The 'New Zealand Virtual School' proposal, led by the 163
student The Catlins Area School, Owaka, has been shortlisted by the
Ministry of Education to become one of five new national Trade
Academies. The Virtual School would be the first of its type;
delivering vocational training to young New Zealanders through
online learning.
The proposal includes strong involvement by current partners
South Otago High School, Blue Mountain College, Tokomairiro High
School and Telford Rural Polytehnic.
The establishment of Trades Academies is designed to get young
New Zealanders more engaged in education, by delivering trades and
technology programmes to school-aged students, based on
partnerships between schools, tertiary institutions, industry
training organisations (ITOs) and employers.
Allan Asbjorn Jon, Deputy Principal of the Catlins Area School,
believes the need for a Virtual School option within the final
Trade Academy selections is essential in order to serve the best
interests of the New Zealand education market. "Given the large
rural population of New Zealand, the distances between regional
centres, and the strong need for trade training opportunities
within geographically remote communities, the development of the
New Zealand Virtual School will mean that location need no longer
be a barrier to learning," he says.
Jeff Seymour, Chairperson of the Clutha District Development
Board, views the proposal as a very proactive move by The Catlins
Area School. "Having a Trades Academy based in the Clutha District
with an emphasis on e-learning is a creative and wholly realistic
response to the issues of distance learning. Such a
development will provide further support for services already
delivering in the district, and will also see a new type of visitor
coming here. The e-learning delivery will see the Clutha District,
alongside The Catlins Area School, gaining a profile nationally and
internationally as the school is already a leader in the fields of
Aviation and Tourism e-learning," he says.
The New Zealand Virtual School programme will build upon the
existing eLearning successes of The Catlins Area School, such as
the development of a unique eLearning programme for Aviation
Studies; a partnership with the Aviation, Tourism and Travel
Training Organisation (ATTTO), Air Fiordland, and a 3D
visualisation company.
A further range of cutting edge ICT solutions could extend
programmes out to a dozen more industries, drawing on the
experiences of the other schools and polytechnics in the proposal.
Industry is highly supportive of this option for a Trade
Academy.
Irene King, Chief Executive of the Aviation Industry
Association, says that "the Aviation Industry Association endorses
this initiative which opens up the prospect, through very
innovative delivery channels, of a career in aviation engineering
something which few students are presently able to do because of
prohibitive equipment costs and limited teacher knowledge and
resources."
"The virtual Trade Academy would be centred around a virtual
campus within SmallWorlds. SmallWorlds combines media, web content,
and applications into a highly accessible and compelling 3D world
that integrates seamlessly with the rest of the web. It is
accessible using only a web browser," explains Allan.
"In addition to this, Campus students would have access to an
eLibrary, a Virtual Career Guidance Department, and eTutors, with
eLearning courses that include video conferencing, free call audio
conferencing, Skype contact, podcasts, 3D visualization tools, and
mLearning opportunities, which is the use of mobile phones and MP3
players as learning tools. The New Zealand Virtual School will be
the first of its kind to deliver education in such an engaging
way," he says.
"SmallWorlds is excited to be a part of this innovative new
initiative for the delivery of vocation training to young kiwis"
says Mitch Olson, Co-founder of the Auckland-based company that has
developed SmallWorlds.com. "We developed SmallWorlds as an
extensible platform that could be utilised to create a broad range
of experiences. The New Zealand Virtual School programme
leverages the accessibility, ease of use, and open-ended nature of
SmallWorlds to present a truly unique education offering".
"The increasing number and experience of Virtual Schools
overseas provides this project with a good basis from which to
build a successful venture, and the popularity of OtagoNET attests
to the growth potential of this type of learning," says Elizabeth
Valentine, Chief Executive of ATTTO, the lead ITO within the
proposal.
"Technology is an assumed part of young people's lives; they're
already using social networking and multiple types of technology to
learn and collaborate on projects. In many ways young people are
doing this without the schools. So it makes sense that a Virtual
School be considered; It's time for New Zealand to take a leap
forward in this area," she says.
The Virtual School proposes that eLearning is balanced with a
North Island and South Island 'Camp' for each trade once per year,
where students could complete 'hands on' tasks with their
instructors, as well as obtain more detailed career guidance.
"With a very small travel requirement for students to be present
in person, The New Zealand Virtual School could well become the
nation's most environmentally sustainable educational institution.
As a virtual school there will be an extremely limited amount of
classroom and office space, and the use of paper will be lessened
by only using print based resources where it supports the on job or
practical learning experience. It is a smart solution not only for
students, but for the New Zealand environment," says Allan.
The New Zealand Virtual
School proposal welcomes discussions with the public as
the application process continues to progress. For more information
on the proposal, or to have input into the way it is developed,
anyone might join the New Zealand Virtual School Facebook
group.