UCOL Students on Line for Success

UCOL Students on Line for Success

UCOL students no longer need to fight off their parents and sibling to use the home computer.

The Welcome Back for new and returning students at UCOL’s Palmerston North campus is a new extended Learning Hub equipped with 70 computers and wireless internet access.

The high tech Hub now runs the length of the Atrium at the campus, creating a 75 metre long ‘living room’ for students to study and socialise.

The Hub, designed by Elliot Design Group, has been refurbished in two stages. Stage one opened at the beginning of last year, bringing together most UCOL student support services and providing a comfortable lounge and study area with computer stations and wireless access for laptops, all adjacent to the UCOL Library.

Since its opening, an average 430 students have used the Hub every day compared with an estimated 30 in the same area the previous year. Issues from the Library and downloads of research material have all rocketed, in most cases more than doubling.

Stage two, completed over the summer break, transformed the western end of the Atrium into a more student friendly space. Innovative modular rooms for small groups have movable walls. Other new technologies include email-capable Active Boards, a Wii entertainment system and a large flat screen connected to a computer and DVD player. The innovation will continue with more learning technologies introduced over the next 10 months.

General Manager Corporate Services, Fiona Chard says: “We have created a sense of place at UCOL where people are brought together in an environment that enhances and complements learning experiences outside the classroom, and where we can celebrate capstone events like our student graduations, further intertwining the use of this space with our commitment to student engagement and success.”

UCOL’s Orientation Week, organised by the AS@U student association also starts this week.

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Photo caption: The modular rooms are ideal for small group meetings.

ENDS