From Novelty to Necessity:
VLN Primary.
Connecting New Zealand Schools for Enhanced Student
Outcomes.
One of the goals that I have this year is to: Lead the process of establishing
the Virtual Learning Network (VLNPrimary) at Matapu School and across cluster
schools.
A little bit of background into this is that I have been
teaching in small rural schools for several years. I know my limitations and what
my strengths are! I also know that in a rural situation it is not easy to
get experienced or expert help readily, for the children or teachers. In 2004 I
asked the Ministry how they could help with this as I knew there was a lot
going on around secondary school in relation to lessons over Video
Conferencing(VC) etc. At that stage the Ministries focus was secondary
schools and they would look at primary later.
So I organised with other like-minded schools to try out virtual
lessons using skype and emails. This proved very successful and there were one
off sessions, sessions that worked for four to five lessons and even a whole
term unit with another school integrating reading and writing. In 2009
The Ministry gave my current school an adobe site and we started with one
French lesson going to two other schools (12 students) in NZ in the first term.
In the second term we were able to provide French and Spanish lessons between
the three schools until the end of 2009. At that stage I was coordinating the lessons
and teachers etc, however by the end of 2009 we had four more schools
interested in in the VLN.
I had my own school to run and the Ministry came forward with
seed funding of 0.4 FTTE plus some expenses to employ a coordinator for 2010.
During 2010 there were seven schools providing Te Reo, Spanish, German and two
French classes. For 2011 the ministry has provided funding for 0.6 FTTE plus
expenses as we now have 15 schools and 61 students involved and continuing to
grow. This is growing into a full time coordinators position for an e-principal
primary.
As we have progressed through the last eight years there have
been those who have come in because they can see the value in what we are
trying to achieve for the children and teachers and those who have seen it for
its fun factor or something different for the kids to do. We have a wealth of
talent in our rural schools and we need to be able to tap into this to work
together for the enhancement of all our students.
There is also the challenge of bringing in outside agencies like
RTLB, GSE, etc to rural schools. Travel is a big factor in getting these people
to our schools. The VLN will reduce the need for travel and the agency can
provide for several schools at once using the VLN supported VC or adobe sites
without having to leave their home school. This can also work for other
organisations such as Te papa, DOC etc.
So this is my challenge to take it from Novelty to Necessity. How do we make educators think
differently about education, how can we make educators see why we are doing it,
how do we put it in a way that people ‘get it’.
My focus on
this is not so much with the teachers, but the principals of the schools. With
UFB becoming a reality in the next six years, what are we doing to be prepared
for when it is here. Rather than waiting for it and then thinking what can we
do!! Having a future focus for our schools and being prepared for the future,
proactive rather than reactive.
