NZMac.com - Supporting the New Zealand Mac community

Hi all, interesting article... http://www.apple.com/uk/education/profiles/wildern/index.html
Wildern School in Hampshire combines top exam performance with a highly innovative approach to teaching. It scores 100% GCSE passes and has won the Government's prestigious Future Vision Award for use of technology in the curriculum. Now Wildern is working closely with other UK schools, sharing the fruits of its success in transforming learning and boosting student results.

Innovation at Wildern School relies heavily on Apple technology, with more Macs than any other school in England. According to the school's Head, Jeffery Threlfall: Our focus is on quality teaching and improving opportunities for children to learn, not on technology for its own sake. Macs have provided brilliant support for our teaching ideas and the ideal platform for working with other schools.Phil

There are many untold stories of New Zealand schools making innovative use of Apple technology. Some of those schools are visited on educational tours organised through Apple Education but there are others that we don't know about until we stumble across them while visiting the schools for other reasons.

Belinda

Umm...ok? I was just pointing out a good education/Mac article on the net?

Phil

Personally I think the opinion of Apples in NZ schools is poor, all the schools I went to were "MS IS SO GREAT <3<3!"

This sort of story is becoming more and more common in the UK. That doesn't look like changing either, now that the government are warning against Microsoft contracts in schools

I think it's about time too.

Whilst Windows certainly does have a place in schools, I really don't think that it should have the monopoly.

Students should be taught transferable computing skills, so Linux and Mac should each be in every school IMO. Right now, IT in schools seems to simply mean learning how to use Microsoft software.

Not sure how it is for you guys but in the UK schools like the one in the article are extremely rare. MS still has the monopoly over here and there is a real lack of Mac educational software and worse still very few places to buy it from.
Educational authorities are slowly coming round to the fact that in the long run Macs are a cheaper option than PC's but none of them have the balls to make the jump.

Whilst in schools that is the case, colleges (at least in the area I went to college) seem to be pretty open minded.

The college I went to ran a Novell network and had plenty of Macs. It did have far more PCs, but I never had to use one, there were enough Macs that I could always get to use one when I needed.

It makes sense to learn on Macs. By the time MS has copied the features the students are ready to launch into the workplace having used features for years which the existing MS users are just getting to grips with.

McD

I was the IT manager for a fairly large (Private) High School in the West Midlands (UK) the network was almost completely Mac (100+) with only a handful of PC systems.

The servers where almost all Mac (10 or 11) and one PC Server.

I have to say it was a refreshing change and the entire school, Students and Teachers had very much embraced technology as a means of assisting and providing learning. I was a little disappointed with the lack of PC availability for those who would choose it over Mac.

My most recent consultancy positions where within the UK Education sector advising and defining System Wide Infrastructure at school level, local level and Nationwide. Much of which was sadly based on PC (Windows) network Server - Client design.

The Quango I worked for was accused of being anti-Windows many times over the past several years, though this really wasn't the case. Mostly this was derived from mis-quoting personal feelings of staff that would have preferred to see a more balanced approach to IT Infrastructure.

I completely agree with Nick that a more balanced approach is required, removing the option of experiencing other operating systems is really about limiting choice. Where a student might find a Mac more intuitive and easy to use to develop their skills, another may may satisfy there inquisitive mind tinkering with Linux/UNIX and another find the Windows based systems suit their requirements better.

I am all for choice, particularly in the school environment where variety has an especially important role where expanding knowledge is the ultimate goal. What a shame it would be for a student to never discover their potential because of blinkered management and choice of IT systems.

I also worked for a Global Management Consultancy firm which employed Mac's globally across a 6,500 user base. Assistant Manager in a UK office and then Manager of the Munich Office with much in-house and client led work outside of the UK and Germany. I pioneered a good deal of progress in areas that required thinking outside of the box.

While I'm on the topic of work, I am seriously thinking of moving to New Zealand with my family, what is the work situation for IT like out there?