Ministers launch education portal

Education Minister Hekia Parata and Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye today launched a new digital portal for teachers, students and education administrators with Crown-owned company Network for Learning (N4L).

Ms Parata says the Government has invested $211 million in the N4L managed network as a fully funded package for schools and has also tasked the company with developing the portal.

“Through the N4L managed network, the Government is picking up the cost to provide schools with safe, predictable and fast internet with uncapped data, content filtering and network security services.

“It will also provide greater accessibility to a growing collection of teaching and learning resources through this portal.

“The portal will provide schools with access to trusted, high-quality learning resources and will make safe, online collaboration easy.

“Technology, and digital learning, are part of our modernising of the education system to raise achievement for all our children and young people.

“The pace at which schools are connecting to the Government-funded managed network service is encouraging, and we’re expecting 700 schools to connect by the end of this year. All schools will be invited to connect by 2016,” Ms Parata says. 

“It is great to be launching this portal today and that we now have a collaborative online environment where students and teachers will soon be able to connect, and share information,” Ms Kaye says.

“A number of teachers and principals are now testing this new digital space. During this first phase, they have been able to access and review material. At the heart of the portal’s functionality is the ability for teachers and students to create, share and rate the quality and usefulness of content.

“A handful of teachers and principals have been putting the portal’s search and sharing functionalities to the test. Their vital feedback has helped N4L to continue to develop a robust and useful tool for the whole education sector.

“It can be a challenge for teachers and students to find information that they can trust. N4L is working hard to ensure that information from key government agencies will be accessible through the portal, including the Ministry of Education’s Te Kete Ipurangi, which provides schools and students with a wide range of trusted information and resources.

“N4L have told me that around 500 teachers will be invited to explore the portal early next month and that all educators will have access by the end of this year,” Ms Kaye says.

More information about the portal is available on the N4L website: www.n4l.co.nz/pond

Questions and answers

What is the N4L portal?

Crown-owned company N4L has developed a digital portal as a collaborative online environment to link New Zealand teachers, school administrators and students and providers of educational content and services.

What is it like?

The portal includes a mixture features found in popular online social environments. For example, the portal features a catalogue of content and services that is easy to search. Users can discover resources that are not normally given a prominent ranking in regular search results. In the portal, you can also "follow" other educators, organisations, videos, websites, interesting articles and topics of interest to a specific user. This means that teachers can see what their peers follow (and find interesting) and by doing this they can discover even more resources.

When will the portal be available?

A small number of teachers and principals have already begun to use the digital portal. N4L have told me that around 500 teachers will be invited to explore the portal early next month and that all educators will have access by the end of this year.

When will students have access to the portal?

The current timetable is that students will have access to the portal next year.

What is the difference between the N4L managed network and N4L’s portal?

The Government established N4L to develop and rollout a managed network which will provide New Zealand schools with Government-funded, quality, fast internet access, uncapped data, on line content filtering and network security services.

N4L has developed the portal as an independent service offering for schools. The portal will be able to be accessed from a managed network connection, however, portal access will not be a requirement for schools to use the managed network. Schools will also be able to access the portal from the public internet without a managed network connection.

How many schools are connected to the N4L managed network?

Around 250 schools are connected to the Government-funded managed network. We are expecting 700 schools to connect by the end of this year and all schools will be invited to connect by 2016.