Education in New Zealand 2012

Foresight is a creative idea that enables a person to never be wrong when thinking about a world that is yet to be created, it is this notion that provides technicians at Apple, Google and Microsoft the ability to think of the unthinkable.

So what will education in New Zealand be like in 2012, will it be the same as now or will it be a different world? One thing is certain, fibre optic wiring should have been laid throughout the major cities linking consumers at home and at school together with the rest of the world.

Now that this has been achieved we can finally begin to enjoy the richness of the internet and its true capabilities, streamed conferences with multiple people in opposite parts of the globe, classrooms engaged in discussion and debate about the latest topics and sharing their ideas not only to the classroom peers but a streaming feed to selected classes throughout the country and world.

Infrastructure within schools will be wired with fibre optics with a direct linkage to the Ministry of Education's server located in a secure basement in Wellington. On this massive server information once kept within a school is migrated to here, that is: information on students' grades, teachers' files and students' learning.

With this massive cost exported to the Ministry of Education, cash strapped schools are now able to promote IT usage within their schools. But what about the aging computers in the ICT laboratories?

These computers would be virtual, similar to the thin client principle, thus meaning no moving parts on the computer = no need to upgrade or replace the computer- ever, even if a new operating system is released.

This transition is occurring as we speak, Tertiary Institutions have made the first jump into this new world and the contract was given to Datacom.

Who knows, perhaps with this new world ahead we could have students from our schools finding their foresight ideas are needed in companies such as Google, Apple and Microsoft.

Google Applications in Education

With Google's unofficial corporate motto being 'don't be evil' it is hard to imagine a time before the advent of Google; bulletin boards, 33kbps narrowband, telephone lines engaged due to internet usage and more recently 'Google Apps'.

It is becoming clear that Google is positioning itself in the forefront of creativity and becoming the preferred application for institutions throughout the world.

After signing up to an email address using Google gmail you now have at your fingers an abundance of applications ready to enhance and promote learning not only in your classroom but also with the parents of students, community and even globe of interested citizens.

By utilising Google's Calendar you can now promote the school calendar for all to see, and users can sign up to receive SMS text messages of important events so the parents have no need to circle the wall calendar slightly leaning crooked on the refrigerator door.

Another package available recently from Google is Google Docs which replaces the traditional Microsoft Office Suite of Excel, PowerPoint and Word. The application is web based so the need for updating the software is now a thing of the past and collaboration is now completely intertwined with the application.

With these new products continually being refined and upgraded by Google the need for downloading the new patch or upgrade is now redundant. There is however a growing uncertainty as to the reasoning behind Google's motivation to provide free products such as these. I hope Google is still holding themselves true to their motto.

Hadleigh Benson