Irwin High sets out to replace 'chalk and talk' - MoBay school pilots new education software
Published:Thursday | June 6, 2013 | 12:00 AM
Barrington Flemming, Gleaner Writer
Irwin High School in Montego Bay, St James, has joined forces with the United States-based Educo International Incorporated to integrate and implement the highly touted Educosoft web portal (a specialised software) into schools across western Jamaica.
Educosoft, founded by Dr Man M. Sharma, professor of mathematics at Clark Atlanta University in Georgia, United States (US), is designed to empower teachers of mathematics, the sciences and English language to impart knowledge with easy-to-use computer technology via face-to-face or online instruction.
Sharma said the programme has been hailed in the US, Puerto Rico, India, the Middle East, and the Caribbean as a powerful teaching tool which would not replace the teacher but significantly enhance learning in schools in essentially a two-year period.
The programme was pioneered in Jamaica (after being endorsed by the Ministry of Education) at the Mico University College, through interactions between Sharma and Mico President Claude Packer.
It was adapted to the curriculum for use in lecturing students.
In explaining how the programme works, Sharma, who has 52 years of experience teaching mathematics, told The Gleaner he developed the programme in 1985 with support from the US Department of Education and the IBM Corporation. He said the programme was designed to improve the academic performance of students, especially in mathematics and English language.
"All three subjects would be loaded on to portable flash drives, which the teacher would use without depending on the Internet. For science teachers, all the activities that are traditionally taught (by) using chalk and a board and a lab, we are now able to do using virtual labs to achieve the same results," said Sharma. "Some experiments can be done in the classrooms without taking the students into labs."
$3,000 for flash drives
Sharma, who stated that flash drives would be available to students at a cost of $3,000 annually, explained further that in 2001 when the Internet became widely available, Educo started converting its content and Learning Management System (LMS) for delivery on the web.
"Educosoft will replace chalk and talk. It is simple and easy to use and can be customised to suit any curriculum from grade one to grade 12," noted Sharma.
Among the unique features of the system is that it carries tutorials and lecture notes so both students and instructors have access to multimedia tutorials where concepts are illustrated with dynamic graphics and animation along with step-by-step explanation.
Aldin Bellinfante, the principal of Irwin High, who has bought into the programme, said the initiative was one that would totally revolutionise both the teaching and learning processes of the Jamaican education system if fully adapted.
"Irwin High is dealing with the customisation of the content for English language and the sciences to ensure that it is 100 per cent compatible with the curriculum of the Ministry of Education," said Bellinfante. "We are going to be the hub of the project in western Jamaica. I have experienced the programme myself by attending a seminar with Dr Sharma last year."
Hugh Cargill, the head of the Mathematics Department at Irwin High, who attended a seminar with Sharma last year to learn about the programme, has been mandated by Bellinfante to implement the programme at Irwin and introduce it to other principals and schools in St James, Hanover and Westmoreland.
"This is really phenomenal. It is a very convenient way of using technology, which easily enhances the learning process," said Cargill. "(For) Teachers who have a fear of or a deficiency in teaching, especially mathematics, this programme will greatly enhance their ability to teach the subject."