This post was simply supposed to be about introducing another project. About 2 paragraphs in, I recognized that it could be something a little more. While I will still use the post to introduce Wakonté’s latest project, I also see it as an opportunity to give people a glimpse into some of the experiences that […]
This post was simply supposed to be about introducing another project. About 2 paragraphs in, I recognized that it could be something a little more. While I will still use the post to introduce Wakonté’s latest project, I also see it as an opportunity to give people a glimpse into some of the experiences that have shaped me and led me to do what I do today: conceptualizing and building Caribbean and African tailored solutions.
The project I introduce today is something called cxcnotes. It is an attempt to provide open, free, curriculum-tailored, high-quality, comprehensive learning resources for CAPE and CSEC Students. This means that I am essentially seeking to provide a SparkNotes or CliffNotes like platform with content that has been specifically tailored to the CAPE and CSEC curricula. This means that in addition to tailored, well-written, and beautifully illustrated notes, we are seeking to provide high-quality audio and video content to accommodate different learning styles. And we will need your help.
But first, what experiences led me to build this platform?
Life As A Student
I was a CSEC Lit student. That choice sometimes came with the responsibility of analyzing the poems on the required list using a simple framework. Some of the poems were Caribbean, and some were not. For the poems which weren’t Caribbean, a simple Google search would lead one to numerous pieces of analysis. The same cannot be said for the Caribbean poems. I often felt slighted.
In one of my searches, I discovered SparkNotes and cliff notes. These were websites dedicated to providing SAT and early college students with high-quality, well-written, condensed notes for various subjects. At 15, I felt like the Caribbean should have had the same.
Life As an Educator
I taught CAPE Communication and Caribbean Studies for about a year, and I absolutely loved it; at least the educating part.
My approach to teaching was to encourage my students to adopt a posture of independence towards their learning. Yes, I was there to guide them, but I understood that by teaching them to learn independently of me, that I was placing them in a position to access greater opportunities. If you’re excited about learning and know how to do it, the world is truly your oyster. Most of them were not on board with it. And in a sense, I understood why.
My system put more pressure on them. It required more work, and in their minds jeopardized their chances of getting the best grades. It required them to read more and to seek more than let’s say, a child in the US writing the SATs or a child in the UK writing A Levels. This conundrum existed largely because there were very few resources tailored specifically to their contexts; resources which helped them come to the point of the matter sooner than they were already doing.
At the same time, conversations with some of my colleagues led me to realize that when students conducted research outside of the textbooks and prescribed resources they sometimes fell prey to misinformation. The combination of these conversations – those with my students and my colleagues – made me realize that my approach to teaching would become more palatable to my students if they had a trusted resource, tailored to their syllabi.
Life As A Regionalist
I entered the University of the West Indies in 2010, a 19-year-old Saint Lucian woman. I left a 22-year-old Caribbean woman. Through, and through, I am a regionalist and so it is not divergent from my nature for me to seek ways for the Caribbean’s islands to come together for our greater good.
I think cxcnotes provides an excellent opportunity for regional integration across the sphere of education. Teachers and students have an opportunity to come together for the sake of a common goal: learning, and succeeding at our regional exams.
There are islands whose students do particularly well in certain subjects and islands whose students do better in others. If teachers and students can come together to learn and share resources, it is possible that we can see greater success at our regional examinations.
Life As a Social Entrepreneur
2020. A pandemic.
I was out of a job and had just started Wakonté so I was limited, both in time and financial resources, in what I could contribute to the pool of valid solutions. At Wakonté our contribution was providing content in local/native African and Caribbean languages and providing packages which helped African and Caribbean entrepreneurs get their businesses online affordably. We created posters in Swahili, Igbo, Twi, Saint Lucian Kwéyòl, English, and French, to name a few. These posters informed African people on the symptoms of the virus, how it spread and what they could do to minimize the spread.
This was a valuable initiative, but what I really wanted to do, was cxcnotes. I’d wanted to do it as a student and also as an educator, but the pandemic made it something that I simply had to do as a social entrepreneur. I kept talking about it with my younger sister and then a few weeks ago, I shared that it would be my next project with a former classmate of mine. I haven’t seen her in 12 years – since we graduated 6th Form at the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College – but we talk every now and then about social issues, development and entrepreneurship. As I shared with her what I was building, she shared with me that she was planning on using Quizlet to do something similar for her students. I liked the idea and told her that I’d be happy to build in a flashcard feature on the platform.
So here I am a year and 3 months later. The platform is here.
The Platform
The Platform is a simple clean design with custom, colorful illustrations. Students will be able to create accounts, login, understand their syllabi, follow their progress on the various subjects and take quizzes. In addition to well-condensed and beautifully illustrated notes, students will also have access to high-quality audio and video recordings, specially developed flashcard sets, and subject-specific forums where they can interact with each other to share resources. Everything will be available for FREE.
The platform is also designed to accommodate our team of volunteers and donors who will include: teachers, learning specialists, videographers, audio technicians, illustrators, animators, and forum moderators.
The platform will be open to users on September 1st, 2021.
Seeking Volunteers & Donors
At Wakonté, we have an internal team of skilled digital communicators, researchers, and writers. Still, we are mindful that this project is a huge undertaking. We cannot have too many hands. As such, we are currently seeking volunteers to be able to populate the platform with as much content as possible. This is a great opportunity for skilled and educated people across the region to contribute to the creation of better resources for our students at a minimal cost: an hour or two of their time.
If you think you fit any of the following roles, please fill in our Volunteer Application, here.
The Roles
Note Contributor: If you taught or currently teach CSEC and CAPE subjects you most likely have notebooks of notes that you’ve collected over the years. We’d be happy if you donate these notes to us. You may also be a past student who’s kept excellent notes or a recent graduate who’d be willing to prepare notes for the platform. Whichever group you fall into, you may opt to only give us notes for 1 part of a topic on the syllabus, or they may be willing to share all of your notes on a section, or syllabus.
Digital Communicators: This includes videographers, audio editors, graphic artists, illustrators, and social media managers. If you can translate written content into smart, vibrant digital illustrations, we want you on our team. If you doodle or illustrate one page of notes for us, we’ll take it.
Researchers: You can be a student who just graduated, a student who’s currently attending school, or someone who is simply passionate about this undertaking. We may need your eyes and ears to help us find examples and case studies relevant to each CARICOM country. If you can find information, you can be a part of our journey.
Writers and Editors: Our team of editors and writers will create content for any content not provided by our esteemed note contributors. If you write well, can pick out errors in writing, or can find simpler ways to say complex things, we’ll take an hour of your time.
Forum Moderators: If you write well, and can communicate effectively with students between the ages of 13 and 20 to help us keep “law and order” in our subject-specific fora.