The Design of CaribLearn: Supporting the On-line Collaboration of Students Taking the CXC CAPE Examinations

Permanand Mohan
The University of the West Indies, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract
This paper describes the rationale and design of CaribLearn, a system being developed to support the online collaboration of students taking the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) CAPE Examinations . Advanced level classes in the Caribbean are typically small with little interaction among students of different schools, even within the same country or geographical region. Schools in the Caribbean often suffer from inadequate teaching staff or learning materials. CaribLearn takes advantage of Internet technology that is becoming more widely available to support the development of secondary level education in the Caribbean and foster regional cooperation.

The users of CaribLearn will be students registered for CAPE courses, teachers who teach CAPE courses, persons who have agreed to be tutors, and administrators. The system provides a forum where students can post and discuss questions and problems being encountered in particular CAPE subjects. CaribLearn aims to encourage students to play a more independent role in the learning process and actively collaborate with students from other schools and countries of the Caribbean. The system allows students, teachers, and others to upload learning material or post links that they believe could help other students in mastering a topic. The use of the system is purely voluntary.

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