THE SITUATION
As part of its 25th birthday, next year the New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC) will launch an innovative web-enhanced distance learning system.
NZTC's system reflects its long term commitment to the teaching profession and its role as the specialist in early childhood education.
"There are brilliantly designed online learning systems out there, but they are all designed from an IT perspective and tend to be cluttered complex environments that are too easy to get lost in or confused with. They sacrifice our students' love of learning for IT cleverness that fails to focus on the learning experience." Selena Fox, NZTC General Manager.
THE OPPORTUNITY
NZTC, recognising the gulf in blending technology and distance learning methods, knew it had the experience and affinity with best practices in early childhood education to create a specialised web-enhanced distance learning management system that would empower students and teachers in a way not seen before.
A steep learning curve begins
Intergen engaged with NZTC to develop a totally new web-enhanced distance learning system, and to be mentors and educators at the same time. NZTC's vision was to retain long term knowledge by developing the expertise, talent and experience within a newly created IT division. NZTC wanted to be within the Microsoft suite. Its search for a New Zealand-based company that understood that they emphatically didn't want a 'here it is' solution delivered in isolation brought them into partnership with Intergen.
"We had a couple of strike outs with earlier companies. Most people weren't really listening to us, just going straight to the IT solution. Intergen were the difference we needed. They listened to us and what our sector and passion was all about. They clearly had the design and development skills, but they also had great skills as listeners and respect for us in knowing our learners, and that's a telling difference." Selena Fox.
The roadmap to building ecelearn
NZTC and Intergen spent considerable time defining what would set the system apart as an on-line environment that would deliver a total focus on the learning experience, while letting technology seamlessly do its job in the background. The system needed to be intuitive, with simplistic and clear design. Students should not need to leave the site to access research or information. As an environment it needed to bridge factors of isolation for students and support field practices and community needs.
The vision established, Intergen mentored the NZTC team through usability audits, design direction, best practice consultation and development approaches (service orientated architecture) and analysis and design, to support the foundational and ongoing development of a highly successful outcome: www.ecelearn.com
A NZ launch - a global future
Selena Fox says NZTC's vision is to make ecelearn the platform that people ask for by name when seeking quality, early childhood learning. ecelearn will be launched early in 2007, the College's 25th anniversary year. NZTC are already looking at exporting this learning opportunity to overseas markets and they intend to continue on their collaborative path with Intergen well beyond the 2007 launch.
"Our partnership with Intergen has been very successful. ecelearn is a robust, yet simplistic web enhanced distance learning environment that our students and faculty have long deserved to have access to. Our team has grown from being MS databased developers into a highly skilled team to support the future of ecelearn." Selena Fox.
THE GAIN
ecelearn is an innovative, highly effective and sustainable learner-centered interface and web-enhanced distance learning environment for teacher education in New Zealand and beyond.
The ecelearn story is one that emphasises how enabling technology must always connect with the essential vision, not determine the way.