Innovative learning network to lift student achievement

Innovative learning network to lift student achievement

This was announced today, I don't know where but I would have thought that #ulearn11 would have been a great idea to inform teachers of the potential benefits of such a network as they will be the ones using it.
More information will be made available next year for a 2013 launch. But I have an issue with the example, london learning grid, this seems to be an example of offering one service for schools, though what happens to the other systems that we have in place, we use google apps instead of live@efu, use moodle instead of ultranet, have our identity service with gcsn instead of watchdog. Is this still going to be a possibility?

Media release below:

Education Minister Anne Tolley has announced that a dedicated nationwide online network for New Zealand schools will be developed, to ensure that teaching and learning is at the forefront of global educational developments and makes the most of new technology.

The safe, secure system, called the Network for Learning, is estimated to cost between $300 -$400 million over the next 10 years, and will provide high-quality educational content and resources to schools and students, to help lift achievement for young New Zealanders wherever they are across the country.

The Network for Learning, which will be available from 2013, will also simplify and substantially reduce costs for schools accessing ICT content and services, including the cost of internet connections.

“This is hugely exciting for education in New Zealand,” says Mrs Tolley.

“The scale and complexity of the Network for Learning is enormous – with potentially over 2500 schools and more than 800,000 users this will be the biggest network of its kind in the country.

“The Network for Learning will ensure that schools get the most from their ultra-fast broadband connection, and will provide them with affordable access to the latest ICT teaching and learning developments.

“Location will no longer be a barrier for accessing courses. For the very first time every rural and urban school will be able to connect with each other to collaborate and share resources and best practice. For example, a student at a small rural school could take part in a specialist teaching class via state of the art video-conferencing with a large city school.

“Importantly, the Network for Learning will provide a safe and reliable environment, and will also allow schools to share information with parents.

“The benefits for students, families and teachers will be tremendous and we will work closely with the education sector to make sure it delivers the lift in achievement levels that our young people deserve and that parents want for their children.”

The Ministry of Education is working on the next steps for procuring the technical network, and determining how the Network for Learning will be governed and managed.

The Network is expected to be progressively available to schools from 2013. An update on progress will be provided in early 2012.

Questions and Answers

What is the Network for Learning?

Cabinet has approved a business case for a Network for Learning, a dedicated online network for schools, which will run over the ultra-fast broadband infrastructure currently being rolled out across New Zealand. The Network for Learning, available progressively from 2013, will provide schools with affordable, safe ultra-fast internet access as well as a range of online content and centrally-procured services.

Over the next five years, 97 per cent of schools will receive ultra-fast broadband connections enabling speeds of 100 Mbps plus. The remaining 3 per cent of schools, which are in the most remote locations, will receive a high speed wireless or satellite connection.

Why is the Government doing this?

The roll-out of ultra-fast broadband will lead to increasing demand for online education-related content and services among schools.

The Government wants to ensure that schools make the most of ultra-fast broadband and the educational benefits that go with it, while lowering the costs for schools. Through centralised procurement and management of online services, a Network for Learning will considerably reduce ICT complexity and cost for schools.

How much will this cost?

The estimated cost is between $300 -$400 million over the next 10 years. The exact cost will be confirmed following the procurement process.

What cost benefits will there be for schools?

There will be significant savings for schools. The backing of government and the combined purchasing power of schools will enable the Ministry to procure ultra-fast broadband internet access and other services much more cost-effectively than individual schools could obtain on their own.

The Network for Learning will represent much greater value for schools than they can obtain via the existing arrangements and should therefore make access to online content and services much more affordable for all schools.

What services will be available?

This will be determined in consultation with schools and during negotiations with providers. The intention is to have a range of current and new services that allow flexibility and choice for schools.

What funding will be available to schools?

In Budget 2011, the operations grant for schools was increased, with $4.8 million targeted at ICT in recognition of the growing demand for online education content and services. Schools will receive this increase from the beginning of the 2012 school year.

What support and training will schools receive to use the Network?

