Students from KAREN school Point England primary in Auckland are leading the way in using technology in the classroom.

The Close Up programme at TVNZ aired an inspiring story about the students from Point England school on 27 February 2009. To these students, using learning tools such as blogging, podcasting and cloud computing are second nature.

These new tools build on the school's 13 year experience of running their own news network. The newscast is broadcast throughout the school daily and then rebroadcast every week throughout Auckland on Triangle TV.

National Education Network school

Point England was a participant in our National Education Network trial and continue to use KAREN as the foundation for ICT-enabled learning. For them, ICT is not an add-on but an important enabling tool for engaging students in learning, building confidence and preparing them for the workplace - this was obvious throughout the trial. Great work Point England!

Dorothy Burt, eLearning Team Leader at Point England, is excited about the huge windows of opportunity the NEN has brought:

"The improved bandwidth alone has provided opportunities for all students to have an online component to their learning, rather than a select few. With technical frustrations such as slow uploads removed, the students are motivated to publish more of their work online. Students have broadened their horizons through video conferencing with students and adult experts from around the world."

"And teachers are thriving in the NEN environment where their planning time after school is no longer spent waiting for uploads and downloads, or waiting for pages they need to load. We have quickly adapted to this environment being the norm and slow broadband feels like the dark ages!"

More information

Close Up story:Hi-Tech Kids at primary school

Point England NEN trial outcomes