The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC®) and Macmillan Publishers Limited have renewed their past alliance for the publication and distribution of learning support material for the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC®) and the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE®).
The two organisations signed an agreement on Tuesday 14 January 2014, granting Macmillan exclusive rights for the publication of syllabuses and past examination question papers and non-exclusive rights for the publication of subject reports, related specimen papers and mark schemes for CSEC and CAPE.
Mr Anderson Marshall, Director of Corporate Services at CXC and Mr Dan Wilson, Director, Regional Sales, Macmillan signed the contract at a brief ceremony at Alexandra Court last Tuesday.
Going Digital
“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,” said Mr Wilson during the signing ceremony held at Alexander Court, Britton’s Cross Road, St. Michael, Barbados.
Dr Didacus Jules, CEO and Registrar of CXC underscored Mr Wilson’s comments stating that “this is not Macmillan returning to the publication of past papers… this is returning on a different level and a different platform as we are going digital with these initiatives.”
Macmillan, in collaboration with CXC will develop and manage a website and
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 CXC’s existing website cxc.org.
Importance of the Digital Initiative
The digital initiative provides an opportunity for a comprehensive print and digital solution for students working towards CXC examinations. It also has the potential to encourage the development of even 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,” Mr Wilson stated. Notesmaster is an online portal that offers free access to education material for students and teachers. It allows for the creation, reading, saving, sharing and printing of CSEC and CAPE class notes.
Mr 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.
Availability and quality of material
“We expect that this partnership with Macmillan will make these additional resources easily accessible to teachers and students across the region,” Mr Marshall further highlighted.
Macmillan has local distributors in 12 Caribbean islands and their Caribbean business is part of the global Macmillan Science and Education group. Macmillan has been involved in educational publishing 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 combined experience and reach of CXC and Macmillan will help educators and students to fully incorporate the use of technology and digital resources into teaching and learning.