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The Caribbean Examinations Council’s (CXC) launch of its first mobile App – CXC Connect – has been hailed as “a great occasion”, as the agency continues to incorporate technology to make learning relatively seamless.
Minister of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Ronald Jones, emphasised this yesterday as he addressed the brief launch ceremony at Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall, and congratulated CXC on its work.
He said: “Acquisition of knowledge, knowledge retention, knowledge accumulation, are absolutely important in this world. … I’ve seen CXC moving very rapidly and as Minister, I am trying to stay apace of what you are doing – e-marking and now you are doing submission of e-SBAs in a preliminary way. You now have CXC connect, a mobile app, e-testing, e-books, e-syllabi…
This is a dizzying pace but you have to stay current, and CXC as the leading provider of examinations within the Caribbean has to be in concert with what is happening in the wider world…. You have to be on the cutting edge.”
Director of Operations at CXC, Stephen Savoury, said 19 territories in the region dealt directly with CXC daily, and its services were wide and varied. Stating that the App aimed to provide a new avenue for them to engage the Council, he stressed: “In addition to the hundreds of thousands of students preparing for exams, CXC also interacts with about 10,000 stakeholders across the region and the world during the year. This App allows us the opportunity to provide what we call a ‘ubiquitous experience’ for these our stakeholders.”
Mr. Savoury stressed it was not a static application but would be enhanced regularly to provide users with more products and services, in the future.
Meanwhile, CXC’s Public Information Officer, Cleveland Sam, noted that in 2011, CXC declared itself as an IT-intelligent organisation and was using modern information and communication to work more effectively and efficiently. He said the launch of its first mobile App was therefore “a logical step in the progression forward” on the ICT journey of the CXC.
The five main features of the App are a news feed, Frequently Asked Questions, live chat, events and examinations results. It has the potential to give information on registration and exam dates, and also offers a chat feature with five categories, namely learning support resources, general examination results, e-testing, transcripts and certificates. Additionally, persons can send voice notes, attach documents and explore upcoming events.
CXC Connect is designed for Android and iOS devices and can be downloaded from the Apple and Google Play Stores.