- Resilient
- Creative
- Innovative
- Confident
- Savvy
- Can-do
- Critical thinkers
- Responsible
- Team players
- Collaborative
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- Model these qualities
- Facilitate learning in a way which gives students opportunities to demonstrate these qualities through action
- Create authentic learning contexts
- Connect students with their community
- Bring the outside world in
- Go out into the world
Introduction: CORE Education was commissioned by the New Zealand Ministry of Education to develop the Educational Positioning System (EPS) for teachers to use to self-evaluate their use of ICTs with classes. Just as a GPS (Global Positioning System) is an online tool for finding out where one is geographically, the EPS is an online tool for New Zealand teachers to find out ‘where they are at’ in terms of integrating ICTs for student learning.
The tool was developed as part of a three year study on how teachers judge benefit or value in teaching and learning activities which involve the use of new digital technologies (computers, digital cameras, personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell phones, the Internet, and the like).
The aims of the EPS are to:
- help teachers and schools self-evaluate ‘where they are at’ in terms of effective ICT integration
- foster reflective thinking in teachers about the integration of ICTs
- provide an evidence base for school policy on teacher development in ICTs and broader ICT policy decision-making.
The tool is based on the finding of the research that teachers evaluate their integration of ICTs using five key indicators or criteria. These are:
Introduction: eXe provides teachers with a pedagogically sound tool that enables them to author and publish their own high quality educational resources without having to learn the technical intricacies of packaging standards.
eXe is freely available open source software that has been developed in New Zealand since its inception in 2004 as part of the Tertiary Education Commission's e-Learning Collaborative Development Fund (eCDF) initiative.
Key members of the eXe development team have recently joined CORE Education, and will continue to provide ongoing support and development of the product as a part of CORE’s commitment to supporting eLearning approaches that are future-focused and support effective pedagogical practice. eXe is a digital content authoring tool with a pedagogically driven template system that provides power and flexibility in a simple and easy to use application. With eXe, users can develop learning structures that suit their content delivery needs and build resources that are flexible and easily updated. eXe also allows educational resources to be structured and authored in an offline manner, removing any network or connectivity barriers.
The eXe structured instructional template (iDevice) scheme guides authors in constructing course components that are logically and pedagogically sound. Helpful tips are provided to authors to aid them in applying the templates. The clearly delineated iDevices help structure packages, both for the author and the learner. The pedagogical structure of the iDevices can help teachers organise their courseware in logical components for the students. By allowing more teachers access to eLearning technologies, a wider spectrum of content can be made available and by lowering the barriers to publishing, more teachers can be involved in developing their own online resources with little training required.
Introduction: First Films is a four-day digital film-making workshop. The course celebrates the movie-making genre by harnessing students’ creativity and giving them a new media platform to tell their stories. Open to students aged 9–14 years, this course traditionally runs during the January school holidays in both Christchurch and Auckland. Each year the course focuses on a different film-making genre, such as stop-motion, documentary style, silent movies, etc.
Students are encouraged to work in small groups to produce a short film in time for their premier screening for family and friends at the end of the course. Past students have not only enjoyed the creative buzz of shaping their own films but also have learnt many new skills along the way including collaboration, problem-solving, time management and scalability.
Introduction: CORE Education is contracted to evaluate the Information and Communication Technologies Professional Development (ICT PD) school clusters programme.
The evaluation process for each cluster is carried out over the three-year period of their programme, with a new intake of cluster schools occurring yearly. Teachers involved in the project take part in a series of surveys to give feedback about the experience at various stages over the programme. This gives the opportunity to oversee the delivery process, teachers’ development progress, and the national trends towards the use of ICTs in education by comparing the results of subsequent intakes.
At the start of the programme teachers’ goals for participation in the programme, views on ICT use in education, ICT skill levels, confidence levels about the use of ICT, frequency of the use of ICTs in classroom teaching and learning, barriers to the use of ICTs in classroom teaching, and preferences of professional development activities over the period of the programme are surveyed by a baseline survey.
Introduction: The ICT PD Clusters project is an initiative of the New Zealand Ministry of Education, outlined in the Digital Horizons – Learning through ICT strategy document 2002-2004 and continued in Enabling the 21st Century Learner, An e-learning Action Plan for Schools 2006-2010.
