Jamaica is serious about educating its youth

[YorickBrown]

The Bahamian government needs to pay attention to what our neighbors are doing.

Computers and kids are a natural fit. Using technology has been a proven way to get kids to focus on whatever task they need to. I'm waiting for St. Andrews or one of the other private schools to start a laptop-based program that does away with books. Imagine a teacher downloading/presenting multimedia homework assignments and study materials to/on students' laptops with a click of a button and being able to monitor their progress in real time, including if they have read the exercise and how fast they are moving through them.

Also it would reduce the cost of books because each year the coursework could be downloaded in a digital format instead of printed books.

The possibilities...

________________________________________

THE e-Learning Jamaica Project, an ambitious government programme to move away from the traditional blackboard and chalk in the island's schools and introduce computer technology, was launched yesterday in Kingston by Prime Minister P J Patterson.

The project, which will initially focus on secondary schools students in Grades 7 to 11, will teach students by way of video presentations and video conferences.

It will be implemented on a phased basis over the next three to four years and will target Grades 7 to 11 in all 150 high schools islandwide. It is estimated to cost US$50 million and funding will come mainly from the Universal Access Fund - the levy charged to telecoms companies for incoming international calls.

The technology ministry has already allocated J$50 million from its technology investment fund to the education ministry to meet priority technology needs.

[biggy]

That sounds like an excellent program and a way to motivate kids.As long as it doesn't invlove use of the internet,which is a distracting temptation when it comes to schoolwork.It would save a lot of money on textbooks but who would be responsible for the purchase,care and maint,of these computers?

[YorickBrown]

That sounds like an excellent program and a way to motivate kids.As long as it doesn't invlove use of the internet,which is a distracting temptation when it comes to schoolwork.It would save a lot of money on textbooks but who would be responsible for the purchase,care and maint,of these computers?

Yes, good question.

The new Ministry of Technology and Computing Affairs can handle that quite efficiently. :p They would be the body that would take over the entire project of governmental computing from Education to Medical Technology to Agricultural advancements to Marine Biology equipment (and anything else that needs technological advice). On a serious note though, The Bahamas is wasting a lot of money on outdated procedures that can be made more efficient by computers and technology. And we can't do things halfway - Some jobs will become redundant indeed! In many areas this nation needs to cut loose the slackness...oops, I mean the slack.

A private consulting firm also can handle this project quite easily. The problem is stopping the selection process from becoming corrupted by kickbacks. Judging from circulated rumours around town, it appears in some segments of this society that businesses will not get certain contracts unless someone in government is making money from it (*gasp* Say it's not so!)

These laptops can be watered down/refurbished machines that run a customized operating system which includes teacher-controlled access to the web (to eliminate distractions) and also prevents the installation of games and other unnecessary programs. A cheap version of the Panasonic Toughbook comes to mind (water resistant and drop proof)

The purchasers of these notebooks would be future/present foreign investors to this nation though a form of education tax - a small price to pay to keep we natives "edumacated" so that we don't run the country into the ground, spoiling their investment.

[Alien]

I think there is a bigger problem with kids learning...
We can have the best tech and what ever..if our kids do not want to even stay in the class...then what good does it do!

I like the idea that Jamaica has...but we really have to set the stage for better help for our kids.

Even though there is nothing wrong with better tech teaching!!
:)

[tux]

i love the idea. Too bad the government wont be willing to take such a risk.

[Rory]

Yeah sounds good. I would say though, give them internet access but filter it accordingly.

[de redhead]

The possibilities are great. I think that such a program would be best undertaken at a private school or COB to start with. COB's text books in particular are extremely expensive. Downloading books as PDFs and reading them on reader devices or laptops would be an interesting idea, and teach young people to use digital data more effectively (my company wastes tons of paper every year because most of our executives are more comfortable with a piece of paper in their hand). The question of copyright infringement could easily be remedied by paying for a copy for each student in the first year and transferring the licenses to new students each subsequent semester, that way your book deposit would truly be a deposit which is reimbursed at the end of each semester.

[biggy]

Both the comment recommending Toughbooks and trying it first at the College Of The Bahamas are very good ideas.I only hope that the students take the program seriously.Just a very quick comment:After the Christmas I returned back to Connecticut to work for 3 weeks before rejoining my Bahamian family.I had the oppurtunity to be on the street in front of the local high school as school was getting out.While waiting at the crosswalk,for the students to pass,I took a quick poll as to how many of them were carrying either books or bookbags.Of 30 kids 5 had books or bags,mostly girls.My home city is about the size of Nassau,the school is a diverse blend of white,black and hispanics children.I found this most disturbing.Don't their parents wonder where their homework is?Do they even care?

