%0 Conference Proceedings
%A Gasson, J.
%A Baldwin, H.
%D 2006
%T OTAGONET ICT Ambassadors Programme: Dissolving Disparity and Distance
%E Mann, S.
%E Bridgeman, N.
%B 19th Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications
%C Wellington, New Zealand
%I NACCQ in cooperation with ACM SIGCSE
%P 97-101
%@ ISSN 1176-8065
%U www.naccq.ac.nz
%8 7th-10th July 2006
%X The delivery of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT ) programmes in high schools, and the
recruitment of school leavers to tertiary Information
Technology (IT) programmes are especially critical issues
for New Zealand, with its small population base, and
comparatively large rural community.
Many schools find it difficult to provide and staff
innovative and challenging ICT programmes. Students
are often unaware of the extent and variation in the field
of IT and that IT is primarily a creative problem solving
exercise. Students are often uninformed of the range of IT
programmes offered by tertiary providers or the potential
variety of positions that are available in the IT industry.
These issues are exacerbated in rural school communities.
All tertiary IT providers report falling rolls, and recognise
the need to attract more school leavers into our
programmes.
This paper outlines and reviews a six-day holiday course
run in 2005 by Otago Polytechnic for ICT-talented
secondary school students from rural Otago and
Southland schools. The approach presented increases the
interactions and connections between schools and tertiary
providers to their mutual benefit.
%K Computing education, tertiary, high school,
outreach programmes.