Why do schools participate in a networked environment? What do they get out of it? What are the possiblities? There is more to this than meets the eye.

While provision of curriculum is a key driver and a priority, it isn’t the sole reason for participating in our environment. At a fundamental level, this is about schools working together to strengthen and enrich their own environment.

Essential Curriculum Provision

We enable small rural and urban schools to provide essential senior secondary programmes to their learners. These schools cannot provide all their curriculum locally. This enables them to ensure access to quality priority NCEA programmes. We offer bigger schools the opportunity to work beyond limiting internal structures like timetables. Flexibility is essential here. This is a fundamental driver and a key reason schools participate.

Curriculum Breadth and Enrichment

NetNZ is able to offer a far broader senior curriculum than virtually any school in NZ, including Te Kura. You cannot find programmes such as Korean, Psychology, Philosophy etc. in most schools and you certainly wouldn’t find them all in one single school. This enables participating schools to provide a world of opportunity for their learners and their community. We also offer junior programmes and have dabbled in  projects (Quakecraft, Big Science) for younger learners. 

Connected Learning

Considering schools can get priority senior courses from Te Kura, the quality of the learning experience of our environment is essential. We focus on a ‘connected’, people focused environment. Courses are rarely bigger than 20 learners, enabling the development of relationships, belonging, and connection that are essential to learning. This is even more essential when working online. We offer a particular approach to learning that is founded on research and evidence.

Strengthening the Local

As a networked environment, NetNZ is all about supplementing and enriching the local. We are not a Virtual School and we are not trying to replace schools with online learning. We are supplementing. It is a blended environment which seeks to strengthen the local school and the local community. It not only does this through the curriculum provided, but also through strengthening the local participating teacher(s), and participating learners. This is achieved in partnership with schools who also partner with each other. It is a reciprocal environment in which everyone benefits. In our emerging environment, this is a key message.

Strengthening Teachers

Teachers who participate in a networked environment strengthen their own practice. They get to teach a specialist area which they may not have the opportunity to teach locally. They become part of an overarching community of teachers, which connects them with a range of ideas and practice. The practice of teaching in a fully online environment has flow on benefits for face-to-face practice.

Growing Learners

Our environment is a fantastic place for learners to develop various competencies that are vital to preparing young people for their world. When well supported, ākonga can grow as autonomous, lifelong learners. It also allows them to step out of the local into a much bigger, connected world. This is important, particularly in small rural communities.

Flexible Education

In 2010, Cantatech, AorakiNet and WestNet in partnership with Nikki Davis from UC, developed a three-year project exploring blended learning. Thirty teachers from various schools participated. This explored how we can blend face to face and online environments to harness the benefits of each. Our emerging environment means the imperative for schools to grow and change has never been more important. We cannot afford to ignore the implications of an internet enabled world. While the world of work changes, while society becomes ever more connected but also disconnected, secondary schools have largely remained the same. Ruled by internal systems and structures that create barriers to learning. Working in a networked environment like ours, with teachers and learners participating in fully online learning, is an opportunity to explore the wider benefits and implications of online learning. To what extent have our schools fully realised the possibilities?

Strengthening the System

The vision of the Virtual Learning Network and of NetNZ was to not only strengthen what we had, but to grow the environment. We wanted more learners, teachers, and schools to experience it, because of the very real benefits. At a system level, education is far more resilient if we employ a networked approach.