News

Our latest newsletter is out now. Find out about, and register for, the great free webinars we have planned this term!

Check out what's new on our re-organised the website:

• Take a look around the Connected Learning Advisory, a new section on the site, find out what they can do for your school and contact them. 
• The resources for kura kaupapa Māori are now integrated across each section of the site.
• Take a look at the new content to support students who are deaf or hard of hearing, check out what you can do for NZ Sign Language week.
• Use the resources we have put together so you can plan for Samoa language week.

Find out more in the latest newsletter »

To sign up for our newsletters:

1. Go to the Newsletters  page
2. Look for the heading Keep Informed – enter your email, and click on the yellow subscribe button.

Nikki Kaye addressed the Secondary Principals' Association Annual Conference today. She talked about the role of digital technology and school infrastructure in the modernisation of the education system. She explained the importance of teacher supply, and how greater collaboration through Communities of Learning will help schools navigate a more successful path into the future. Key points from her speech relating to e-learning and digital technologies are outlined below.

Developing digital fluency

"Digital fluency is one of the five priority areas in teachers’ professional learning and development."

"The Ministry has set up a $1 million contestable fund, to support innovative learning projects that capture students’ imagination, and help them become skilled in using and developing digital technologies."

More information »

• Teacher-led Innovation Fund
• Grass Roots Initiative

Communities of Online Learning

"Communities of Online Learning are about supplementing and complementing learning in the classroom, not replacing it. The Virtual Learning Network is seeing schools across New Zealand come together as one online community, or a 'classroom without walls'. Communities of Online Learning will give students access to a wider range of subjects and teaching expertise."

Strengthening digital technologies within the curriculum

Equipping students with the right skills to participate in a 21st Century economy means equipping them to be creators, and not just users, of digital technology.

To support the new curriculum content, the Ministry is developing learning progressions for the design of digital technologies. This will help teachers deliver the rich, meaningful learning opportunities that will make a difference for all learners.

"The new curriculum content and the progressions will underpin the development of the NCEA Achievement Standards, meaning clearer learning pathways for digital technologies across the whole of the students’ schooling."

More information »

• Digital technologies in the curriculum »

Read Nikki Kaye's full speech to Secondary Principals’ Association of New Zealand Annual Conference »

The toolkit, developed by The Ministry of Education, contains information about the tools, resources, and services available to support Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako to meet their achievement challenges and deliver personalised learning pathways for all ākonga.

The tools are arranged into six domains. Each Kāhui Ako will be at different stages of development in key areas within these six domains. The Development Map is designed to help each Kāhui Ako identify potential future development areas under each domain.

Go to the Community of Learning | Kāhui Ako toolkit »

We have developed some useful new pages on the Enabling e-Learning website and are providing some excellent free professional learning opportunities in our online community. 

The Enabling e-Learning website is now responsive, so you can view it easily on your phone!

Check out the latest newsletter to find out what's new!

Go to the Newsletters  page to:

• sign up for the newsletter – look for the heading Keep Informed, enter your email, and click on the yellow subscribe button. 
• view archived newsletters.

Netsafe’s Education Team has started work on the first update to the Netsafe Kit for Schools in five years. NetSafe worked closely with CORE Education and a team of researchers to develop the draft tool.

The pilot process

The team are piloting sections of the kit with schools and kura using a "test and learn" approach.

The first pilot involves a tool to help schools review the strategies, processes and resourcing they have in place to support digital citizenship and student wellbeing. 

There are already over 50 schools participating in the pilot which is now underway and runs through March/April.

Join the pilot »

If your school would like to join the pilot, email Karen Spencer  Director of Education at NetSafe.

The Schools' Cloud Transformation Project (SCTP) is an initiative by the Ministry of Education to assist Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako, schools and kura in moving to cloud-based products and services in a smart, safe way.

Initial Trial – Lessons Learned  – A summary of the lessons learned from the initial trial, which may be useful to schools, kura and kāhui ako who are thinking about moving to the cloud.

Sign up to be part of the pilot  – If you would like to be considered as part of the Schools' Cloud Transformation Pilot, please complete the online form.

Heads in the cloud: moving school systems online  – Education Gazette article, March 2017, summarising the findings of the initial trial.

Lightning Lab Electric is inviting every coder, inventor, tinkerer, engineer, or ideas person to enter an Innovation Challenge, with ideas pushing boundaries in how consumers and businesses use, manage, distribute, transmit, and generate power.

Entries are open to ideas, prototypes and products with the potential to improve the use of electricity as we know it – hardware, smart gadgets, software, dynamic consumption models, and more.

Entries for the Innovation Challenge are open from 1 February to 20 March, 2017.

More information »

This online statistics project is open to all English and Māori-medium schools. Year 5 to 13 students use digital devices to answer 35 online questions in English or te reo Māori about their lives and opinions. CensusAtSchool gives teachers relevant, real-life data to help students tell stories about themselves and their peers

Teachers can register their classes and take part in CensusAtSchool at any time before it finishes on 7 July.

