General News

EduFocal Team worships at Gregory Park Baptist Church – September 22, 2019

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EduFocal Limited started a tradition… a tradition where each year the Team will worship at a church to mark the start of another school year and another year of success for the Company, with God’s blessings of course.
On September 22, 2019, the EduFocal Team shared in the worship service of Gregory Park Baptist Church. We thank Rev. Karl Henlin and his Church Family for agreeing to host us… and what wonderful hosts they were! From the Praise and Worship to the Preaching.
Oh yes! We were indeed blessed by the preaching of Sis. Dorrett Campbell, an Educator and, clearly, an excellent Preacher! We were truly blessed by the message – the message of Nineveh and Jonah and the similarities highlighted between the happenings of that time in Nineveh and the happenings of now in Jamaica. We were charged not to run away, not to retreat like Jonah but to stand firm to the call of God and missions and to ensure we do the good works of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our CEO, Gordon Swaby, in his Greetings recognized and prayed for the Grade 6 Teacher of St Richard’s Primary School who was recently mauled by dogs. We continue to pray for her speedy and full recovery. In closing, he offered to gift 1 student of the Gregory Park Baptist Church with 1-year free access on the EduFocal platform. The congregation was also invited to share in a cake, courtesy of EduFocal.

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EduFocal Limited (LEARN) Acquires Assets of American K1 Edtech SaaS Company

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EduFocal Limited (LEARN) has acquired the website and assets of https://cleverschoolteacher.com, a Denver based edtech company that provides Monthly curated K-1 resources and Live on-line professional development sessions for K1 Teachers in the United States of America.

The acquisition, which is being financed by the company, will be immediately accretive to earnings.

Gordon Swaby, Chief Executive Officer commented: “Acquisitions and new markets are high on our agenda as a primary driver of top and bottom line growth.”

The acquisition of Clever School Teacher gives us immediate presence in the USA on day one, access to hard currency and to opportunities at the often overlooked early childhood level, both in Jamaica, the region and obviously the USA.”

Marc Gayle, the lead consultant that drove the deal, added: “CST demonstrates the vast surface area of opportunities for EduFocal. Education has many niches, including teachers, not just students. Teachers need resources for lesson planning.” The transaction was structured through a new subsidiary, with Ramsay & Partners advising.

The CEO went on to add: “We are looking forward to growing an already very profitable company even more in the short term which will benefit our shareholders and a fast-growing number of users”.

General News, Year in Review | >

2019 – The Year in Review

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The EduFocal Team 2020

 

It is almost the end of 2019 and It has been an exciting Journey for EduFocal. After a year of transition, growth, relationship building and faith, EduFocal has managed to remain on top while living and expanding our mantra “Making Learning FUN” with the merge of technology and education.

With the implementation of the Primary Exit Profile (PEP) which replaces the Grade Six Achievement Test, the company had a lot of work to do during this transitional period. Ideally, PEP assess students’ knowledge, in addition to, placing increased emphasis on assessing students’ demonstration of the 21st-century skills, for eg. critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity. As such, the EduFocal Platform was revamped and in no time #PEPREADY to make learning fun with the new exams in town. Did we mention that EduFocal Limited is approved and endorsed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information? Yes, that was a big step for EduFocal in order to contribute to higher and better quality education in Jamaica. EduFocal in all spheres embodies goal number 4 of the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals, i.e. QUALITY EDUCATION.  Though PEP is new, EduFocal has and still is putting in the work to ensure that our platform can change lives while introducing new strategies to learning outside of the classroom.

In ending 2019, EduFocal closes the year with over 100% increase in staff count. EduFocal is on to something greater than ever before. The company exited its birthplace, and now occupies a new space where ideas unfold and memories are being created. As the team settles in their new space, EduFocal has crafted and designed how the EduFocal work culture should be. Why not be utmost comfortable while getting work done, maximizing on one’s skills and most of all MAKING EDUFOCAL A GREAT PLACE TO WORK. 

The year 2020 is fast approaching and more than ever, EduFocal is excited to continue on its path of success and being a game-changer. In the meantime, The EduFocal Team would like to wish all our stakeholders – students, parents, principals, sponsors, partner schools, Members of Parliament – A Merry Christmas and an amazing New Year! 

– Tia Facey, Office Adminstrator

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EduFocal helps Allman Town Primary with Paper-less Exams

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Allman Town Primary School in collaboration with EduFocal,  will have paper-less end of term examinations this December. The institution has been one of EduFocal’s partner schools since October this year and will be the first school to utilize the system for formal examinations. Principal, Mrs. Kandi-Lee Crooks-Smith has been very excited about EduFocal since the initial introduction and is anxious to implement it in her school’s end-of-term examinations for Grades 2, 4 and 5.

