Notes Master to help students prepare for CSEC

Students preparing for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations can receive some extra assistance through an online portal, set up by the Caribbean Examinations Council.{{more}}

CXC Registrar Didacus Jules told SEARCHLIGHT in a recent interview that the portal called Notes Master, is just one programme designed to boost the performance of secondary school leavers, especially in mathematics and English.

Jules acknowledged that there are a number of learning portals that provide lessons to students, but recommends the “home grown” site, which he said is more designed for the students of the region.

“Well, Notes Master, as far as we are concerned, is far superior to that, because if you log on to Notes Master (www.notesmaster.com), you will see the range of subjects that CXC offers at each level: CSEC, CAPE; and then we are going to be also putting in a portal for CCSLC and CPEA.

“But under each subject, there is an outline of the syllabus, and each section of the syllabus progressively opens up to a more detailed outline right down to the topic level. And for each topic, there are study notes, interactive videos, and quizzes; so a student, or you being out of school, and want to do a couple subjects, you can log into that and comprehensively review the syllabus, using the notes and the quizzes,” Jules said.

The educator said that it is hoped that the portal would offer some remedy to the poor showing in mathematics and English, which had been produced over the years.

He added that at a recent meeting of the CXC Council in Anguilla, plans were being put in place to tackle the problem.

“CXC has actually proposed a regional strategy to address the challenges in English and mathematics. One of them is setting up extra working groups in both knowledge areas. We are looking at our records, to really take a good look at performances to identify where precisely the weaknesses have been, and what countries need to do in terms of teaching of those subjects to improve learning.”

Jules pointed out that teachers are also an integral part of the drive to improve the results in the CSEC exam.

“We have the capacity to create groups, so a teacher can replicate his or her class online, and on a Saturday, give a Skype-type lesson to his class. Wherever they are, he can deliver his lesson.

“We are also using the group feature to create what we call virtual subject associations,

for all mathematics teachers across the Caribbean, as part of a math association,” Jules pointed out.

“We are encouraging ministries to get their curriculum officers to sign into that, so you can have sub-groupings; so, all Vincy math teachers can be a part of that sub-grouping within the regional grouping, and the curriculum officer for math here can work with that teacher virtually, to do things like develop modular lesson plans, delivering model lessons, and it can be used not only by the Vincy teachers, but by teachers across the entire Caribbean and it is totally free. We have 98,000 people using it right now,” he added. (JJ)