Local IT company to host on-line component of UWI Executive Diploma in Management

A local business and education technology service provider has secured a contract with the University of the West Indies under which it will launch and host the on-line component of the University’s Executive Diploma in Management.

Brainstreet Technologies announced earlier this week that it had signed an agreement with the University’s School of Business at the Cave Hill Campus (CHSB) under which the company will use its Learning Platform “to host and provide technical support for the CHSB’s on-line courses and related materials.

Under the agreement Brainstreet will be responsible for the formatting of academic course work for on-line delivery, provision of on-line chat rooms and forums for students to engage on discussions and other collaborative activities. A release from Brainstreet has pointed out that an additional gain from the agreement is that the CHSB’s Executive Management programme will now be more accessible to Guyanese students.

Under the agreement the local company is also expected to provide audio/visual conference rooms to facilitate “live” teaching and training sessions. The Brainstreet release said that the agreement also commits the service provider to make available a facility ‘that allows students to easily upload digital content for training sessions and a facility that allows students to easily upload digital content for evaluation and grading.”

Brainstreet Chief Executive Officer Lance Hinds says that the agreement with the CHSB “will serve as a launching pad for the expansion of the company’s business activities into the Caribbean.” Hinds is also seeking to enhance local interest in the educational material available on the Brainstreet Learning Platform.

Brainstreet has also been involved in a collaborative exercise with the UWI’s Mona Campus to develop an on-line learning course that will target teachers wishing to become more familiar with modern methods of education delivery.

Meanwhile, Brainstreet has also disclosed that it is currently using its on-line platform to introduce a number of on-line academic courses for local primary and secondary schools which, the company says, will allow students to access academic material from any location with an internet connection.

The company says that its current focus is on raising awareness of on-line learning and its potential and that it is seeking to facilitate this process by launching a national pilot in which a sample of local secondary school students will be provided with access to the company’s learning material.