[canewry]

The Bahamian government needs to pay attention to what our neighbors are doing.

Computers and kids are a natural fit. Using technology has been a proven way to get kids to focus on whatever task they need to. I'm waiting for St. Andrews or one of the other private schools to start a laptop-based program that does away with books. Imagine a teacher downloading/presenting multimedia homework assignments and study materials to/on students' laptops with a click of a button and being able to monitor their progress in real time, including if they have read the exercise and how fast they are moving through them.

Also it would reduce the cost of books because each year the coursework could be downloaded in a digital format instead of printed books.

The possibilities...

________________________________________

THE e-Learning Jamaica Project, an ambitious government programme to move away from the traditional blackboard and chalk in the island's schools and introduce computer technology, was launched yesterday in Kingston by Prime Minister P J Patterson.

The project, which will initially focus on secondary schools students in Grades 7 to 11, will teach students by way of video presentations and video conferences.

It will be implemented on a phased basis over the next three to four years and will target Grades 7 to 11 in all 150 high schools islandwide. It is estimated to cost US$50 million and funding will come mainly from the Universal Access Fund - the levy charged to telecoms companies for incoming international calls.

The technology ministry has already allocated J$50 million from its technology investment fund to the education ministry to meet priority technology needs.

Man Yorick you lated...St Andrews has computers in every class room...Internet ready...surfing and down loading... and Queens College has A+ classes being offered to seniors.

[Alien]

Man Yorick you lated...St Andrews has computers in every class room...Internet ready...surfing and down loading... and Queens College has A+ classes being offered to seniors.


this the way it should be!
But who ga pay?

I would like it to be this way..but will it?
:hammer:

[de redhead]

this the way it should be!
But who ga pay?
I would like it to be this way..but will it?
:hammer:


He is saying that this is the way it is at those schools.

I would like to enroll my daughter at QC if her mother lets me bring her to Nassau to live with me. I believe she could pass an A+ exam now, I give her and my other charges (step son, nieces and nephews) PCs to build and trouble shoot when I need some peace and quiet. They can't surf the internet until they get the PC working. That's how I learned much of what I know and I do the same with them. My cousin gave me a box of parts and said this is a computer, you can have it. Took me weeks to put it together, but I learned a lot trying. The most important lesson was don't be afraid of a piece of metal or plastic, if you mess it up the world won't end just try.

[YorickBrown]

Man Yorick you lated...St Andrews has computers in every class room...Internet ready...surfing and down loading... and Queens College has A+ classes being offered to seniors.

Not exactly...

No school in these islands has implemented what I stated in my initial post - "a laptop-based program that virtually eliminates traditional textbooks." It''s actually a step ahead of what Jamaica is doing.

What I'm talking about is a laptop in every high school/college student's possession which replaces the need for expensive textbooks and can be easily upgraded to the next year's syllabus, in addition to drastically increasing familiarity with computers across the entire scholastic body.

Several computers in each classroom is a good start, but in a class of 30 or more students, their use by each student is drastically limited.

I say to put the computers in our student's hands. The idea is indeed a reach, expense-wise and even training-wise for the teachers and professors to begin utilizing the potential of these tools, but it's nice to know that it could be a feasible goal for our schools in upcoming years.

[Tafadhali]

I think a national lottery could help pay for such a program (as well as provide school lunch and school bus service for them) but what's the use of wanting something like this if the gov't cant see it?

this is all fine and dandy and its a great idea we probably could even get corporate donations for the equipment but what's the use of having e-textbooks if kids cant read? whats the use of exposing kids to the internet if they cant read...that could be a enfit of reading and freeing the mind but they cant read makes no sense. it was even echoed on another thread by y2K that having a computer constitutes someone being middleclass (really?)...

this economist (a lovely magazine) article is a little off topic but it touches on technology and learning basics and it; probably give some more insight (http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3742817)

[canewry]

Not exactly...

No school in these islands has implemented what I stated in my initial post - "a laptop-based program that virtually eliminates traditional textbooks." It''s actually a step ahead of what Jamaica is doing.

What I'm talking about is a laptop in every high school/college student's possession which replaces the need for expensive textbooks and can be easily upgraded to the next year's syllabus, in addition to drastically increasing familiarity with computers across the entire scholastic body.

Several computers in each classroom is a good start, but in a class of 30 or more students, their use by each student is drastically limited.

I say to put the computers in our student's hands. The idea is indeed a reach, expense-wise and even training-wise for the teachers and professors to begin utilizing the potential of these tools, but it's nice to know that it could be a feasible goal for our schools in upcoming years.

Hey Yorick, I think that new school on blake road has online learning.

[Rory]

they should be teaching them programming, before all those indians the Government want to import come in here and take all the work from us Bahamians ...