Smartterm: bringing smarter Edtech to the Caribbean, one island at a time

BY CHRISTINA GWIRA

Come on a journey with me: cast your mind to your schooling days back home and abroad. I’m sure you’ll find lots of paperwork involved. Whether its registration day or getting a note signed for a trip, paper had a critical part to play. Unfortunately, being children, we didn’t treat these important pieces of information that were to be passed from school to teacher, teacher to parent, very well. Smartterm is actively working to change this. For close to three years now, Smartterm has been on the cusp of making Edtech in the Caribbean a thing of the now.

Edtech is a section of start-ups that focus on bringing innovation through technology to the educational sector: think schools, colleges and universities, both private and public. In Smartterm’s case, they have their platform thriving in ten islands in the Caribbean and they do not plan on stopping there. Through their flagship product, Smartterm hopes to revolutionize the way in which education is handled. Their platform comprises of four distinct yet necessary modules: school, financial, website and learning.

The school module manages aspects in direct aspect to the running of the institution. Aspects like timetables, attendance, immunization, extra-curricular activities and more are managed, reported upon and displayed for teachers and administrators of the school to see. With Smartterm, the load is taken off of the backs of teachers, who can become easily overwhelmed with the paperwork that is literally involved in making a class run smoothly.

Learning management through Smartterm allows schools to be everywhere. Teachers are able to post classes, videos, tests and more to the student’s profile, enabling students to continue their learning and extend the atmosphere of education outside of the four walls of the school. Teachers are able to grade pupils, pupils are able to submit homework, and the spirit of collaboration is able to brew within the class as a whole.

From a financial aspect, Smartterm allows the management of funds to and from the school to be handled in an efficient and practical way. Trekking to and from the bank with payment slips and receipts are soon to be a thing of the past, with Smartterm in the picture. From the setting and collecting of fees, to the receiving of donations, school administrators and supports of the school alike can rest assured that all is accounted for with the Smartterm financial module in place for their organization.

My favorite piece of the Smartterm solution is the website piece. As a budding web designer in grade 11, I tried to build my school a webpage. To me, I wanted a place where people within my classes could check the latest announcements; see upcoming events (like civvies day!) and much more. Smartterm beat me to it, as their CMS (content management platform) allows schools to post up their own website with information regarding school activities, registrations, profiles and more.

All of the above modules are integrated with front-facing areas that are accessible for teachers, administrators and parents alike. For parents, the Smartterm Parent Portal allows them to view attendance, reports, grades and more, from one convenient location. No more need for slips, and Johnny’s grades can be accessed and assessed by the family, with or without his report card.

Combined with the power behind Smartalerts, schools and organizations are now able to communicate directly with parents and students. By providing up to the moment notifications on issues regarding: weather, delays, announcements and school news, students and parents are able to stay in the know in respect to what is happening in and around the school.

For school administrators and board members, data is powerful. With SmartAnalytics, those in positions of power at the school are able to see live and current data based on the teachers, parents and students input in a safe, secure and statically accurate manner. Armed with this information, schools boards are able to make better informed decisions to assist the school community in which they are building.

While all of the above is grand, Smartterm admits that is has been difficult at times to implement their solutions with schools and organizations on the ground. Theon O’Connor of Smarttech states, “There is some pushback, uncertainty. The idea that a system will come in and do everything I’ve said and more, the onboarding process can be daunting as everything is paper based”. To rectify this issue, Smartterm aggressively partners with local institutions to help provide and implement the infrastructure. like internet and power, that students, schools and teachers can use to better the way education is delivered to the greater Caribbean community. Most recently, Smartterm has partnered with Project Jaguar, an Antigua-based platform where teachers can create and manage courses online to make smart Edtech a fixture in the school system of the Caribbean.

With pioneers like Smartterm in the field, doing the work to make educational technology accessible and innovative for the schools of the Caribbean, we know that the future and growth of Edtech in the Caribbean is in safe and sturdy hands.