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Is there anybody out there? A look at the New Zealand National Education Network developments and a schools journey

Paul Rodley & Douglas Harre

The National Education Network is being developed by the Ministry of Education in New Zealand with the assistance of REAANZ (Research and Education Advanced Network New Zealand). The network will initially join up, via high speed fibre, 500 schools and education organisations around the country.

Christ's College has been involved in the initial National Education Network trials over the last 24 months, utilising the high speed KAREN (Kiwi Advanced Research Network) network. At the same time College has been involved in the development of a regional high speed education network - the GCSN. High Speed education networks have been evolving in New Zealand at both the regional and National levels and these developments are gaining traction as the government invests in broadband rollout throughout the country. This presentation documents the educational journey for a school to date, as well as highlighting the key developments in the National Education Network.

Paul Rodley's Biography

Paul is ICT Director at Christ's College, a private boys' school located in the heart of the city of Christchurch. Paul has been involved in the trial of the National Education Network (NEN) in New Zealand as well as the Greater Christchurch Schools Network (GCSN) - the local high speed network being developed in the Canterbury region. As well as teaching Paul is undertaking research into the impact of high speed networks on learning. Paul's teaching experience covers both the Tertiary and Secondary sectors over the last 20 years.

Douglas Harre's Biography

Douglas Harré spent 15 years teaching geography and outdoor education but is now a Senior Consultant in the e-Learning Unit. Through a process of elimination he has become responsible for things of an infrastructure-y nature in schools…the TELA programme, national software licensing agreements, technical support through the ICT Help Desk, the provision of firewalls and content filtering services and associated programmes. His main areas of work recently have been trial for a National Education Network (using KAREN as a backbone) and the School Network Upgrade Programme. In other, seemingly distant lives, he was a raft guide, bicycle mechanic, brussel sprout picker and tree planter.