Waikato

Community Partnership funding to assist Upper Coromandel ICT Link and set up two ICT learning centres (Coromandel and Colville). Other projects include training programmes targeted to youth, digital storytelling, teleworking skills and a recycled computer project.

Coromandel Independent Living Trust (CILT) has moved towards establishing an ICT, Videolink and Learning centre in the Upper Coromandel in partnership with Colville organisations and Social Services Waikato. The aim is to have a centre established in Coromandel, another in Colville and both will be linked to each other and Hamilton. A major tertiary provider has consulted with CILT and will provide ICT training and related topics. Personnel from CILT attended the Digital Futures Summit which gave a clear indication that we are heading in the right direction. With the support of CILT, an independent tutor is delivering Digital Storytelling workshops in the Upper Coromandel and CILT Project Coordinators are using digital storytelling to promote CILT projects to our wider community and via our website.

Wintec’s Community Partnership-funded 'Culture On-line' project is to develop a series of online, interactive sessions that begin to explore a number of different cultures, teach simple foreign phrases and provide tips and hints for intercultural communication. 

10 businesses and organisations in the Waikato have been surveyed to identify present and future intercultural communication training needs. An instructional designer and a technician have been recruited and a basic framework for the online product has been developed. Cultural content, digital stories from members of the ethnic communities, and very basic language lessons have been developed or created.

www.wintec.ac.nz

Community Partnership funding is assisting the Artmakers Trust to develop a database of digital stories, offering workshops to community groups to develop their skills and to create the stories.  

Last year the Glass Hedgehog Project produced a cluster of almost 20 digital stories with a youth and elderly focus. The stories are authentic: tutors, artists and computer literate people assist the storytellers (with a little coaching) to tell their own stories in digital format, and to become familiar with the media and techniques needed to do it. The community storytellers are beginning to learn about the magic of digital media, and are becoming more confident at using the digital tools. Digital story telling is being used at Artmakers Studios and at the Waikato University Bachelor of Computer Graphics Design (BCGD) Programme. While young participants are learning about digital media and getting acquainted with the university environment, the university students are learning a lot about working with people. Artmakers hopes to take some BCGD student/graduates interested in social development as interns.

www.artmakers.co.nz

The Hamilton City Council is planning to improve and extend its fibre network which is currently used for inner city security.  The Broadband Challenge Funding received has acted as a catalyst to join up existing fibre networks in the region and deliver cost effective broadband to schools, educational institutions, health providers, council offices and local businesses.

http://www.hcc.govt.nz

http://www.velocitynetworks.co.nz

Te Pahu is a remote village of approx 1,000 people, 40km from Hamilton.  With Broadband Challenge funding, the Te Pahu Community Trust and Rural Link have established a small wireless rural broadband network linking Te Pahu to Hamilton and the surrounding community.

www.tepahu.net/Broadband-Internet.aspx

Volunteering Waikato received Community Partnership funding to record Professional Development Training (volunteer best practice) on to CD-Rom for community groups who work with volunteers. 

The ‘Volunteering is Fun’ CD-Rom project has been a highly valuable and worthwhile.  Not only has the organisation ended up with a fabulous product to market, this product fits perfectly with its mission to enrich lives and communities through volunteering. The CD-Roms will be used to educate and encourage community organisations to ensure best practice in all areas of their volunteer programmes and management. The CDs also encourage other people to volunteer, and to know their rights and responsibilities when doing so. The project utilised the skills of a small team and also the skills and knowledge of a wider group of people involved with volunteers and volunteering.

http://www.volunteeringwaikato.org.nz

Community Partnership funding is being used to increase functionality of WebGuide (targeted guide for community organisations to improve internet capability). 

Phase 2 of the Webguide is being written and on track to be completed by the end of August. After feedback and revisions have been completed, the enhanced guide will be launched in October.

www.webguide.net.nz 

www.2020.or.nz/waikato

Community Partnership funding has enabled NZIRH to run a pilot project aimed at testing the effectiveness of on line learning tools and methods to support the professional development of rural health practitioners.

The RuralHealthOnline project is progressing well with the majority of the e-learning courseware now completed. The project is now entering the education delivery phase, involving three groups of people piloting the e-learning courseware:

• General Practitioners - trialling the Acute Lower Back Pain treatment guidelines;
• Three Health organisations - trialling the IT courseware; and
• Twenty Rural Schools - offering the IT courseware to their respective communities.

Telecom has recently agreed to support this project by way of supporting marketing of e-learning to rural communities. NZIRH thanks The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand (e-learning solutions partner) and Guidetools.com Ltd. (health courseware developer) for their support.

www.nzirh.org.nz

With Community Partnership funding, a digital library of archive recordings, videos and documents will be created utilising ‘greenstone’ software.

www.haurakimaori.co.nz