ITI Articles

New Zealand Tertiary College’s new online journal, He Kupu, was launched last month. He Kupu, ‘going live’, provides a forum for scholarly enquiry and research associated with the development and implementation of online learning programs.

NZTC lecturer Dr Andrew Gibbons, editor of the eJournal, sees He Kupu as being of particular value to the early childhood education sector. People in the sector “are so spread out,” says Andrew. “Technology provides the possibility to work in your community and study at a distance, and He Kupu provides an academic analysis of how we can do this well.”

The impetus for this initiative came originally from discussions between Te Tuhi Robust and Selena Fox, General Manager of NZTC. Andrew Gibbons says that “they were showing an interest in a new forum for looking at online learning, and I said that I would happy to help navigate or steer it.”

Andrew says he doesn’t have a lot of experience in online learning but he has a wealth of experience in early childhood education and an interest in the philosophy of technology and “critical thinking about ways to use technology meaningfully.” He says that Selena Fox’s belief in technology’s potential to provide people with opportunities and advantages that they may not have had before has been critical to the development of the eJournal.

While there are a number of journals looking at online learning, it is the focus on early childhood education that makes He Kupu distinctive. “But,” says Andrew, “early childhood education doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We are providing that specific scope but we are not limited to it. There may be new web-based technology that hasn’t been applied to early childhood education yet, but it is still relevant because of the experiences that come out of it; we are still interested in the reflections, both positive and negative, on technology.”

He Kupu went live in November and Andrew says the first issue featured a range of peer-reviewed articles, an interview, and reflections from teacher educators and student teachers. “I think providing a forum for students to reflect on their experiences is an important component of He Kupu. It reflects the NZTC principle of encouraging the student voice; I hope it will reflect the innovative nature of He Kupu.”

The eJournal is freely available to interested subscribers, with two issues published each calendar year.