Teachers on our system will benefit tremendously from  this new method of testing as EduFocal will save them the time of printing, administering, collecting and marking tests and then collating grades. Using our system, EduFocal does most of that work for teachers while also generating a detailed report card.

Creating Tests 

Teachers are able to create tests easily on our site. EduFocal allows them to create new questions and place them on their tests or add questions from our extensive question catalog. These are multiple choice questions that would similarly be present on a regular test paper.

Question catalog

EduFocal also allows teachers to add  their own specifications like the time and duration of the tests, number of  attempts and the amount of points they desire to be allotted to each question.

Instant Grade Generation 

Once students complete tests, EduFocal’s powerful system will instantly mark and grade each paper. This, you can imagine, does work for the teacher that would normally take hours or even days to do, instantly. This drastically cuts back on the time taken to mark and return grades.

Report Card 

A detailed report card with students’ performance in each subject is also generated after tests are completed. Teachers and parents/guardians are able to evaluate each students’ strong and weak areas under each sub-topic in each subject. This type of detailed reporting will no doubt assist teachers to target what needs to be revisited to ultimately improve student performance in the long and short term.

Report card

This feature of EduFocal being used by Allman Town Primary School, ties in with our goal to partner with schools in revolutionizing the classroom by opening doors for technology to aid in the performance of teachers and students alike.  This new form of testing brings together the quality of traditional education and a new form of testing that meets this technology driven generation right where they are.

We are confident this will reap good rewards for students and teachers at Allman Town Primary School.

 

 

 

 

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FEATURED: Jada-Marie Brown

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With an average of 93% in the recent GSAT sitting, Jada-Marie heads to the Ardenne High School in September. This dancing Math lover dreams of being a surgeon. She is inspired by the words of Nelson Mandela when he said,”Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” In her own words, EduFocal has helped her to bring her philosophy to life. While acknowledging how EduFocal has changed the lives of students preparing for GSAT and CSEC, she finds that it has changed her own life.
“When I started grade 6, I disliked Science very much. I started to use EduFocal as part of my GSAT preparations,especially for Science. I noticed that my interest and knowledge of this subject grew more and more each day as I utilized the resources that were made available to me. After using EduFocal, Science became like second nature. I am now a more rounded student, having a better understanding of all my subject areas.”
AWARDEES (2)
 Have a look at this world changer’s dream for Jamaica:
“It’s my hope that Jamaica will become a better place. I would like to see us export more and import less so that we can reduce our debts. Also, I would like to see more programs like EduFocal being introduced to assist students to prepare for exams so that they can perform better in school and not turn to crime. This will help to lower our crime rate. I would also like the government to improve our road not just in tourist areas but in rural and urban residential areas. In addition to this, I would like for there to be more job opportunities for persons to become gainfully employed. Finally, I would like us as a country to take greater pride in our surroundings and reduce pollution by property disposing of garbage and waste.”
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FEATURED: Matthew Chambers

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Matthew, 12, is a sports enthusiast. He enjoys football, cricket and track & field. He has his eyes set on becoming an engineer and professional athlete and will be heading to Calabar High School with these goals in mind. He finds that EduFocal has challenged him to strive for the top position making him one of the 2016 EduFocal Excellence Awardees.
His dream for Jamaica is for it to be the country with the highest economic growth.

AWARDEES (1)

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FEATURED: Jo-Anna Martinez

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Jo-Anna Martinez, 11, lives by the philosophy, “Hard work brings success”. That hard work has paid off as she makes her way to Wolmer’s Girls’ School in September. This aspiring paediatrician attributes her success to practice she got while using EduFocal. This she found both challenging and exciting. While at George Headley Primary School she was a member of the quiz team and a prefect. Her favourite subject is Science.
AWARDEES
Here is her dream for Jamaica: 
My dream is for the crime and violence to cease as it affects children in different aspects of their life.  To expound on this is:
 (a) death in the family or some of our peers being murdered by family members or strangers
 (b) robbery by strangers
 (c) rape by a family member or close family friend or strangers
 
Children are the future of tomorrow and without us there will be no tomorrow. 
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Gamification: A Tool for Lifelong Learning

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Hardly any child wants to go through the mundane task of studying. On our first visit to a school participating in the Government’s Tablets in Schools Programme, a child ran up to us and showed us his tablet. He had been watching a video on Youtube. Similarly, when a child has your smart device the first question asked is, “What games/videos do you have on your phone/tablet?” Children want to play games. They just want to have fun. And many times children have been conditioned to think that learning and school is a chore.

On the contrary learning is one of the most exciting, and albeit fun, aspects of life. For as long as you live, you will learn and that in itself is fun but sometimes translating learning to fun can be difficult. So how do you bring fun into learning? GAMES.