Under the ICT PD initiative, clusters of schools throughout New Zealand are contracted for up to three years to provide ICT professional development programmes. The Ministry of Education provides funding for implementing the ICT PD programme which is aimed at:
- Increased understanding by teachers, principals, students and school communities of the educational benefits of ICT;
- Increased capability of teachers and principals to use ICT for their own professional learning;
- Increased capability of teachers and principals to use ICT to facilitate improvements in students' learning and achievement;
- Strengthened professional learning communities and increased collaboration within and across schools;
- A developing rich resource of expertise, experience and materials in effective ICT use at a local and national level.
Introduction: The TV2 series Jane and the Dragon has been a huge hit in New Zealand and around the world. The animated adventures centre on a partnership between Jane, a feisty red head, and her giant green dragon. CORE Education has partnered with Weta Productions to develop a website, Knight School (http://www.janeandthedragon.school.nz/), that will be the platform for creative participation by New Zealand students. Regular educational activities are provided for schools, groups of students, and individual students, including participation in a 3D virtual world, curriculum-based activities and competitons.
The first major activity for 2008 is an Animation Competition, in which students or groups of students in New Zealand schools are invited to create and record an animated story. Students may use any of a number of animation techniques, as long as the finished work adheres to the criteria outlined in the competition guidelines.
The competition guidelines, entry form and Terms and Conditions are available in the teachers’ turret at http://www.janeandthedragon.school.nz
Introduction: KidsCongress™ is a unique award-winning technology and learning conference for 9-12 year olds. Open to all primary schools in New Zealand it’s fast becoming a regular must-do event in the school calendar. The two-day conference challenges the digital generation and their teachers to take part in fun, problem solving workshops using cool software and technology. What’s unique about this event is that it’s run by kids for kids.
2005 is it’s fifth year in Christchurch. KidsCongress has recently expanded its reach to Auckland. In 2005 it also made its successful inaugural debut in Australia at Brisbane.
Each event’s ‘host’ school picks a class of year 7 students to take on the enormous task of organising and managing the event from venue hire, website development, information and marketing, database management, equipment provision, budgeting and catering. The kids committee get a real buzz from doing this valuable and rewarding real-life work experience.
Introduction: The KPEC (K-Perak E-Learning Cluster) project was a school-based programme designed to provide professional development for teachers in a cluster of five selected schools in Perak, Malaysia. CORE joined with some of New Zealand's other leading providers of e-learning products and services to form the iNZed (Innovation New Zealand Education) Group which managed the 3-month demonstrator project to build e-learning capability within the schools. The focus of the project was on demonstrating the importance of building teacher capability in terms of ICT knowledge, skill and pedagogical practice in order to achieve the desired outcomes in terms of effective use of ICT in teaching and learning, including a positive impact on student achievement.
CORE's contribution to the iNZed effort focused on leveraging the many years of experience that CORE has of designing and delivering a national level programme of professional development in ICT using a cluster-based model. Derek Wenmoth, director of e-learning at CORE was the programme designer for the KPEC pilot, and used accumulated experience and research of CORE within the New Zealand context to design a programme in Malaysia that was informed by the principles that have underpinned the New Zealand experience.
Introduction: Learn-Now is an internationally popular online extension and enrichment programme for 7-14 year olds. It is a thematic, cross-curriculum, project-based programme, designed to extend students of any ability. Classrooms and individual learners can join pre-packaged projects or design and develop customized self-driven, web-based programmes, with online facilitation by Learn-Now staff. Learn-Now projects have become topics on classroom long-term plans, individual education plans, and have even been taken on as homework projects.
The programme focuses on collaborative learning processes and key competencies. The learners experience the use of ICT, social learning, and a learner-centred approach through an integrated curriculum.
Coverage includes subject specific topic work through to the design and development of small profit-making businesses, global activities, individual topic studies, and much more.
Introduction: The e-Learning Fellowships initiative was launched in 2003 by the Ministry of Education. Annually, up to ten teachers in early childhood, primary and secondary sectors are released from the classroom to conduct a one-year e-learning research project. CORE Education provides e-fellows with academic support and mentoring including professional learning workshops for two weeks each term and participation in an online learning community. The fellowship recognises those teachers who are already leaders in utilising e-learning in their schools and enables them to have professional development in this area to further their understanding and share their knowledge.
e-Learning fellows have presented and disseminated their research findings at conferences such as LearningatSchool (Rotorua), Navcon (Christchurch and Bendigo, Australia), ULearn (Auckland and Christchurch), TUANZ tours and Microsoft Innovative Educators (Singapore and Korea) since 2004.
These 2008 e-fellows began their research projects in February with a full week workshop at CORE Education Ltd.
