Note sharing website for students launched

Students across Barbados studying for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams now have access to a website to assist them in a number of subject areas.

Wiki-Notes, created by Aron David Truss of The Aron & Christina Foundation and Deepak H. Thani of Caribyte Inc., was officially launched at the Deighton Griffith Secondary School.

Wiki-Notes is free to all users. It was conceptualised by Mr. Truss following his daughter’s experiences at Harrison College, when he realised that many of the issues he encountered at the school 30 years ago were still being encountered by current students, even though new technology could solve some of the problems.

He indicated that one issue in particular was class notes and the effect on students receiving notes when they missed a class or were absent from school; when a student would like to study ahead; when a student needs extra help, but their parents can’t afford to pay for extra lessons; or even when a teacher misses many classes or is absent from school.

“Note sharing is not new. We can all remember the days when we needed to borrow notes from a friend for a number of reasons or someone asked for our notes…The same experiences that we had as students are still relevant today, in that class notes still play an important part in education,” he said, stressing, however, that such notes can’t replace textbooks, can’t replace good teachers, but they are still necessary.

“What I also noticed was that my daughter and her friends were no longer sharing notes the way I did by writing them out, but they were actually taking photos of their notes using their cell phones or tablets to share them – a more efficient way. Also, a number of innovative teachers are actually creating their own websites and posting their notes to the website, to save class time, to make class time more productive.”

Mr. Truss therefore initiated this platform where notes can be shared. And while each subject will have an admin team of teacher and student volunteers, anyone can submit their notes to the site for review and approval by the subject team.

As it relates to the accuracy of the notes and copyright issues, he has assured that a number of systems have been put forward to address those concerns.

“We decided to get multiple students from various schools to help contribute with notes. Our view was that students amongst themselves will help police the accuracy…If a number of students at various schools all have similar notes we felt that should deal with any copyright issue. Secondly, would be to ask a teacher to volunteer to oversee a subject based on the subject matter that they teach.”

Suggestions for note edits are also welcome and will assist in further increasing the overall quality of information provided to all students.

“We hope that more teachers, perhaps even recently retired teachers, will be interested in joining this initiative and providing their notes,” Mr. Truss further expressed.

Principal of Deighton Griffith, Anthony Alleyne, who endorsed the initiative, pointed out: “Technology is used daily, by everyone, virtually everywhere. And I think that as educators we are almost duty-bound to find ways as to how we can use it and integrate it into our teaching, into our learning, and also into the management of our educational processes. The overall aim is to get that student achievement and student engagement that we are talking about.

“When Mr. Truss and Mr. Thani mentioned that they wanted to start the initiative at Deighton Griffith, I said that was okay because this is something I personally believe in as a principal, and I know that it is also a general initiative across Barbados – how do we maximise technology to get greater efficiencies, greater effectiveness and in my current setting, to enhance education as much as we can,” Alleyne said.

(TL)