Trainee teachers to benefit from education portal

Teacher-training institutions can now access a digital resource that enables schools to share learning resources and best practices, Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye says.

Pond, the online learning hub built by Crown-owned company Network for Learning, aims to become a central environment in digital discovery and participation for schools.

It is currently available to 700 primary and secondary teachers and will be available to all teachers by the end of the year. From today, it can also be accessed by Initial Teacher Educators (ITEs), and will be available to teacher trainees from next year.

“This timely move will enable ITEs to include the Pond resource in their course planning for 2015 and in doing so, help prepare future teachers for a 21st-century learning environment,” Ms Kaye says.

“Lecturers offering teacher training across New Zealand’s 18 tertiary institutions will be able to see how school teachers are using digital technologies to collaborate with their peers and find valuable resources for teaching and learning.”

Pond allows users to search the internet and a number of education and New Zealand-specific information repositories at the same time, along with resources and classroom practices created by other educators. ITEs will be expected to contribute their own educational resources to help practising classroom teachers.

“ITEs are key in the shift toward learning with digital technologies and the acceleration of uptake in the education sector,” Ms Kaye says.

“Many of the teachers inside Pond are confident users of digital technologies in the classroom, and opening access will help ITEs keep pace with the innovative approaches being used in today’s modern classrooms.

“In addition, bringing tertiary lecturers and future teachers into Pond will allow groups in the education sector to be more connected as one community.”

Pond is being introduced to users progressively and can be accessed with any internet connection.