New Technology Boost for Kaikoura High School
Thursday, 17 December 2009 14:55
11 December 2009
Kaikoura High School has received a technology boost recently by winning a Polycom high resolution videoconferencing system.
The state-of-the-art system was donated by leading New Zealand technology provider, Asnet Technologies, after the school was randomly drawn from the 300 New Zealand schools that participated in the recent 2020 Communications Trust ICT in schools 2009 survey.
Kaikoura High School launched their new system by holding a multi-site videoconference to release the survey report last month. Students took part at the high school while Local MP for Kaikoura, Colin King participated in the linkup from Blenheim and Kaikoura High Principal Werner van Aswegen joined in from Christchurch.
Mr van Aswegen says the videoconferencing system is a great tool that offers many benefits for the school. "In addition to adding value from an education perspective, the videoconferencing system is a cost saver. We have already saved $500 interviewing a teacher based in the North Island," he said.
Kaikoura High students are also thrilled to have the new technology available with Year 10 student Ricky Muir commenting "There are so many subjects which can use the video conference - it's great!" Year 10 student Rory Sinclair added "We can now do fieldwork and visit places we couldn't get to from Kaikoura - like the West Coast mines."
"We are delighted that Kaikoura High won the videoconferencing system and we know they are going to put it to good use," said Denise Hansen, Communications Manager for Asnet Technologies.
"The enthusiasm of principals, teachers and students are key factors in the successful use of videoconferencing technologies in extending classrooms to the world, and we were very impressed with the team at Kaikoura High," she said.
Spokesperson for the 2020 Communications Trust, Laurence Zwimpfer, adds "With videoconferencing technology the opportunities for students to embark on virtual experiences and travel over the Internet to meet students from other countries and cultures are almost unlimited."
Ms Hansen concludes "Every week I am receiving requests from students in other countries wanting to meet up with New Zealand students. I am looking forward to helping with these connections so that students at Kaikoura High can share with the world. There is also an exciting global videoconferencing opportunity being sponsored by Polycom starting in February next year, called Read Around the Planet. Classrooms around the world connect with each other by videoconference to celebrate reading."