Gamification is the foundation on which EduFocal is built. Some may have less of an appreciation for it but what makes gamified experiences successful lies in how people are motivated. Gamification works by providing not only extrinsic motivation but intrinsic as well. Extrinisic motivation comes in the form of rewards, levels, leaderboards and rankings while intrinsic motivation, on the other hand, drives behaviours that result in enjoyment, positive feelings and happiness. These are often thought of as polar opposites but both are linked as extrinsic motivation can drive intrinsic.
Meaningful gamification, though, is not just about levels and leaderboards but targeting intrinsically-motivated behaviours. EduFocal’s platform does just that and as a result drives long term engagement in a non-game setting. Andrzej Marczewski’s RAMP theory illustrates this. He explains that there are four key motivational drivers which should be used as foundations for all good gamified systems:
  • Relatedness: social status, connections, belonging.
  • Autonomy: creativity, choice, freedom, responsibility
  • Mastery: learning, personal development, levels
  • Purpose: altruism, meaning, a reason why
Relatedness
EduFocal’s quick and easy messaging system is the bedrock of the EduFocal community which kids have even called a “social network”. They like being a part of a community. Friendships are created on EduFocal and having the student’s progress public via the leaderboard allows other to encourage their friends to do better or congratulate them on their good work. Often times students form internal competitions and face off against each other. This may seem extrinsic but it extends beyond that as students are motivated by the feeling that their peers value their input and experience.
Autonomy
Freedom is the core concept  of this driver. Many games these days have several modes of play from which you can choose. On EduFocal students can choose from activities by subject and topic regardless of where they are in classes. They may review material previously taught or they may venture into an area they have never done before. This helps them feel in control of their learning and take personal responsibility for it. With this level of autonomy, students may choose to focus on subject areas that they are proficient in and neglect weak areas but EduFocal’s system rewards all-rounded students thereby encouraging this behaviour.
Mastery
All students on EduFocal start off on the same level. With hard work and lots and lots of practice, they are able to level up and earn a place on our EduFocal leaderboards. Even on a personal level, students benefit from seeing their points stack up given the work they have put in. It is important to us that we feel a sense of accomplishment when faced with a challenge and be continuously challenged. EduFocal is designed to engage users based on their level as such high level users would receive more difficult tests. This is important in continuing engagement and without it students begin to feel less motivated.
Purpose
In all things we do, we must feel a sense of purpose. It is only human. At different stages in life, our sense of purpose varies. Students on EduFocal have already joined for the purpose of doing well in their GSAT and CSEC examinations. Beyond that though, is the purpose that they share with each other, their dreams and aspirations of being paediatricians and going to Campion College or St. Hilda’s High School and getting all one’s. In spite of having prizes like phone credit, movie tickets and cash grants, students are not lost on their higher purpose being a part of this community and in this regard EduFocal’s reward system is the icing on the cake.
Concepts which contribute to the success of gamification are hard to grasp at first. However, seeing the excitement play out in how students interact with each other and excel in their studies would convert the most stubborn skeptic. Students love games. They like competing with their friends. They like to say, “I see you’re at 500points. I’m going to beat you by tomorrow.” And in response that child aims for even more points and an even higher level. It’s a constant state of iron sharpening iron. Our high level of engagement creates lifelong learners which is evident to parents, and teachers too, who understand the unique value brought by EduFocal when your child is in love with learning and continuously motivated to learn.
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More New Features (Question reporting and new profile page)!

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Hello, EduFocal Users.

We’re always striving to improve the EduFocal experience for you!  We’ve heard your requests and we’ve brought them to life!

We’re bringing you two new features! Now, test takers have the ability to report any question that has a problem – whether it’s an incorrect answer, lack of relevant image or anything else – you can tell us about it and we’ll fix it! Just click on the ‘Report Question’ button beside the question you want to report.

FireShot Screen Capture #024 - 'Test - EduFocal' - www_edufocal_com_testing_96269

Then you would select the error from a list of options. If the error isn’t listed, you can tell us about it in your own words.

FireShot Screen Capture #021 - 'Test - EduFocal' - www_edufocal_com_testing_96269

 

Also new to EduFocal is our new and improved Profile page. We now use bright expressive colours to show students’ progress on their subjects. The subjects are displayed in an easy to read chart. If you hover the mouse over any section of the chart, you can see what subject it represents and the points the student has with that subject!

FireShot Screen Capture #009 - 'Eniola Johnson's Profile - EduFocal' - www_edufocal_com_dashboard_profile_view_3705

We’re very excited to bring you these new features! Go check them out now and tell us what you think!

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