V. Impressive – Wellington NZ schools

Do you know how hard it is to get funding around social networks and schools in Australia? It’s pretty tough.

Digital learning network to kick off in Capital

“The Wellington Loop project is not about cable or fibre-optics but about communities. Students of all ages will be able to connect to each other using webcams in multi cast – can you imagine a classroom or community hall with students discussing the wind of Wellington, showing their own movies, making charts, talking, writing poetry and being connected together and developing new knowledge bases. It is all about connection and participation.

“This project will ensure that Wellington schools and their communities can provide the same cutting-edge learning opportunities to students as their peers in Los Angeles and Europe. We all know that young people are spending more and more time on the Internet linking to sites such as MySpace and YouTube; what we are creating in Wellington is an educational version, based on the same underlying principles of participation, engagement, creation and sharing. The Wellington Loop will bring real-time learning to this city and its young people.

“We also expect to achieve direct cost savings in running our expanding school ICT infrastructure by being able to share server infrastructure and network support.”

*applauds* they are talking my language!