The OECS-Notesmaster Professional Development Workshop in partnership with the Ministry of Education Saint Vincent and the Grenadines was held at the National Girls Guide Building in Kingstown on April 2nd to the 5th. The four days engagement was expertly planned and executed by Ms. Semonique Harry, ICT Officer in the Ministry of Education and Mrs. Aldia Cummbs-Dyer, Senior Education Officer. While the day’s activities were conducted by Mr. Damon Clarke, Director of Notesmaster Caribbean.

The OECS-Notesmaster team understands that technology is entwined in almost every part of our culture. It affects how we live, work, play, and most pivotally the teaching and learning experience. Therefore, proper sensitization through training and ongoing support to these communities are of paramount importance and the necessary steps have been taken by the OECS EDMU and Notesmaster to ensure a sustainable model is achieved for all member states.

The sessions had fully equipped over 100 teachers (primary & secondary) and students with a range of skills that would enable them to perform more efficiently in the rapidly evolving ICT in the education landscape, these include:

➔ Developing high-quality teaching and learning resources using the latest technological tools. This exposed participants to a wide range of tools designed to assist educators in creating locally authored content that caters to various learning styles.

➔ Retrieving and repurposing high-quality learning resources that can be used to teach their classes or shared with their virtual classes.

➔ Integrating Notesmaster in your classroom by connecting and catering to students with varying learning styles and multiple intelligences.

➔ How your students can interact with their classmates and instructors by encouraging collaboration through the toolkits and virtual environments.

➔ Creating Virtual classes, connecting remotely with students and using the suite of features effectively where school administrators and parents can track the progress of students.

➔ Joining the Virtual toolkits for each subject and connecting with other students and teachers across the Caribbean and sharing best practises.

The participants were extremely appreciative of Notesmaster in the classroom and thankful for the opportunity to further develop their digital skills. The teachers were particularly pleased as they applauded this initiative by the OECS EDMU and Notesmaster, as a well-needed confidence booster by giving them total control of what they do, and how they do it!

Article contributed by Mr. Damon Clarke