Introduction: CORE Education in conjunction with the Halal Slaughtermen's Union of New Zealand and the Muslim Association of Canterbury has received funding from the Department of Internal Affairs to determine the level of access to, and skills using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the Canterbury Muslim Community and the Halal Slaughtermen nationwide. ICT access and skills are seen as crucial for migrants and refugees to enable them to find and secure employment; and to help them learn about and settle in their new country. The Canterbury area has over 1000 Muslims, of a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.
Halal slaughtermen are located at meat processing plants throughout New Zealand, often at remote locations. For them, establishment of a professional community of practice, using ICTs as a communication medium can potentially reduce feelings of isolation, and raise the level of mutual support and alignment of professional standards.
Introduction: The Pasifika Digital Navigators Project is a collaborative initiative between Core Education and Canterbury Pasifika Ltd, which has been made possible by the NZ Government's Community Partnership Fund. The pilot project involves the undertaking of a community ICT audit, the development of Pasifika online content and the provision of learning spaces/environments, both physical and virtual, where Pacific Island peoples can communicate utilising both existing and new forms of ICT.
Currently, the pilot project is being conducted in Christchurch, with the end goal of rolling out the successful outcomes of the project nationwide.
Introduction: CORE Education together with leading educational facilitators, Joan Dalton and David Anderson offer school leadership teams the opportunity to transform their school into communities of learning, taking them to the next level with high quality face-to-face workshops and access to a comprehensive and richly-resourced website for professional learning (PLOT).
PLOT professional support is entirely flexible to suit your school:
- full day workshops with Joan Dalton, David Anderson or Mel Stopford
- one year’s access to the PLOT website including the newly developed facilitation site
- face-to-face school visits by Mel Stopford, CORE Education
- phone and email support from both Joan and David in Australia and Mel here in NZ
Contact Mel to discuss how PLOT is currently supporting both primary and secondary schools across New Zealand.
The PLOT website
PLOT (Professional Learning Online Tool) provides access to one of the foremost professional development websites for the teaching profession. The content of the PLOT website has been developed over 20 years by Australians, Joan Dalton and David Anderson, as a result of their long-term work with schools. Joan and David work worldwide as consultants, professional learning facilitators, keynote presenters, and project management specialists.
This incredible online resource powerfully combines high-quality pedagogy resources with the tools, strategies, and processes to grow a strong professional community within and among schools.
Based on current learning theory and best practice, PLOT’s multiple pathways enable you to:
Introduction: The Quality Teaching Research and Development in Practice Project (QTR&D) is an exploratory research and development project, funded by the Ministry of Education. This project is intended to support teaching and learning within social studies/tikanga-a-iwi across Maori medium and Samoan bi-lingual/bi-literacy teaching settings. The outcomes of the QTR&D project will inform policy, and future research and development work with teachers in schools.
The purpose of the QTR&D project is to build on existing knowledge to understand more about quality teaching. QTR&D will be developed as a collaborative research and development process between Ministry, academics, research facilitators, schools, teachers, students and their parents/caregivers, whanau and communities. The project is based on the premise that teacher inquiry, supported by productive learning partnerships, is a critical contributing factor to improving the quality of teaching and learning outcomes for diverse learners.
Project Principles
The project principles underpinning the research and development design of the QTR&D project will include:
Introduction: T4T4T was a Ministry of Education-funded 15-month pilot project undertaken during the 2004 academic year. T4T4T was a web-supported professional development community designed specifically for groups of tertiary teachers working within four Canterbury tertiary institutions. Many of these tertiary teachers, outside education departments or colleges of education, had limited formal teacher training or expertise. The emphasis of the pilot was on:
- longer-term collaboration among tertiary professionals
- investigation of ways that would promote self appraisal
- better understandings of effective practice
- improved cross-institutional interaction
- reflection on their teaching practice in an ongoing and supported way.
A research component was included in the project and the final research report was submitted to the Ministry in April 2005.
Introduction: Recently CORE has been involved in projects where workplace training and development has taken advantage of e-learning initiatives alongside face-to-face experience. These projects and future prospects in this area are explained here. Why workplace e-learning?
e-Learning in the workplace has the potential to reduce organisations’ spending on training and development by reducing the need for travel and accommodation for learners. It has the potential to offer ‘anywhere, anytime’ learning, and allows widely dispersed workforces to receive essential material.
Meat inspector supervisor training – retrospective evaluation
CORE became involved this area of work by carrying out a retrospective evaluation of an online course designed to lead to the National Certificate in First Line Management (NCFLM), an NZQA level 4 qualification. This course was a blended course developed by Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology (CPIT) and Asure, the statutory meat-inspecting organisation, to provide training to meat inspector supervisors.
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