Today@CWA – Archived Articles
Malaysian delegation visit CWA New Media
Members of the Malaysian delegation and Innovation New Zealand Education visit Horohoro School.
CWA was pleased to host a high profile delegation of visitors from the Malaysian education sector recently. Comprising a mix of Ministry of Education officials and private sector providers, the 17-person group had an opportunity to meet the CWA team, and hear about our work in portal development, e-content creation and online collaboration environments.
The visit was part of a national tour organised and hosted by Innovation New Zealand Education – an association of 10 leading NZ education organisations – and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. CWA is a member of the consortium and also chairs the group.
CWA New Media's work is award winning
A Hitwise representative presents the Education reference award for TKI, to Jocelyn Cranefield (Ministry of Education), Maria Lute (Multi Serve), and Kath Norton (Director, Education Services, CWA New Media).
CWA New Media conceived and developed, and manages New Zealand's bilingual portal for our schools – Te Kete Ipurangi: The Online Learning Centre – for our client the Ministry of Education, in partnership with our colleagues the Multi Serve Education Trust.
Recently we were very proud to receive the Hitwise New Zealand Online Performance Award for the best Education reference site in the country.
Read more about the glittering awards night at https://secure.hitwise.com/nz_awards/winners_nz.php.
CWA Hotshots
It almost seems like young people are born with a video camera or video phone in their hands. In recognition of this, CWA New Media is drawing on its experience in prime-time television production to help young people become effective storytellers.
CWA's Hotshots programme comprises workshops which cover the video production skills young people will need to communicate their stories and perspectives effectively. It covers the pre-production, production and post production processes – including scripting, storyboarding, shotlisting, interviewing and on-camera presenting – as well as the effective use of the camera, microphone and lights. Editing, tracklaying and soundmixing are also part of the workshop experience, as is a focus on the power that voice-over and music can bring to the story.
You can see examples of our Hotshots video crews in action here:
Possum fertility control interactive
CWA New Media often finds itself exploring wild and wonderful worlds, and our possum fertility control interactive is no exception.
As part of our work on the Biotechnology Learning Hub, CWA produced this interactive to help students understand how New Zealand's scientists are tackling this challenge to our national forests. It forms part of a curriculum-based focus story which takes our audiences behind the scenes at Crown Research Institute, AgResearch. Explore the story to meet some of the people – and the possums – who are part of this fascinating world.
Digital Conversations update
Visit the Digital Conversations website.
CWA's Digital Conversation programme www.digitalconversations.org.nz gears up for a great year of interesting guests. Here's a sample of what is coming up:
- In February and March, Dr Claudia Orange discusses the Treaty of Waitangi.
- In March, guests include Te Papa staff who will drop in to discuss the arts, and in the Book Council's WordSpace series there's a focus on young adult fiction with Fleur Beale and Paula Boock.
- In April we are joined by entomologist Jim Esson and the Book Council's WordSpace series looks at writing from a Non–European perspective with Tze Ming Mok and Tusiata Avia.
Our byline "Help us to bring the world to you – just ask – and we'll see what we can do" explains the goals of CWA's Digital Conversations programme and since its inception has brought a variety of local and international guests into New Zealand's schools and communities.
- View the full calendar of events (updated regularly): http://www.digitalconversations.org.nz/calendar_e.php
- Request a newsletter http://www.digitalconversations.org.nz/contact_e.php
ICT in Schools Report 2005 released
More information on the
ICT in Schools Report 2005.
As part of our education sector activities, CWA plays a key part in the implementation of bi-annual research into ICT usage in schools.
We stepped in 5 years ago after the disbanding of the then National government's IT Advisory Group (ITAG) to help to keep this research initiative active. As well as providing strategic input and sponsorship, CWA is also the project manager of the initiative. Three ICT in Schools reports have subsquently been published, the latest of which is now available online.
CWA believes the continuum of ICT data this report process represents, plays an important part in monitoring progress and identifying areas of need. We are committed to ensuring that this information remains available to assist our schools and our government decision-makers.
Bilingual portal number one education reference site
Visit the Hitwise website.
Te Kete Ipurangi The Online Learning Centre, has won a Hitwise Online Performance Award.
The Hitwise awards recognise excellence in online performance through public popularity. Te Kete Ipurangi is the number one website in the 'Education – Reference' category for 2005 in the over 500,000 sites that Hitwise monitors.
CWA developed, manages and facilitates TKI for the NZ Ministry of Education, working with partners Multi Serve Education Trust. It is a bilingual online environment which is the first stop for all New Zealand schools looking for quality information and resources, video, audio and interactive collections, and pathways to quality assured materials on the Web.
- Visit the Hitwise site for more information about the awards.
- More information on Te Kete Ipurangi
- Visit the TKI site.
