Principals flock to education portal

By ADAM GIFFORD

Almost half of all school principals have signed up for Oracle-driven education portal Think.com.

The Education Ministry expected to add 600 principals a year to the service.

Since it went live in February, 1400 principals have joined and are using the four electronic communities - TKI Central, which discusses online resources, Principals' Electronic Network, New Principals Online and ICT Online, which is a forum for the Lead School Network initiative.

The ministry now hopes to get all principals online by next June.

Carol Moffatt, the head of the ministry's information communication technology in schools programmes, said two more online facilitators had just been taken on, bringing the total to eight.

"You need someone to guide the discussion and help people who are new users, ring them up and encourage them to participate," Moffatt said.

"They're like a party host, making sure everyone is looked after and catered for."

The ministry also identifies people who can fill "hot seats", which take a lead role in discussions for two-week spells.

Think.com allows principals to create personal web pages and gives them email accounts so they can discuss, collaborate and debate online, uploading images, videos and documents they think are relevant to local and global Think.com communities.

Oracle's vice-president for Think.com, Nicole Melander, said Oracle was about to sign a deal with caching company Akamai to bring content closer to New Zealand users. At the moment all content was held on Think.com's servers in the United States.

A new version of Think.com, Future Proof, will be rolled out in December.

It will allow pupils to make websites, send email and collaborate with other schools here or overseas.

Melander said Oracle did not charge the ministry for Think.com, which cost about US$4 million ($8.27 million) a year to run.

"It is about the Oracle brand being more than technology and e-business.

"It is about the company giving back to the community in a broader way, doing things we know well, like developing a sophisticated website and housing it in a big data centre."