EDTECH597 – Links Entry: Distance Education in New Zealand Schools Sector

Yesterday, in my EDTECH597 – Week 4 entry I indicated that today I would post a links entry to model for my Boise State students. I described a links entry as an entry “that provided a list of links. They can be thematic in nature or they can be a random set of links that are published every so often or at specific times. Some bloggers have even set-up their Delicious or Diigo accounts to summarize all of their links for the past week in an entry on their blog.”

Over the past few months, I have continued my involvement with K-12 distance education programs located in New Zealand.  For long-time readers you’ll recall that I have been to the country several times now to do research and speak to various groups involved in the field in that part of the world (including a ten week sabbatical trip down there last Winter).  For this links entry, I wanted to highlight some of the resources available for those interested in K-12 distance education in New Zealand (please note that e-learning in New Zealand is best translated to technology integration or information communication technologies in North American parlance).

• Virtual Learning Network (VLN) (http://www.vln.school.nz/) – a general site that brings together all of the e-learning initiatives supported in some way or another by the national Ministry of Education.
• VLN e-Learning Clusters (http://pol.vln.school.nz/search/clusters) – the e-learning clusters of the VLN that provide distance education opportunities to primary and secondary students (what they would call schools sector, and what we would call K-12).  Most, although not all, of these are focused on rural areas.
• Virtual Learning Network-Community (VLN-C) (http://www.vln.school.nz/groups/profile/572/vln-community) – a community trust compose of primarily the VLN e-learning clusters that provide distance education.
• Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu/The Correspondence School (http://www.correspondence.school.nz/) – the oldest, longest operating, and largest schools sector distance education program in New Zealand.
• New Zealand Schools Loops Online Group (http://nzschoolsloop.onlinegroups.net/) – an organization that focus on the provision, maintenance and use of high-speed networks in schools located primarily in urban areas.
• VISCED Initiative’s List of New Zealand Virtual Schools (http://virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/Category:Virtual_schools_in_New_Zealand) – the Transnational Appraisal of Virtual School and College Provision is a European-based initiative that includes as one of its goals a listing of all K-12 distance education worldwide; and this is their current New Zealand list (which is quite lacking at the moment).
• VISCED’s Researching Virtual Initiatives in Education – New Zealand page (http://www.virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/New_Zealand) – this is a page that was created by VISCED, with the support of several New Zealand scholars, that outlines the current state of affairs in distance education in both the schools and tertiary sectors.
• College of Education e-Learning Lab at the University of Canterbury (http://www.litarts.canterbury.ac.nz/e-learning/) – the only tertiary group that has a specific focus on schools sector distance education, led by Professor of e-Learning Niki Davis.

Tomorrow’s entry will be a list entry.