E-Principal to Make Online Studying Easier

By SPEER, Sophie

`It’s the way of learning in the future. If you don’t know something now you Google it and most courses are taken online in some form or another.’ Tom Clark, Northern Southland College principal SOUTHLAND secondary pupils will become more technologically savvy when an “e-principal” is appointed.

Northern Southland College principal Tom Clark has been working with the Southland Interactive Learning Community (SILC) for a year and the job has grown to the point where a fulltime person was needed to oversee the work.

SILC has initiated online development at Southland’s 14 secondary schools and the possibilities of further development would be on the agenda of the e-principal, Mr Clark said.

“It’s the way of learning in the future. If you don’t know something now you Google it and most courses are taken online in some form or another.” Once appointed, the e-principal would work with schools to grow their online capabilities, so they would be able to link together with other school networks like SILC around the country.

“One of the most important reasons is, it’s a learning style that’s probably used now more than any other, so if you need to find out something or do a course, it’s probably going to be online, so people need to gain skills to study efficiently online,” he said.

Smaller schools would be able to link up with larger ones and provide subjects and courses via the internet that would otherwise be unavailable.

Gifted and talented pupils would be able to do extra courses or sit NCEA levels above their age group.

“I believe this is just the start. In time it will extend into primary schools and out into the community because there are a whole lot of people who want to do various courses,” Mr Clark said.

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