CWA premieres "Makara's Little Secret"
The week of Christmas saw another premiere in the creative city of Wellington. This time, Peter Jackson took a break while the Hot Shots* video team from Makara Model Primary School held the world premiere of their video story Makara's Little Secret, attended by special guest Wellington MP, Marian Hobbs.
The video features the story of local children's writer and illustrator, Ruth Paul, and covers the release of her new book The Little White Lie, which was launched in the Grand Hall of Parliament earlier in 2005. The Hotshots video captured the event and, together with accompanying materials, can be viewed as part of our online Living Heritage collection.
*Hot Shots is a CWA-funded and facilitated initiative through which young people gain skills in digital storytelling, and are provided with an online environment to present their work to the world.
CWA international
Our international activities saw us recently facilitating a meeting between a group of visiting Malaysian Ministry of Education and Higher Education officials and some of our country's leading education agencies – including CWA itself.
The meeting provided the opportunity for New Zealand to demonstrate its leading thinking and excellence in the education sector, and was held at the New Zealand Trade & Enterprise offices in downtown Wellington.
Hot Shots filming at NIWA
CWA's Hot Shots www.hotshots.org.nz crews were in action last week, filming stories at NIWA.
Wellington High School students were trained by our video director/editor, Rachel, in the fine art of researching, scripting, shotlisting, camera and sound equipment usage, and interviewing techniques – to emerge as official "CWA Hot Shots Video Crew" members, ready to head out on location.
NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) is one of New Zealand's leading Crown Research Institutes, and their work in analysing air quality for greenhouse gases was the subject of our stories. Our intrepid Hot Shots crew could be found filming at their laboratories in Wellington, and also braving brisk winds at Baring Head to cover the process of capturing air samples. Expect to see the results of their work on our Biotechnology Hub www.biotechlearn.org.nz soon.
Digital Conversations
Visit the Digital Conversations website.
CWA's Digital Conversations www.digitalconversations.org.nz is bringing people into the classrooms and communities through the online world.
We say – "let us bring the world into your classroom and community – just ask and we'll see what we can do", and guests who have dropped in to our studio to have a chat with students around New Zealand have come from far and wide. They include actors, historians, sports people, writers, scientists, and someone well-known to our film industry – multi Oscar award-winner Richard Taylor.
Visit the Digital Conversations website to view video clips from the conversations.
Identity
Visit the British Council New Zealand website.
As boundaries and the nature of citizenship are challenged by global networks such as the web, CWA is fascinated to see what will happen to our sense of identity and uniqueness. This British Council project – a joint initiative with CWA – fits our curiosity nicely.
http://www.britishcouncil.org/montagenz-identity.htm
CWA and Television New Zealand
Visit the Frontier of Dreams website.
The much-awaited 13-part history series "Frontier of Dreams", produced by Whakapapa Productions is now screening weekly at 7.30pm, Saturday nights on TV One (repeated at 10am on Sundays).
Working with TVNZ, and the New Zealand Ministry of Education, the CWA team has developed an online learning environment for teachers and learners to accompany the series.
The online environment incorporates series information, curriculum explorations, teachers' notes for each episode, and a forum through which teachers and students can share related information, insights and strategies within a learning context.
CWA is delighted to be playing a part in supporting this prestigious series.
Visit the Frontier of Dreams website.
CWA and literacy
CWA was proud to host the launch of a new early reader book by local illustrator and author, Ruth Paul, recently.
The book – The Little White Lie – was well-received by the over 30 young people who attended the event – held in the Grand Hall of New Zealand's parliament buildings. The Hon Marian Hobbs opened the event, and well-known actor Robyn Malcolm read the story to the assembled throng. Ruth autographed books on the night and had a chance to see, first hand, the impact of her work. Students from Makara Primary School were on hand to record the launch on video and their movie will soon be available on CWA's Living Heritage site.
Visit the Living Heritage website.
CWA International
Our work often takes us to locations around the world. In recent years, CWA has been found in locations such as St Petersburg, Berlin, Paris, and Luxembourg. More recently we have undertaken a series of visits to Malaysia and Thailand. For further information about our work in these territories, contact us at enquiries@cwa.co.nz.
CWA on location
CWA's video crews are currently on the road in a number of locations capturing footage for themes as diverse as quality classroom practice, Maori education, the biotechnology sector in action, and road safety.
If you see a camera team on the street somewhere in New Zealand, it just might be us.
CWA Making a Difference
As part of our commitment to supporting young people and innovation, CWA sponsored 2 categories at the 2005 Nati Awards this year – the "Junior Fiction Film Award", and the "Senior Non-Fiction Film Award".
The Awards celebrate the best examples of young ICT and film-making talent from Ngati Porou/East Coast Schools, and the Awards night celebrations officially closed the 2005 Te Rangitawaea Festival. CWA director David Copeland and his camera crew were on hand to capture the magic moment and participate in the magic of the event.
Read more about the ICT Nati Awards 2005 (*PDF, 168kb).
