eLearning+culture+in+New+Zealand

 =**A generalisation of the predominant eLearning culture in New Zealand ** =

media type="custom" key="10243765" align="left"﻿Links to eLearning culture in New Zealand pages Videos New Zealand tertiary education

**Introduction**
In the tertiary sector of New Zealand education, eLearning is a growing area. In 2003, funding was made available by the New Zealand Government for tertiary institutions to share. It was an eLearning collaborative development fund. This fund was to have tertiary institutions work together on setting up eLearning systems and to share the use of resources instead of each institution developing their own systems at greater costs (Ham & Wenmouth, 2007). As a result, the Government had a vested interest in seeing growth of eLearning provision in ‍‍the tertiary sector ‍‍.

**What is eLearning in New Zealand?** eLearning in New Zealand has been defined as, ‘learning that is enabled or supported with the use of Information Communication Technologies (ICT)’, including the Internet, video and audio conferencing and interactive whiteboards (Guiney, 2011, p. 5). The Ministry of Education (2009), on its website adds to this definition that eLearning also includes some sort of interactivity and interaction between student and other students or between the student and teacher. They also do not limit the range of ICTs and include devices such as mobile phones and data projectors. **Provision of eLearning in NZ tertiary education sector** Guiney (2011)shows that between 2004-2008 eLearning provision showed an upward trend. In 2008 there was still a greater share of courses that had no eLearning component than that which did provide an eLearning component, however the difference was only a few per cent. Most courses had a ‘web-supported’ component, and less than 10 per cent of courses were ‘web-based’ (predominantly provided over the Internet). Over the four years that Guiney’s report covers, there was an increase of over 20 per cent of courses at universities with an eLearning component. This compares to a decrease in eLearning provision within polytechnics over the same time period. The study showed that 18-19 year olds in tertiary study are quite a lot more likely to become involved in eLearning courses than those in the 40+ age group, however, participation from the older group is also on the increase. According to the // Digital Economy Ranking 2010 // (Economist Intelligence Unit, 2010) New Zealand is currently ranked 10th in eLearning readiness.