$747,000 boost to teachers’ e-learning

22 December 2003

Media Release

$747,000 boost to teachers’ e-learning

A bi-lingual website and other resources will assist tertiary educators wanting to introduce e-learning, following success of a proposal by Auckland College of Education in collaboration with Maori education providers in Northland and Rotorua.

The project is one of fifteen just- approved applications to the Tertiary Education Commission’s e-learning Collaborative Development fund, described by TEC as ‘cutting edge.’

Auckland College of Education will work collaboratively with the Te Reo o Te Taitokerau of Northland and the Te Runanganui o Te Arawa in Rotorua to produce an ‘e-learning toolbox’ – Nga kiwai kete - that focuses in particular on staff from smaller tertiary organizations new to e-learning, and Maori and Pasifika groups.

Principal of Auckland College of Education, Dr John Langley, says, “The project is about paving the way of educators into the e-world. More and more tertiary education organizations are planning to get e-learning up and running, but they are finding it technically difficult and confusing.

“There’s also evidence that teachers lack confidence and capability to effectively meet the needs of Maori and Pasifika e-learners and that more e-educators are needed in these areas.

“The challenge for tertiary educators is how best to utilize the new and emerging technologies so as to provide continuing and accessible excellence in e-education,” he says.

The $747,000 project will create resources targeting educators new to e-learning, a resource to encourage Maori and Pasifika peoples’ success as e-students, an interactive website to provide professional development and information for educators and a CD-ROM as an alternative to the website.

Auckland College of Education, the project leader, has been involved in the field of flexible and e-learning since 1997. Forty percent of current College courses have been developed for flexible offering, all with on-line support, and coordinated through the College's Centre for Educational Design and Development, recently described by Hon Trevor Mallard as a best-practice model.

ENDS

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