News

Whakatipu has just released a new bilingual app for iPhone and iPad in time for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori.

"Māui and his first journey" interweaves positive parenting, child development, and brain development information into the traditional pakiwaitara about Māui growing up. Voiced by prominent kaumātua Amster Reedy of Ngāti Porou, the app has been developed by award-winning developer Flightless and illustrated by Ali Teo.

"Māui and his first journey" is available online and as a free download from the iTunes store:

• View the app in the iTunes store

This year the theme for te wiki o te reo Māori is te kupu o te wiki, the word of the week. This theme promotes learning te reo Māori throughout the year rather than during just one week.

Use the resources and join in the discussions in the Enabling e-Learning community.

• Māori resources  – Access teaching resources and school stories on the Enabling e-Learning website.
• Whakanuia te wiki o te reo Māori - Celebrate Māori language week  – Find and share ideas, resources, and information through this discussion thread in the Virtual Learning Network.
• Hā o te Rā  – interactive language sessions with others online, a course delivered via webinar (for group sessions) and Skype for one-on-one sessions.

The theme is Taofi mau i au measina – Hold fast to your treasures.

The aims of Samoan Language Week are to:  

• Celebrate the Samoan language and culture in New Zealand and globally
• Promote the teaching and learning of the Samoan language
• Raise awareness of the Samoan language as one of the most widely spoken languages in New Zealand
• Promote the use of the Samoan language in every environment respecting each other’s situation – strong and respectful relationships
• Promote initiatives to maintain and grow the recognition, learning and use of the Samoan language in the home, in education, at work, in government, in the media, in sport, in the arts, in the church and in the community.

Use the Teaching and learning resources on Enabling e-Learning with your students »

A way to recognise your, and other's, good work. The Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards are now open for nominations, or direct entries. You might know someone or be interested in applying yourself. Take a look, check the criteria. The forms are on the website: http://www.pmawards.education.govt.nz/ . If you have any questions, email: info@pmawards.education.govt.nz .

There are five languages spoken in the Cook Islands. English and Cook Islands Māori are the official languages (except on Palmerston where only English is official). The other languages are:

• Pukapukan - from the island of Pukapuka, which is geographically and linguistically closer to Samoa
• Rakahanga/Manihiki - spoken on the islands of the same name 
• Tongarevan - spoken on the island of Penrhyn.

Teaching and learning resources»

NetSafe and the government's National Cyber Policy Office will launch the second week long awareness campaign to educate New Zealanders about improving their computer security.

They have developed a rugby themed set of messages called the Tight 5:

1. Think before you click
2. Update everything
3. Backup your files
4. Secure your wireless network
5. Use strong passwords

Find out more at NetSafe's Security central website .

Follow the week’s activities at www.facebook.com/netsafe .

View the webinar e-Portfolios in the classroom (14 June, 2012) just up in the Enabling e-Learning community. James Rae and Jacqui Innes from Russell St School lead this discussion sharing: 

• the pedagogy and purpose for e-portfolios at Russell St School
• how they are encouraging students to reflect on their work more deeply and the benefits to students' learning
• how they setup e-portfolios at Russell St School - software, documentation, staff expectations, and professional development. 

From the Webinar recordings page, you can view the webinar in Elluminate Live!, the PowerPoint  used in the presentation, and download PDF's of the  Russell Street School documentation  used with e-portfolios.

More information on e-portfolios and Russell Street School's story can be found on the e-Portfolios page within this website.

NetSafe is running New Zealand’s first Cyber Security Awareness Week in June and will be providing free advice at www.securitycentral.org.nz .

Cyber crime cost the country $625 million in 2011 (Norton Cyber Crime 2011 report) as more and more people use computers and the Internet for work and play.

More than 2000 adult New Zealanders are affected by cyber crime every day in the form of computer viruses and malware, credit card fraud, online scams, phishing and identity theft.

The key themes for this year’s programme are

• Update everything - Make sure your operating system and all software is up to date

• Back up your files - Make regular copies of important data and store it in several locations

• Use a secure wireless network - Choose a strong encryption setting and long passphrase for your router

• Use strong passwords - Aim for 15 characters and a mix of lower and upper case letters and symbols

Follow the week’s activities at www.facebook.com/netsafe .