Newsletter August 2009

Napier Conference
The Napier conference was a great success thanks to the caliber of attendees and the hard work put in by the organising team and the background supporters. Special thanks to the team

• Steve Corich (EIT)
• Lesley Smith (Otago)
• Frina Albertyn (EIT)
• Michael Verhaart (EIT)
• William Hannon (EIT)
• Alison Young (Unitec)
• Viv Wetere (NACCQ)
• Sam Man (Otago)
• Richard Eltringham (Unitec)

The balance sheet for the conference is nearing completion and thanks to the sponsors it is looking like we will go close to breaking even. Thanks to our sponsors in 2009 who included

• Ako Aotearoa (Gold Sponsor)
• Jade Technologies (Silver Sponsor)
• Instant Education (Bronze Sponsor)
• Wintec
• EIT
• Pearson Education

Planning is underway for the next conference in Dunedin hosted by Otago Polytechnic under the leadership of Lesley Smith.

DTEP
The Digital Technologies Expert Panel, hosted by the Ministry of Education and including representatives from industry, the education sector, the Institute of Engineers and NZQA to look at the place of digital technologies in the high school curriculum has completed its work and made a number of recommendations. The results have been described as being one of the most exciting things to happen in the technology area for some time. If you want to see the outcomes statement from the Ministry and the DTEP recommendations got to http://www.techlink.org.nz/curriculum-support/tks/resources/Outcomes-from-DTEP.pdf

The Withdrawal of the Metros from ITP New Zealand
You may remember from conference discussion about the withdrawal of the six Metro institutes from ITP New Zealand and the impact that the move may have on NACCQ. At the conference AGM it was agreed that the advice of the NACCQ fellows would be sought to identify the way forward for the organisation. As a result of the meeting, the roles and goals of the organisation were revisited and an attempt was made to redefine the activities that the organisation should look at supporting if it wishes to maintain its status as a leader within the IT field that provides value to its members. The model for the organisation as it looks forward will be shared with the working groups and executive in September and a special AGM may be called to approve and changes that may be made to the rules as a result.

Collaborative Qualifications Framework
The rules for accessing the TEC "Harmonisation" funding were released in March and an application for funding to support the development of an ITP wide collaborative computing qualification framework was submitted in April. Indications from TEC suggest that the because of the number of applications there will not be enough funding for everyone. We wait with baited breath for news.

BACIT
Michael Verhaart is busily working away trying to get another version of BACIT released. If you have articles you would like considered for publication you will find instructions of how to submit on the NACCQ website.

NACCQ Website
You may have noticed that the appearance of the NACCQ website has changed a little. The whole site has been redeveloped by William Hannon from EIT and is now supported by a content management system called Joomla. Thanks to William for all his hard work and thanks to EIT for agreeing to host the site. Thanks also to Richard Eltringham and Unitec who provided support for the site over the last few years. If you notice anything that needs changing please let Viv know so that she can make the necessary updates.