The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and Macmillan Publishers Limited have renewed a contract that will see the continued publication and distribution of learning materials for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE).
This is according to a release from the CXC.
A signed agreement between the two organisations, dated January 14, 2014 gives Macmillan exclusive rights to publish syllabuses
and past examination question papers; but non-exclusive rights for the publication of subject reports, related specimen papers and mark schemes for CSEC and CAPE.
The contract was signed at a brief ceremony by Anderson Marshall, Director of Corporate Services at CXC and Dan Wilson, Director, Regional Sales, Macmillan at Alexandra Court, Britton’s Cross Road, St Michael, Barbados.
The release quotes Wilson as saying, “This is an opportunity to work with CXC in addition to the printing of past papers through the development of an online channel for these resources.”
To this end, the release quoted Dr Didacus Jules, CEO and Registrar of CXC, as saying that “this is not Macmillan returning on the publication of past papers… this is returning on a different level and a different platform as we are going digital with these initiatives.”
CXC and Macmillan are to develop and manage a website—www.cxc.org—and an e-commerce engine to be branded the “CXC Store” for the placement of syllabuses and sale of past examination question papers with schools’ reports and syllabus extracts and third party digital content. The CXC Store will be linked to www.cxc.org.
The release cited the digital initiative as being important in providing CXC students comprehensive print and digital solutions when preparing for examinations.
It said further that the digital initiative has potential for developing more creative digital content around the Caribbean.
“Digital offers a flexibility that print cannot and Macmillan within this partnership will deliver an outstanding digital platform… and this will compliment Notesmaster,” the release quoted Wilson as saying.
Notesmaster is an online portal that offers free access to educational material for students and teachers. It allows for the creation, reading, saving, sharing and printing of CSEC and CAPE class notes.
According to the release, Marshall pointed out that Notesmaster, one of CXC’s advance strategies to effect improvement in performance is supported by other activities such as workshops for teachers, the development of study guides and the publishing of past examination papers.
It further stated, “We expect that this partnership with Macmillan will make these additional resources easily accessible to teachers and students across the region.”
Macmillan has local distributors in 12 Caribbean islands, forming part of the global Macmillan Science and Education group. The company has been publishing educational material in the Caribbean for more than 60 years and has worked with ministries of education, local authors, advisers and experts throughout the region to develop leading primary and secondary learning and teaching materials for the Caribbean.
The release said that these combined CXC and Macmillan initiatives will help educators and students to fully incorporate the use of technology and digital resources into teaching and learning.
