Current grade-six cohort has advantage from e-learning experience – Williams
Published:Monday | August 21, 2023 | 12:06 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
EDUCATION MINISTER Fayval Williams is declaring that this year’s cohort of grade-six school-leavers has a technological learning advantage over those students who went before them and did not have that experience. The 2023 cohort undertook their education in the virtual space.
Williams made the point on Thursday while speaking at the sixth annual St James Southern High Achievers’ Awards Ceremony at the Mt Carey Baptist Church in Mt Carey, St James. A total of 123 Primary Exit Profile (PEP) students from the constituency were awarded for achieving overall scores of 300 or higher.
“This class of grade-six students, who are graduating from primary schools all across Jamaica, they spent most of their lives already in the virtual space. If you remember, back in 2020, they would have been finishing up Grade Three, started Grade Four in the virtual space, then, going into Grade Five, they were still in the virtual space. Then we came out into the face-to-face [classroom environment], and finally in 2023, it was a full resumption of school,” she said.
“Why am I recounting this? Because of all the classes, of the cohorts of classes, so far, you are the ones with the most experience in the virtual space,” Williams said addressing the students directly.
“You are the one that is most technology savvy, and you are going to high school with a knowledge that a lot of other classes ahead of you did not have. I want you to recognise that and to see it as an advantage, and to use it wisely,” she added.
Online learning, or e-learning, via platforms such as Zoom and Google Classroom became a necessity for students across the education system after physical classes were suspended in early 2020 because of the outbreak of the global COVID-19 pandemic. However, the shift to e-learning was hampered by several stumbling blocks, including limited or no Internet connectivity in some rural communities and the lack of devices for students to access classes in the virtual space.
Additionally, in April 2021, the Ministry of Education reported that approximately 25 per cent of Jamaica’s students were absent from classes because of illness or lack of interest, while teachers were said to only conduct classroom management and engaging of their students for approximately three out of five weekly schooldays.
E-learning took a major step forward with the November 2022 release of the ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool, which allows for the creation of essays, completion of assignments, and passing of MBA and Bar exams.
Since then, there has been division over the use of ChatGPT, with some critics pointing to the issue of academic integrity being potentially compromised.
In the meantime, Williams urged the students to make the most of their upcoming high-school experience, describing it as a privilege which not all children in her generation were able to enjoy.
“In my days, you had to pass the Common Entrance Exam in order to go to high school, and, if you did not pass the Common Entrance Exam, you had to continue in your primary school until you got to age 15, and then you had to go find something to do. Now, today in Jamaica, every child has a place in our high schools, every single child, and I bring this to you because it was not always this way,” said Williams.
“Not all of our students used to have this opportunity, so I want to implore you to make the best use of it. It is yours for the taking, and what you do in high school is going to influence what the quality of your life is after high school.”