In my role as a client manager for N4L, I have the opportunity to travel the length and breadth of New Zealand, signing up schools to the N4L managed network. I encounter many lovely towns across the country, but few as lovely as the aptly named “Pleasant Point”
According to Wikipedia: “Pleasant Point is a small country town in southern Canterbury, New Zealand, some 19 km inland from Timaru, on State Highway 8. A service town for the surrounding farming district, it has a population of 1,222 and one of its main attractions is the heritage railway, the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway, which operates steam locomotives and one of only two Model T Ford railcar replicas in the world”
This description barely scratches the surface of the place. Firstly, a colleague says the best custard squares in country can be found in Pleasant Point. Who knew?
I had been given the task of signing all of the schools in town up to the N4L Managed Network, which is easier than it sounds since there are only two schools!
The first school I visited had a broadband connection which was serving them OK. However, the Principal laid out his plans for a truly engaging e-learning program involving cloud services. All very well and good but in order to achieve this, fast and uncapped fibre was the answer. Which is where N4L came in. The fact that the Managed Network is also free meant the school could spend money earmarked for internet on something more directly related to teaching and learning (custard squares for all the students?). After talking about the N4L Managed Network connection, we then discussed Pond, N4L’s online collaborative portal for teachers. This got the Principal really excited as having a fast, free, uncapped fibre internet connection is one thing but utilising this to make a difference in the classroom is another thing entirely! The collaborative power of Pond comes into it’s own to prevent his teachers reinventing the wheel on e-learning, instead building on what other inspiring teachers are doing across NZ.
After a long and interesting discussion, I literally drove across the road to the other primary school in Pleasant Point (Yes I know, I should have walked but why change the stereotype of a car-centric Aucklander now?) The discussion went along a similar vein and it was great to see some of the same issues being solved with an N4L connection. I mentioned at the end of the conversation that I had already visited the other primary school in Pleasant Point and the principal requested that their school get connected first! It looks like healthy competition is alive and well in Pleasant Point! Not a bad thing if it means inspirational teaching and learning.