Cleveland Sam

Jamaica’s US$332 billion dollar Industry heralded in CXC’s Animation and Game Design

~ lindsworthdeer ~ 1 Comment

“Part of the thrust for CXC is that students should be able to leave school with some employable skills, so instead of leaving school and applying for a job, you can leave school and create jobs for yourselves and other people. This is where the world is going and part of CXC’s mandate is to assure the global human competitiveness of the Caribbean region”

Assistant Registrar, Public Information and Customer Service at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Cleveland Sam commenting on the introduction of Animation and Video Game Design to CAPE

2016 is going to be an amazing year for the Animation and Video Game Design Community in Jamaica.

This as the CXC (Caribbean Examination Council) is now introducing the Animation and Game Design as a subject (Gunn, 2016, September 8) for the CAPE (Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examination) Exams.

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Launched on Saturday 12 March 2016 at the KingstOOn Festival in Jamaica (CXC, 2016, March 8), this course is set to be a blast. You can download the Animation and Game Design syllabus free from the CXC Website once you follow the procedure (Deer, 2015, November 18) to get a free syllabus.

The new subject will be made up of two (2) units:

  • The Fundamentals of Animation and Game Design
  • Interactive Design and Game Development

Modules that are a part of these Units are as follows:

  • Understanding Animation
  • Game Design
  • Drawing and Layouts
  • Story and Character Development

It’s also a part of the move towards e-Testing (Murdoch, 2016, August 13) by the CXC in January 2017 beginning with CSEC multiple choice (Paper 01) exams only. By 2018, all subjects (Spence, 2016, May 19) will be taken via e-Testing in all territories offering the exams.

The Exams for the subject will be administered online and has no written component, making them geared more towards Kinesthetic (Bucknell University, 2014) and Visual (Carleton University, 2012, May 15) learners and to a lesser extend Auditory and Tactile or Read/Write learners (Saint Leo University, 2015, August 4).

So far, CXC’s e-Testing bandwidth requirements seem a bit much for the small island of Antigua and Barbuda (Murdoch, 2016, September 20), prompting a delay in testing until the bandwidth available at High School is improved following the passing of their Telecommunication Bill 2016.

Jamaica will soon follow suit with e-Testing for CXC Exams.

Animation and Game Design – Making Jamaica a producer of original Animation and Video Game Content

Animation and Game Design is the second subject to go paperless and online since Digital Media, which was launched in 2013. Interestingly, the course will not require the training of new teachers, as Teachers of Visual Arts or IT (Information Technology) can basically use the syllabus and do workshops (The Jamaica Observer, 2016, September 11) to make the transition to teach the subject.

Animation and Game Design is part of a raft of new subjects that have been launched as far back as 2014.

  • Agricultural Science
  • Tourism
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Performing Arts
  • Physical Education and Sport

Effectively students will be learning a practical skill by the time they leave High School, which will make it easier for them to become entrepreneurs (Deer, 2016, May 6) in the budding Animation and Video Game Design Industry in Jamaica.

In the long run, it’ll also make Jamaica a producer of animated content instead of a consumer as pointed out by Assistant Registrar, Public Information and Customer Service at the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), Cleveland Sam, quote: “This is where the world is going and part of CXC’s mandate is to assure the global human competitiveness of the Caribbean region”.

Student Entrepreneurs – Animation and Video Game Design a US$332 billion dollars per annum Industry

These students, who can become animators and Game Designers straight out of high school, may even become producers of content for the Education Sector (Deer, 2014, October 20), tapping into the US$112 Billion Video Global Gaming Industry as Dr. Joseph Saulter had envisioned.

Potentially Jamaicans can also tap into the US$69 million of the US$220 billion annual Global Animation Industry over a five (5) year period (Deer, 2014, August 2) according to the World Bank.

That’s a total of US$332 billion dollars annually from both the Animation and Video Gaming industries combined up for grabs by student Animators and Video Game Designers. This potential means that a rethink of education may be necessary, especially as Animation and Video Games can be used effectively to teach Primary School Children (Deer, 2016, June 23) under the Tablets in School Program.

There is even evidence that Tablet usage, with the right type of content might be effective in jumpstarting the fine motor skills (Deer, 2016, October 2) of toddlers. Having fine motor skills is key towards developing Kinesthetic (Bucknell University, 2014) and Visual (Carleton University, 2012, May 15) learning in children.

