During 2008, REANNZ ran the KAREN experience programme that offered free KAREN membership to institutes of technology, polytechnics (ITPs) and wānanga for the 2008 calendar year in exchange for trial projects enabled by KAREN.

Status of the programme

The KAREN experience programme was completed in December 2008. Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics are invited to join  KAREN as fee-paying members.

Benefits of the programme

The programme allowed ITPs and wānanga to develop new approaches to teaching and learning through supporting access to online collaborative tools, rich media content and data repositories.

ITPs and wānanga can also take advantage of KAREN to streamline their IT operations through managed internet access, data storage, voice over IP, and access to shared services.

Getting involved in the programme

Connecting to KAREN 

The first step in taking advantage of this programme is establishing your connection options and infrastructure status and requirements. Connecting to a KAREN Point of Presence via an Accredited Aggregator is a good option for those without the required internal technical capabilities. See our frequently asked questions or technical centre for detailed information on how to connect.

Putting together your proposal

While you are working out your connection option you need to think about the project commitments.

In exchange for free membership, ITPs and wānanga need to commit to projects with an equivalent value of in-kind contribution during the year. These projects must deliver outcomes that would not have been possible without KAREN.

The projects will need to utilise the speed and capacity of KAREN to deliver innovative education and research outcomes - skills, knowledge and techniques - enabled by KAREN and associated advanced networking tools, methods and techniques for teaching and learning.

Achieving outcomes

Some of the possible project outputs enabled by KAREN include:

• expanded course delivery via video conferencing
• distance education courses
• multi-media services
• video streaming
• remote collaborative teaching and learning lessons and scenarios
• improved access to local /overseas partners
• access to digital resources from universities/crown research institutes
• access to local, national, and international advanced networks and their digital content
  

Making your contribution

The in-kind contribution will be valued principally from project costs associated with staff time and effort. Capital costs, and the cost of connecting to KAREN are not expected to form part of in-kind costs.

Related information

Media release: ITPs and wānanga offered free KAREN membership for 2008, 13 December 2007

Updated 25 May 2009