The University of the West Indies, Mona, recently conferred Bachelor of Education degrees on 62 secondary school teachers who are the pioneers of a pilot programme which was launched by UWI and MOEY in January 2003. The programme was delivered using a mix of summer face to face and two semesters of online delivery. Fourteen graduates of this pioneering cohort received first class honours.
The teachers pursued the programme part time while maintaining full time positions in schools across the island. Nine options were offered and the teachers were provided with tutorial support and computer facilities at UWIDEC sites across the island.
The objective of the programme is to train 5 cohorts of in-service teachers over a ten years with the final cohort scheduled for intake in January 2007. The emphasis of the programme is on subject content, enabling diploma graduates from Teachers’ Colleges to be upgraded to the degree level and be better equipped to teach in the secondary school system. This programme is special because while course offerings via distance learning are not new at UWI, prior to this project no programme specifically targeted Secondary School Teachers using online delivery. This special Distance Learning Programme enabled teachers to draw on their daily teaching experiences in the classroom and to apply new knowledge in the subject content areas as well as new theories, philosophies and beliefs in education as encountered in the course of studies.