The Ministry invests $11.2 million each year in ICT professional development for teachers. Further help, including technical support, will be provided on an ongoing basis to schools to assist them in getting the most out of the Network.

When and how will the Network be procured?

A robust procurement process to obtain a provider for the Network and providers of associated services will be undertaken in due course.

Over the coming months, the Ministry will talk with a wide range of agencies and key sector groups to ensure the viewpoints of all potential users and suppliers are taken into account when planning for the procurement, build and launch of the Network. An update on progress will be provided to schools by early 2012.

How will the Network be governed and managed?

The Ministry is investigating governance and management arrangements. The Government has instructed the Ministry that schools’ views should be strongly represented.

Are there other education networks of this type in use overseas?

Yes, for example the London Grid for Learning.

Microsoft Education in New Zealand Part IV

I finally had time to ring Microsoft today and ask about the Microsoft Academic Alliance High School Membership program. I got a guy in Australia who answered my question. I can get everything that was mentioned in my previous post. I forgot to ask about Microsoft Expression though.

The cost of the license is $549.50 which covers the school for the next 7 years. Yeah I kinda jumped when he said that figure. Seven years I said, is that cost for each year. No, that is the cost to have the license for 7 years.

I now have to get this past my HOD and through to the principal. I think it is worth it. Plus it gets our school on the map.

Respect for creativity part II

Just as I get introduced to the resources available through the education gazette, I then find an article on one of the blogs that I read. This one is on intellectual property and the information is from microsoft. They have created a curriculum that helps introduce the topic to teens.

Reality Check: Teaching students about Intellectual Property Rights

More and more computer science programs are including units on ethical and legal issues. Perhaps one of the most controversial issues involving computer technology these days is that of intellectual property (IP).

One of the problems is that young people (and many older people) really don't understand the laws around IP. From a recent press release about a survey commissioned by Microsoft said:


Microsoft Corp. today announced the results of a new survey that found teenagers between seventh and 10th grades are less likely to illegally download content from the Internet when they know the laws for downloading and sharing content online.

About half of those teens, however, said they were not familiar with these laws, and only 11 percent of them clearly understood the current rules for downloading images, literature, music, movies and software. Teens who were familiar with downloading rules credited their parents, TV or stories in magazines and newspapers, and Web sites — more so than their schools — as resources for information about illegal downloading.


To help with educating students Microsoft has created some teaching resources for teachers (available here) that make up "a comprehensive set of cross-curricular classroom activities designed for grades 8-10 (but easily adaptable for use in grades 6-12) and organized into thematic units."

A companion site for students called MyBytes allows students to create their own content (or Intellectual Property) and to learn more about the why and what about IP. There are a number of interviews there with creative artists who talk about what IP means to them and their way of life.

Now on the other hand not everyone agrees with these ideas of intellectual property, especially where copyright is concerned. At Wikipedia you can read about the anti-copyright movement. The Creative Commons organization supports a number of licences that allow various kinds of access rights for different purposes. The use of technical means to protect copyright, often called Digital Rights Management or DRM) is the heart of a controversiy that is both of its own and part of the greater discussion of copyright. The Free Software Foundation has a lot to say on that score. I think of them as extremists but others see them as heros. Your views may vary.

Now are ethics and the law in agreement or in opposition here? That is the big question. I'd love to hear the thoughts of others but especially of students. If nothing else I think this is an important topic to discuss with students no matter which side you stand on the issues.

Large class sizes

The beginning of every year is the same, unpack and setup the new computers, new teachers arrive at the school and are eager to get busy, the year 9 students turn up in crisp white and clean uniforms ready to begin their last five years at school and large classes.

Large classes of 30, or over 30 in some cases, we are told that they are still working out the students that are not returning or still on holiday, then there are the students that were refused access to the subject last july/august and are now in the subject because they have managed to get around the teacher and have pleaded there case to the deans and then the teacher finds that they are in the class with there mates. Hence they will struggle with the work as they will treat it as a social time. Hello class seating plan. Also there are a number of students who have managed to get into the class without the correct number of credits, I found one today with 42 credits in NCEA Level 1 that had got into computer programming, he hasn't got the maths or the literacy credits to even cope with the terminology or vocab required. We have prerequisites for a reason.