This could make Animation and Video Games for Education is itself a rapidly growing area, especially if you can code apps in multiple languages (Deer, 2016, July 19), tapping into a global marketplace seeking Jamaican Animation and Video Game design content.

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So the Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid is seeking to re-align the entire Education sector towards the idea of Animation and Video Game design playing a part in the Education Sector, quote: “The entire education training system has to be re-aligned to labour market demands, due to these emerging trends in terms of occupations. We have to reorganise our school training programme and curriculum in that regard”.

So re-align the Ministry of Education must, as Animation and Video Game Design is a US$332 billion dollars per annum low hanging fruit. That is, once you have the right equiptment and software (Deer, 2013, September 3) to get your content produced, marketed and sold into the Global marketplace online!

Here’s the link:

Animation and Game Design syllabus

References:

  1. Bucknell University. (2014). Kinesthetic Learning in the Classroom. Retrieved from http://www.facstaff.bucknell.edu/jvt002/Docs/ASEE-2008b.pdf
  2. Carleton University. (2012, May 15). Why Use Media to Enhance Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/library/media/why.html
  3. Deer, L. (2013, September 3).  Animation after Kingstoon – How to make a Video Game for PC, Smartphone and Tablet. Retrieved from http://mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com/2013/09/animation-after-kingstoon-how-to-make.html
  4. Deer, L. (2014, August 2). Animation after KingstOON – World Bank Invests US$20 million in Jamaican Animation BPO Brother from another Mother with Great Expectations. Retrieved from  http://mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/08/animation-after-kingstoon-world-bank.html
  5. Deer, L. (2014, October 20). Prof. Joseph Saulter’s Digital Game Design and Development Conference – US$112 Billion Video Gaming Industry may be Jamaicans Next BPO. Retrieved from http://mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com/2014/10/prof-joseph-saulters-digital-game.html
  6. Saint Leo University. (2015, August 4). The 3 Types of Learning Styles & How to Use Them for College Success. Retrieved from http://blog.centers.saintleo.edu/blog/the-3-types-of-learning-styles-how-to-use-them-for-college-success
  7. Deer, L. (2015, November 18). How to download CSEC, CCSLC and CAPE Syllabuses for Free from CXC. Retrieved from https://lindsworthdeer.wordpress.com/2015/11/18/how-to-download-csec-ccslc-and-cape-syllabuses-for-free-from-cxc/
  8. CXC. (2016, March 8). CXC Launching CAPE Animation and Game Design Syllabus. Retrieved from http://www.cxc.org/cxc-launching-cape-animation-and-game-design-syllabus/
  9. Deer, L. (2016, May 6). How 9-y-o and Millennials in Jamaica are becoming CEO Entrepreneurs to avoid the Cubicle Rat Race. Retrieved from http://mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com/2016/05/millennials-CEO-Entrepreneurs.html
  10. Spence, M. (2016, May 19). CXC to complete e-test phase in by 2018. Retrieved from http://www.caymanreporter.com/2016/05/19/cxc-to-complete-e-test-phase-in-by-2018/
  11. Deer, L. (2016, June 23). Why Tablet in School Rollout in September 2016 means Contractors and Kinesthetic Content coming. Retrieved from http://mythoughtsontechnologyandjamaica.blogspot.com/2016/06/Tablet-in-School-Rollout-September-2016-Kinesthetic-Content.html
  12. Deer, L. (2016, July 19). Why Coding in HTML and CSS3 and speaking Spanish needed in Jamaica. Retrieved from https://lindsworthdeer.wordpress.com/2016/07/19/coding-html-css3-spanish/
  13. Murdoch, K. (2016, August 13).CXC to move to full e-marking and introduces e-testing. http://antiguaobserver.com/cxc-to-move-to-full-e-marking-and-introduces-e-testing/
  14. Gunn, T. (2016, September 8). CAPE Students to do Animation and Game Design. Retrieved from http://jis.gov.jm/cape-students-animation-game-design/
  15. The Jamaica Observer. (2016, September 11). CAPE offers animation, game design. Retrieved from http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magazines/career/CAPE-offers-animation–game-design_73483
  16.  Murdoch, K. (2016, September 20). Minister promises increased bandwidth as CXC e-testing delayed. Retrieved from http://antiguaobserver.com/minister-promises-increased-bandwidth-as-cxc-e-testing-delayed/
  17. Deer, L. (2016, October 2). University of London and King’s College London Research indicates toddlers love touchscreens. Retrieved from https://lindsworthdeer.wordpress.com/2016/10/02/toddlers-love-touchscreens/