In a bid to modernise education using ICT, another $200 million is to be ploughed into the New Zealand's schools, over four years. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
The aim is to ensure young people have confidence in using ICT tools, says Education Minister Steve Maharey. The project will also provide remote schools with satellite broadband at a subsidised rate including schools in the Chatham Islands and on Pitt Island at a cost of $700,000 over two years. Laptops for all teachers account for the biggest item in this year's action plan budget at a cost of $17.58 million. The programme was announced last week, at Wellington's Brooklyn School. It allowed the ministry to demonstrate the country's first tablet classroom. From now on, all 120 Year 5 and 6 students at the school will use Hewlett-Packard tablet computers and styluses, in place of exercise books, for 80% of their work. Next year, the trial will be extended to all students and, potentially, later to other schools. This could prove to be a major source of revenue for HP. The children say the tablets provide for a quicker method of recording data in real-time, but they would prefer a simple spreadsheet rather than the specially set up.
