Hon Trevor Mallard
Minister of Education
January 2002
DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES
The Labour government has partnered up with leading communication
companies to realise a shared desire for New Zealand and its young people
to lead the world using modern technology. Education Minister TREVOR MALLARD
talks about the huge impact digital programmes are having in New Zealand
schools.
I recently dissected a frog with a mouse!
It was part of the launch of FarNet - one of the Government's four digital
opportunities projects. Far North secondary schools have been hard wired
and fitted out with computers, high-speed Internet access and on-line
educational resources. Students and teachers in these remote areas can
email, surf the Internet and tap into a huge range of digital curriculum
resources to learn more, and discover new ideas and new ways of doing
things.
It's a concept that people in past generations would have viewed as far-fetched
science fiction. Yet the digital opportunities programme sits on a modern
parallel with a vision to give all New Zealand children the opportunity
to reach their potential through education regardless of their family
circumstances. We are bridging the digital divide.
The Government has partnered up with leading communication companies
to realise our shared desire for New Zealand to be an innovative nation
leading the world using modern technology. We see enormous potential economic
and social benefits for the country from bringing all our citizens on
board and giving them the opportunity to access and gain the skills to
use new technology. The four pilot projects are based in schools from
Invercargill to the Far North and include initiatives like training for
secondary school students in internationally recognised technology qualifications
and boosting the ICT available at study support centres.
I think that these pilot projects have been a great lift in creative
energy. Staff are being dramatically up-skilled and teachers, parents
and the community are embracing these exciting opportunities with enthusiasm.
Students involved in FarNet, one of the four digital pilot projects,
are often recognised around Northland by the distinctive tee shirts they
wear. They designed these tee shirts for the launch of the project, adding
to the notion of a strong flavour in the design and delivery of the project
as a whole. I had great fun swapping roles at the FarNet launch - being
a student for the day learning about these new technologies.
The ten schools from Kaitaia to Kawakawa in the FarNet project were provided
with access to a range of computer-based bilingual learning resources,
good quality Internet connections and computers, software and professional
development. They are moving towards a future goal of becoming virtual
schools where expertise and experience is shared through this ever-growing
bandwidth technology. These resources are designed to bring subjects like
science and technology alive for students. Believe me, when I dissected
my first online frog, it certainly looked well animated.
This project aims to engage and retain students in these subject areas,
crucial for the knowledge economy. Teachers and students are now exploring
a range of exciting classroom applications that enhance the delivery of
subjects that sometimes aren't as attractive for students to learn about.
Issues relating to the delivery of bandwidth to remote areas like the
Far North have been resolved through the co-operative efforts of our business
partners.
Notebook Valley, the second pilot project (Hutt Valley Laptops) is a
resounding success. Some senior secondary students and teachers from four
Hutt Valley colleges received notebook computers and fast Internet connections
in their schools and homes. This part of the project aims to encourage
and assist students to excel in senior science, maths and technology.
It tests whether providing an incentive, like a laptop, helps with retention
of students between 6th and 7th form.
There is a tremendous sense of ownership and pride among the people who've
been issued with these notebooks; they've been very responsible about
using the equipment. Having teachers with notebooks has been a huge success
and is creating a positive effect across the whole school with many students
actively using their notebooks in many classes. Teachers have quickly
realised the potential of having this technology in their classrooms.
The third pilot project is Wick-ED homework centres and there are now
four centres up and running including a marae-based facility at Murihiku
in Invercargill. The schools involved in this project have access to good
quality Internet connections, computers, software and professional development,
training, technical and student support and facilitated study support
using ICT. We want to see if an ICT boost can enhance learning outcomes.
The centres are encouraging the concept of the learning community by allowing
centres to be accessible to both students and the community. The spin
off for the whole school e-learning environment has been spectacular and
the readiness of the schools to share with their wider community is an
important development.
Generation XP, the fourth pilot, is helping to address the shortage of
technical skills in some of our regions. It's ensuring that quality technology
qualifications are available in schools. Generation XP is being piloted
in five low decile secondary schools in West Auckland and Gisborne and
technology qualifications from Microsoft and other technology qualification
providers are now on the NZQA framework in these areas. Generation XP
also aims to ensure that work towards these certificates counts in the
school environment. The first group of students in this pilot have already
sat and passed their MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist) exams and
each school has been already been accredited as an exam centre. Last year,
about 200 students received tuition for these exams, which means we could
have some Bill Gates juniors in the making.
|
