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The NZ Biotechnology Learning Hub
Connecting the biotechnology sector with schools
In 2005, CWA New Media created an online environment for the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology (MoRST) that brings together the biotechnology and education sectors in New Zealand. The Biotechnology Learning Hub is managed by the Centre for Science and Technology Education Research at the University of Waikato, in conjunction with CWA New Media in Wellington.
The need
Biotechnology is the science of the future, with leading minds around the world engaged in the pursuit of new knowledge in areas such as health, agriculture and resource management. The New Zealand government identified this area as one essential to the country's growth, and it determined that teachers and learners needed to gain a greater understanding of the sector and its people to better prepare the workforce of tomorrow.
The innovation
The Biotech Learning Hub is a rich resource, providing flexible collaborative and communicative services that responded to a range of learning needs.
Its features include:- A standards-based web architecture with self-publishing tools and customisable push/pull web services
- Human-interest video stories about people who work in the sector
- A site layout which presents the various divisions of the sector, with explanatory text, news items, images, supporting articles, and "Did You Know" facts
- A media gallery with a library of images and interactives
- An online teaching and learning gateway to all content on the Hub, providing search terms and processes specifically tailored to respond to curriculum needs
- A sophisticated and consistent open standards-based content management system (CMS) to enable content publishing by administrators with little or no HTML skill
- A MyBio service, for registered users to create a personal space where they can bookmark favourite items, receive emailed alerts to new content matching their interests and providing links to new items as they are added to the Hub's collections.
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