On Friday we had our first face to face day for our L3 Datacom Computer Science and Programming students. We were able to gather together ¾ of them in Christchurch, no mean feat considering some came from Otago, Motueka and...

If you have the recent Interface Magazine you will see a major feature on Minecraft. This is the article about our Crafting History project that is part of that Inspired by the Gallipoli Minecraft collaboration between Alfriston College and the...

As mentioned in an earlier post, we are taking a slightly different approach to our Scholarship Mentoring programme this year. We have introduced a second tier of mentoring that involves connecting students through online subject communities. These largely sit as...

If there is one thing about technology that is indisputable it is how quickly it is advancing. So it was interesting to consider this when listening to a discussion on video conferencing technology in the monthly VLNC meeting yesterday. Someone...

This time last year, OtagoNet, CantaNet and SILC began the process of forming NetNZ. A lot has happened in a year so it would be worth staking stock and reflecting on where we are at. This is part one in...

I found Steve Wheeler’s discussion on the concept of “Distance Education” in this blog post rather timely. Without answering himself, he raises the question of whether the term “distance education” is rather anachronistic in a modern world in which connectivity...

Knowledge Building: Why? For the past three years I have been part of a project on knowledge building – an emerging approach to learning in a 21st century context. I don’t often use that term, but the reality is there...

  Yesterday, while chatting with Derek Wenmoth, something he said resonated with me.  While this isn’t unusual, I like the way he put this particular issue.  In reference to schools’ adoption of blended learning and online programmes of learning (currently the...

I’m an eDean in a large rural secondary school and this year I have 31 eStudents in 14 different online classes.  I am also a Teacher Librarian and I’m lucky that my students study in a special space in our...

Scholarship mentoring is in its second week and some technical hitches have started to settled down. We have made a significant shift away from traditional video conferencing units tucked away in a room somewhere, to the use of desktop video...