RLT was founded in October 2012 by Mr. Parris, & its Trustees are Ralph Ramkarran & Malcolm Parris.
