One month into the new school year, Flow has unveiled an e-learning platform, Flow Study, to help students better prepare for the Caribbean Secondary Certificate (CSEC) and Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination (CAPE) examinations.

The platform features 40 CSEC and CAPE courses and is accessible in 14 Caribbean countries, with the exception of Curaçao. It was conceptualised in partnership with One-on-One Educational Services Limited.

“Our partnership with One-On-One Educational Services enables us to deliver the highest-quality educational content via our industry-leading technology, giving Caribbean students a better opportunity to excel”, said Michele English, acting president of Flow. “The platform supplements classroom learning and gives students the ability to study anytime, anywhere. It’s the future of studying and we are pleased to offer this opportunity to our customers.”

Chief executive of One-on-One Ricardo Allen told the

Jamaica Observer in a recent interview that the entity enjoys a “near perfect” exam pass rate.

“One-on-One, which is really the company that innovated the Flow Study, has near-to-perfect passes for all our subjects. So, what we have done here really is to take the success that we have got and developed over the years with our class-based business,” Allen said.

“Over the years, we have had a number of kids who come to One-on-One and they graduate top of their class. We had the top boy in the entire Caribbean last year with us — Michael Pryce — and you know we have taken the same methodology that we have used in the classroom, refined it and we have created these online courses, which allow any student, in whatever subject they need to, online,” he continued.

He explained that while the intention is to offer all subject areas that are administered by Caribbean Examinations Council, the company is being strategic by offering the subjects with the greatest areas of need, as well those requested based on the number of subscriptions accumulated through the trial version which has been available since May/June of this year.

The May/June trial, Allen said, featured a mathematics marathon executed via the social media platform Twitter. The programme, which is now accessible to FLOW customers with a FLOW ID [a unique identifier for FLOW customers only] on all its platforms including cellphones, PCs and other smart devices as well as the Flow Study Android App and the Flow Study Portal. The app offers free access to basic study materials to all Flow’s broadband customers. Parents who want more specialised and detailed material can access additional subjects and content for “a small fee” which they will be able to pay through their Flow bill or prepaid balance.

“In addition to the courses that we have, we also have available a war chest in terms of question banks and solutions. We have close to 40,000 questions available online, spanning 40 subject areas across CSEC and CAPE. So students can go on and engage in a number of activities to help them prepare for these trouble areas,” Allen explained.

“The question banks are equipped with some exciting features that allow you to enhance your learning experience. There is a nice little ‘Need help’ button which allows you to get on-demand help from either a live tutor or one of our resources available on the site. There is also a virtual lab product. This feature allows you to complete your labs without going into the lab; you literally will be able to start a fire online by mixing chemicals without starting a fire in real life. You get live results just like you would have done in the classroom, it is no different. This feature will also be beneficial to a number of students who are in schools which lack the resources necessary to complete laboratory work,” he further explained.

Other features of the platform include CyberPedia — a digital encyclopedia which provides an animated version of all science-related topics as outlined in the CSEC and CAPE syllabi and a diagnostic test which assesses students’ knowledge gap designing a study path to enable mastery of topics and subject areas. The developers of Flow Study are confident that even without the assistance of physical classes, the features of Flow study are enough to enable students to dominate all subject areas that they will pursue through its platform. Several schools which currently benefit from the Flow Foundation, as well as others which have not yet been selected, are set to benefit from the premium version of Flow Study.

“We have made a real investment, through Flow Study, in the education of our youth as they prepare for a critical juncture in their lives,” Kayon Wallace, director of corporate communications and stakeholder management told the

Jamaica Observer in a recent interview. “We want students, parents and other stakeholders in the education system to fully embrace the role of technology and technology-based products like Flow Study in improving the education and ultimately, the future of our youth.”