30 Sept 2004

Online learning Wave Of The Future

From primary school children accessing information on the internet through to university students attending lectures - it's increasingly happening online.

So it's crucial for New Zealand's e-learning leaders in the tertiary sector to share information and tap into best practice both nationally and internationally so that kiwi students around the country are kept up to speed with the latest developments.

Waikato University is managing a $775,000 e-Learning Collaborative Development Fund contract with the Tertiary Education Commission designed to do just that.

Based on a similar programme operating since 2000 in Australia, the Flexible Learning Leaders in New Zealand (FLLinNZ) scheme aims to help e-learning leaders collaborate and to experience what is happening at other institutions, both here and overseas.

The national project, under the direction of Nola Campbell at Waikato University's School of Education, facilitates individual goal setting and professional development for a group of 15 general and academic staff who work in institutions throughout New Zealand. The FLLinNZ project aims to: „h enhance the capability of a significant group of people who have the potential to make a difference in the tertiary e-learning landscape in New Zealand;
- establish a national mentoring network that can be extended as the project matures;
- provide access for staff to opportunities for research and development that would not otherwise be available to them to enhance their own practice and their institution's e-learning capability; - provide opportunities for leaders to visit other institutions and experience a range of different models of e-learning innovation, policies and practice; and
- improve excellence in e-learning through the creation of a pool of leaders in the field who are committed to sharing their expertise nationally through workshops, seminars and conferences.

"Flexible Learning Leaders are innovators and change agents who work in tertiary education and are keen to lead New Zealand into the emerging e-learning environment," says Nola Campbell. The current contract finishes in June 2005 but it's hoped the programme will continue with a new group of Leaders.

"Leading change in e-learning is about creating different tertiary learning environments that meet the demands of a digitally aware tertiary environment," says Nola.

ENDS