I find it difficult that we are supposed to be carrying out what the PPTA has fought for us in the STCA in which the school will endeavor to have an average class of 26.

So far I have

30 12 programmming students

18 13 programming students

24 13 web design students

15 9 inf students

I know that I am under the endeavor, but trying to teach 30 students visual basic is rather hard work.

To make matter worse I have a relief tomorrow, period 2. 12 intro to computing with 29 students.

day one, first full day with students

Today started off differently, I arrived at work early to be able to get 18 machines running on the network, and to help get the student logins created. It was also the day that an outside technician decided to come in to replace a motherboard in one of the servers that stores the student profiles and network space. So with all the problems of getting your class going you were not able to get them going on the network.

I also had to get an order through to Natcoll to renew the schools license on the Creating Futures programme for our web design class as we use some of their assessments. One of the problems that this created was multiple phone calls from Natcoll Publishing wondering how many Visual Diaries we wanted. So three phones calls from them and one email later resulted in an order being processed. These will be sent out tomorrow.

So with this day progressing I went to my normal Thursday meeting after school every second thursday month. It was an interesting webmeet with the strangest program in development being presented. This smallwords.com is a wonderful and very different venture that is using flex and flash actionscript 3 to develop a world that can be controlled by you and created by you. Everything has been thought about from the stereo that plays last.fm through to the tv that plays youtube videos that you and a mate can watch. You can play pool, change a competition on the arcade games or draw on the wall with someone else.

Other things that need to start being done are the student email proposal to the Board of trustees, as well as a email to microsoft New Zealand asking about the Microsoft academic hugh school membership now that I have a contact inside microsoft through the meetup that will be able to pass the information onto the person concerned, Maybe there will be a part 5 in the microsoft education section of this blog.

Also checking the tki just up news feed today, I had a link to sent to me that might be useful for the graduate papers I am doing this year,

eLearn Magazine
Read this not-for-profit online magazine which provides news, information, and opinion on the field of online education and training.
http://elearnmag.org/
05-02-2008

Day one, first full day with students

I look at today and the work I have done to date through my diary and see that i have done very little work towards getting  my students started for the year. This is a bit of a problem. I know I am starting with ethics with both the year 12 and year 13 programming classes and will worry about what to get my students to do for the web design class on Friday. 

I have had a look back on what I have covered throughout the blog last year and I see a block entry for ethics this I looked at again and again. I read this blog entry about three times and started to wonder how I managed to write something with conviction and understanding as at the moment that isn't coming. Maybe its that I haven't yet got into the educational spirit of things yet as I am still setting up classrooms to be able to work within the school system. The student account have yet to be created or that the last couple of days have been seeing the students for one hour just to make sure that they are coming back to school. Maybe a couple of days in the classroom will get me back into things, as well as the two post graduate papers that I will be doing this semester. I look forward to writing more on the work that will be going on.

Starting a new year

Well I have been in at school a couple of times over the last week. It never changes, well some parts do, staff come and go, new computers come and need to be unboxed and setup. Unboxing and setting them up takes a fair bit of time, considering there are few staff around the school, most have IT problems, whether it be a interactive white board setup, SMS problems or they have been away for a year and there laptop has been setup for a completely different site. Where are the technical staff to help, on technician isn't enough, considering they have eighteen laptops to setup and get out to the new staff before Thursday. 

Students came and went today clasping their results in their hands, fearful they would not get into the subject of their choice. With their N, A, M, E, and the new one of SNA, some students surprised by gaining results in externals, while other have only just managed to reach double figures in Level 2 NCEA. It is a shame that the subjects they will be taking, the teachers will see then go before the year is up, as they leave school having not attained one NCEA certificate. Put in the work, attend school, and if there is homework, there must be a good reason for it. Do it!