Registration information »

We have been busy over the summer break developing new content for the Enabling e-Learning website and planning a new series of free webinars and discussions in our online community.

Check out the latest newsletter to find out what's new!

Go to the Newsletters  page to:

• sign up for the newsletter – look for the heading Keep Informed, enter your email, and click on the yellow subscribe button. 
• view archived newsletters.

Each year Netsafe coordinates Safer Internet Day in NZ on behalf of the UK Safer Internet Centre. On 7 February, people across the world will promote the safe and positive use of technology in fun and interesting ways. 

With the theme "Be the change: Unite for a better internet", Netsafe is working with individuals, organisations and schools across the country including Google, Trade Me, and Twitter to spread the message.

What can you do?

• Register now for the free webinar: Safer Internet Day: Updates from Netsafe with Karen Spencer »  
• Find out how you can participate in Safer Internet Day now »

This new resource on the Educational Leaders website promotes the leadership of collaborative, evidence-informed inquiry in ways that keep learners’ progress at the centre.

It provides field-tested tools and ideas to support leaders and teachers to apply spirals of inquiry, learning and action with their learners.

Go to Spiral of inquiry: Leaders leading learning »

Part of the Education Amendment (Update) Bill proposes a legislative framework for online learning , acknowledging that students will access their education through online delivery, with providers from the schooling, tertiary education, and private sectors.

Any registered school, tertiary education provider, or a body corporate that has been approved through the accreditation regime, will be able to be a COOL.

Changes related to online learning will come into force by December 31, 2017 at the latest unless by brought into force by Order in Council earlier.

On November 21, Netsafe launched its seven days a week service to combat online bullying, harassment, and abuse. The free service is available to all New Zealand internet users.

The service includes:

• helping to resolve complaints and advice if there is anything that can be done to stop the abuse
• working with those involved to stop it
• liaising with online content hosts to remove the harmful content.

The latest Enabling e-Learning newsletter is out now! We have lots of useful information to support planning for next year.

Go to the Newsletters  page to:

• sign up for the newsletter – look for the heading Keep Informed, enter your email, and click on the yellow subscribe button. 
• view archived newsletters.

Education Minister Hekia Parata has welcomed the release of an online guide, Planning an inclusive learning environment to help schools plan new builds and building modifications that meet the needs of all students.

“This is a very useful and comprehensive resource. It takes schools through all the components they need to think about when planning a new learning environment,” says Ms Parata.

“New Zealand is diverse and every child has different learning needs. Each one of them deserves to feel included and valued at school. This guide will help principals, teachers and boards of trustees to take into account the different needs of students when planning innovative and inclusive learning environments.”

More information on Enabling e-Learning »

• Teaching in innovative learning environments
• Planning an ILE – information for school leaders
• Flexible learning spaces

Education Minister Hekia Parata launched a new online curriculum design tool to improve learning experiences for children and young people in Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako.

The tool will enable each Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako to collaboratively design a quality curriculum that supports the unique learning pathway of every child and young person in that community.

The model will be trialled in Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako early next year, with further testing and refining throughout 2017 in response to feedback.

More information »

• Press release – Cutting edge curriculum tool goes live
• Communities of Learning | Kāhui Ako  – Ministry of Education website information

The Education (Update) Amendment Bill (the Bill) proposes to recognise the impact that technology is having on education, by introducing a new mode of education delivery – online learning. Technological change makes it possible for students to learn anywhere, anytime, and at any pace.

More information »

• Establishing a regulatory framework for online learning – information from the Ministry of Education.

Anne Williams, e-Dean at Ashburton College, explains the benefits for students of online learning, particularly using NetNZ. Anne comments, "Being an online learner really does give a lot of independence to students around their learning."

It's Tokelau language week from 23-29 October. Find lots of useful online resources for including Tokelau language in your classroom curriculum on the Pasifikia Resources page .

Try out your language skills with these easy words and phrases in te gagana Tokelau.

• Fakafeiloaki: Greetings
• Mālo ni! Hello!
• Ulu tonu mai: Welcome
• E fakafeiloaki atu: We greet you
• Fakafetai: Thank you
• Te mānaia o te aho: It is a beautiful day
• Te mānaia o nā hiva faka-Tokelau: Tokelau dancing is beautiful
• Tōfā ni: Good bye

The latest Enabling e-Learning newsletter is out now! This issue contains lots of free professional learning events for you to sign-up to in Term 4.

Go to the Newsletters  page to:

• sign up for the newsletter – look for the heading Keep Informed, enter your email, and click on the yellow subscribe button. 
• view archived newsletters.

Each series is designed for a specific stage in students’ learning, providing supports and challenges to scaffold their growing understandings and to prepare them for the next stage in their learning.

The English-medium literacy instructional series support teaching and learning through years 1–8. They include:

• reading materials designed to support learning across the curriculum and students’ development of more complex literacy skills
• targeted materials for students who are not yet meeting literacy expectations.

Instructional series on Literacy Online »