TELECOM TACTICS TAKES OFF
Telecom is taking the excitement of the America's Cup into New Zealand classrooms with a cyber-yacht race website.
TACTICS - Telecom's America's Cup 2000 Interactive Challenge Series - is an online learning resource aimed principally
at 3rd and 4th formers.
TACTICS allows online sailors to race against one another by using a custom built application that downloads from the
Internet and is connected to a multi-user server.
Launched last month it is proving popular not only with school students, but also America's Cup followers, sailors and
other Internet users.
Telecom External Brand Manager, Gillian Vosper said that TACTICS is a fun way for students to use online technology to
learn the basic principles of sailing.
"TACTICS gives cyber-yachties a chance to assess the changeable weather of the Hauraki Gulf, name and design their boat,
choose a crew, learn to sail and chat with fellow competitors before taking to the water to race.
"In addition to its emphasis on technology, TACTICS includes activities focusing on social studies, maths, English and
physical education in a fun and interactive environment.
"There is a monthly prize of America's Cup clothing for the person at the top of the leader board at the end of each
month. There will also be a school prize for the school at the top of the leader board at the end of the America's Cup
next March," she said.
TACTICS is one of this year's Telecom Education Foundation (TEF) classroom activities and has been developed to support
Telecom's sponsorship of the America's Cup. It has already received critical acclaim by being nominated as a finalist in
the Education Online and Recreation/Consumer categories of the ANZ Interactive New Zealand awards.
Check out the site at www.telecom.co.nz/tactics