Low-decile e-learning project a world leader
A world-first "e-learning" project which is transforming children's lives in some of Auckland's poorest suburbs is looking for partners to expand throughout the country next year.
Children as young as 5 in nine schools in the Tamaki-Glen Innes area are publishing their work on the internet and attracting feedback from around the world - with extraordinary effects on their motivation.
It's so affirming," says project manager Dorothy Burt.
Two-thirds of the students are from Pasifika families where often the main language at home is not English. Another quarter are Maori.
They start school two years behind the national average but at Pt England School, the first to use the new technology, they now catch up with the average in reading and maths by Year 5.
Pat Snedden, the chairman of the Manaiakalani trust that manages the project, says it is attracting worldwide attention.
"People from Google say no one in the world is using our tools like you are," he says.
In the year following the upgrade we reduced the number of hours we needed to employ technical support. The speed of the network permits much faster data transfer as evidenced by speedier upgrades of software. Teachers appreciate being able to access the network across the school site, in every corner of the campus. This year we installed a third full computer suite following the rewiring of the campus.
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