March 08, 2018
Planning needed for wananga to embrace e-learning wave
There's a call for stronger planning to ensure the successful implementation of e-learning at wananga.
In a report prepared while she was digital education fellow for the Innovation Partnership, Lindsay Baxter, the acting tumutaumatua or corporate services director at Te Wananga o Aotearoa, said the country's Maori tertiary education providers have a challenge to embrace e-learning while retaining their distinctiveness.
Any strategy needs to be supported by core Maori values and recognise the unique characteristics of each wananga.”
Ms Baxter said wananga need to tailor learning to the wananga student demographic, maintain culturally-rich programmes, incorporate Maori values into the digital learning space, and support teachers to develop their e-learning capability.
Increasing the digital capability of the teachers will also be important to give them the confidence to guide students who are studying at foundation levels and have lower prior qualifications.
There are more than 35,000 students at New Zealand's three wananga.
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