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The ‘New Zealand Virtual School’ proposal, led by the 163 student Catlins Area School, Owaka, has been shortlisted by the Ministry of Education to become one of five new national Trade Academies. The Virtual School would be the first of its type; delivering vocational training to young New Zealanders through online learning.  

The proposal includes strong involvement by current partners South Otago High School, Blue Mountain College, Tokomairiro High School and Telford Rural Polytehnic.

The establishment of Trades Academies is designed to get young New Zealanders more engaged in education, by delivering trades and technology programmes to school-aged students,  based on partnerships between schools, tertiary institutions, industry training organisations (ITOs) and employers.  

Allan Asbjorn Jon, Deputy Principal of the Catlins Area School, believes the need for a Virtual School option within the final Trade Academy selections is essential in order to serve the best interests of the New Zealand education market.

“Given the large rural population of New Zealand, the distances between regional centres, and the strong need for trade training opportunities within geographically remote communities, the development of the New Zealand Virtual School will mean that location need no longer be a barrier to learning,” he says.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English indicated very strong support for the project following a recent meeting with the development team of Allan Jon, Gavin Kidd and Kevin McSweeney.
 
“The New Zealand Virtual School proposal is an innovative project that makes great use of cutting edge New Zealand developed technologies. I think it is a positive idea that meets the needs of New Zealand. It would be a win for Clutha Southland, and a win for young people across New Zealand, through providing a true 21st century solution for our nation’s educational needs,” says Bill English.

Allan Jon with Bill English.

Jeff Seymour, Chairperson of the Clutha District Development Board, also views the proposal as a very proactive move by The Catlins Area School.

“Having a Trades Academy based in the Clutha District with an emphasis on e-learning is a creative and wholly realistic response to the issues of distance learning.  Such a development will provide further support for services already delivering in the district, and will also see a new type of visitor coming here. The e-learning delivery will see the Clutha District, alongside The Catlins Area School, gaining a profile nationally and internationally as the school is already a leader in the fields of Aviation and Tourism e-learning,” he says.

The New Zealand Virtual School programme will build upon the existing eLearning successes of The Catlins Area School, such as the development of a unique eLearning programme for Aviation Studies; a partnership with the Aviation, Tourism and Travel Training Organisation (ATTTO), Air Fiordland, and a 3D visualisation company.

Irene King, Chief Executive of the Aviation Industry Association (AIA), believes the proposal is a great step forward in making the study of Aviation more accessible to students.

“This initiative opens up the prospect, through very innovative delivery channels, of a career in aviation engineering; something which few students are presently able to do because of prohibitive equipment costs and limited teacher knowledge and resources,” she says.

A further range of cutting edge ICT solutions could extend programmes out to a dozen more industries, drawing on the experiences of the other schools and polytechnics in the proposal.

“The Virtual Trade Academy would be centred around a virtual campus within SmallWorlds. SmallWorlds combines media, web content, and applications into a highly accessible and compelling 3D world that integrates seamlessly with the rest of the web. It is accessible using only a web browser,” explains Allan.

“In addition to this, Campus students would have access to an eLibrary, a Virtual Career Guidance Department, and eTutors, with eLearning courses that include video conferencing, free call audio conferencing, Skype contact, podcasts, 3D visualization tools, and mLearning opportunities, which is the use of mobile phones and MP3 players as learning tools. The New Zealand Virtual School will be the first of its kind to deliver education in such an engaging way,” he says.

Mitch Olson, co-founder of the Auckland-based company that has created SmallWorlds.com, says that SmallWorlds is excited to be a part of this innovative new initiative for the delivery of vocation training to young kiwis.

"We developed SmallWorlds as an extensible platform that could be utilised to create a broad range of experiences.  The New Zealand Virtual School programme leverages the accessibility, ease of use, and open-ended nature of SmallWorlds to present a truly unique education offering,” he says.

SmallWorlds technology

Elizabeth Valentine, Chief Executive of ATTTO, the lead ITO within the proposal, says that the increasing number and experience of Virtual Schools overseas provides this project with a good basis from which to build a successful venture.

“The popularity of OtagoNET attests to the growth potential of this type of learning,” she says.

“Technology is an assumed part of young people’s lives; they’re already using social networking and multiple types of technology to learn and collaborate on projects. In many ways young people are doing this without the schools. So it makes sense that a Virtual School be considered; It’s time for New Zealand to take a leap forward in this area.”

The Virtual School proposes that eLearning is balanced with a North Island and South Island ‘Camp’ for each trade once per year, where students could complete ‘hands on’ tasks with their instructors, as well as obtain more detailed career guidance.

“With a very small travel requirement for students to be present in person, The New Zealand Virtual School could well become the nation’s most environmentally sustainable educational institution. As a virtual school there will be an extremely limited amount of classroom and office space, and the use of paper will be lessened by only using print based resources where it supports the on job or practical learning experience. It is a smart solution not only for students, but for the New Zealand environment,” says Allan.

The New Zealand Virtual School proposal (http://virtual.school.nz) welcomes discussions with the public as the application process continues to progress. For more information on the proposal, or to have input into the way it is developed, please contact the ePrincipal on 03 415 8036 or join the New Zealand Virtual School Facebook group.

Front: Gavin Kidd (Principal – The Catlins Area School), Allan Asbjorn Jon (Deputy Principal – The Catlins Area School, Project Manager – New Zealand Virtual School), Wayne Edgar (Principal – Tokomairiro High School), Nick Simpson (Principal – South Otago High School).
Back: Dave Evans  (Aviation Industry Training Advisor – ATTTO), Kevin McSweeney (Principal – Blue Mountain College)