….innovation in education
10 May 2008
MEDIA RELEASE
Students say yes to Studyit!
Top NCEA learning support site Studyit last night won the 2008 People’s Choice Net Guide Education Award.
Studyit (www.studyit.co.nz) is a free online resource set up to help New Zealand students succeed with NCEA exams. In
addition to providing everything they need to know on their NCEA journey, young people who sign up can contact expert
subject teachers out of school hours and during holidays, and receive encouragement from other students through safe
online forums.
Established for the Ministry of Education in 2004 by Wellington-based CWA New Media and partner Cognition Consulting
Limited, Studyit came together after extensive consultation with students from a range of schools to identify exactly
what support they needed for the new NCEA qualifications. Students helped design the site and teachers, working with
student editors, wrote the content, provided revision notes, key tips, practice questions and links to other useful
websites.
Typical feedback from the 19,000 plus students who have signed up to date includes:
“This forum is so amazing that it motivates me to work harder than all the other students here because just by reading
their marks and ideas I push myself to do my best.”
“I just want to say that Studyit has been an amazing help to me this year. It’s my first year doing NCEA and the site
has made it so easy for me to get past papers and extra revision.”
A hit from day one, users love Studyit and say it plays a major role in their learning achievements. In addition to
receiving the NetGuide award last night, Studyit clocked up another significant milestone this month with the 100,000th
post by a student.
"Studyit's success comes from focusing on the increasing number of students who use the web as an integral part of their
study. At the moment we cover English, maths and the sciences but there is a strong demand from students to expand into
other subjects,” says Studyit Leader Ashley Blair from CWA New Media.
Studyit has also won the TUANZ (Telecom Users Association of New Zealand) Education Innovation of the Year Award in
2006.
ENDS