The development of this block will take around 12 months to complete with its scheduled opening for early 2013. A blessing of the site of this building was held today. Whitireia staff members, Council, contractors involved in the development project, invited guests and Ngati Toa were all present at this morning’s site blessing ceremony. It’s very exciting to be at this stage of the development project said Don Campbell, Chief Executive, Whitireia New Zealand. “This project has been a long time in the planning and seeing the work going on over the last few weeks and the blessing today shows the progress we are making. We are about to embark on a building project that is going to create a campus of the future. We are replacing more than 40 prefabricated buildings with purpose built buildings that will be connected through learning streets to provide a modern educational learning environment and be very community focussed” he said.

The Porirua campus development will be a statement to the Porirua community said Roger Sowry ONZM, Chair Whitireia Council. “It is a significant build for Whitireia and for Porirua and a courageous decision by all involved to invest in building works of this nature at this time” he said. The Porirua campus development is a two stage programme. Stage two provides for a new student services and arts programme building.

Council Chair, Roger Sowry wields a spade to start the upgrade at Whitireia

Kathy’s thesis topic was the development of a specialist nurse framework for New Zealand. As Associate Dean responsible for postgraduate nursing programmes this doctoral study informs the direction of our programmes. Publications produced during the course of research raise the profile of the organization both professionally and within industry.  Dr. Holloway’s research has been picked up by national nursing groups and Health Workforce New Zealand.

Further information on this thesis is available from associated publications:

Holloway, K., Lumby, J. & Baker, J. (2009). Specialist nursing framework for New Zealand: a missing link in workforce planning Policy, Politics and NursingPractice. 10(4):269-75.

Holloway, K. (2009 ). New Zealand National Nursing Organisations Glossary of Terms: New Zealand National Nursing Organisations.

Holloway, K.  Developing consensus in Cyber Space.  Presentation at Research Student Symposium, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia, 1-3 December 2009

Holloway, K.  Competent on the way to capable. Peer reviewed conference presentation at Opening doors: celebrating nursing research conference, Wellington, 21-21 November, 2009

Holloway, K., Polaschek, N. & Pool, L. (2010). DIFE: A new model in undergraduate nursing education. Journal of Nursing Education. doi:10.3928/01484834-20100524-03

Holloway, K (2010) Time to consider the special character of specialist nursing. Peer reviewed abstract published in proceedings and presented at 21^st International Nursing Research Congress, Orlando, Florida,12-16 July 2010.

Holloway, K. T. (2011). Development of a Specialist Nursing Framework for New Zealand. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Technology Sydney,    Sydney (this is in our library).

Holloway, K. (2011). If we build it, will they come?  Building a national framework for educating the capable nurse specialist. Paper presented at the NET2011 conference, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 5-8 September 2011.

Three further publications are currently being considered by international journals.

Kathy was also an invited key note speaker at a recent national nursing conference and is heavily involved in national strategic groups looking at educational pathways for postgraduate nurses.

Invitation to SPEAK at BakWal Gallery.

The Year 1 and 2 Jewellery Students are exhibiting at  BackWal Gallery in Otaki. The exhibition ‘Speak’ is a showcase of workduring the year from these students at Whitireia New Zealand.

Opening: Saturday 10th of December 11am, BackWal Gallery, 99 Atkinson Ave, Otaki.

Opening hours: Sunday 11th, Saturday 17th, Sunday 18th, 11am-4pm

Building a Virtual Classroom: An Education Environment for the Internet Generation, was developed through many hours in virtual worlds. Sue’s thesis examines the provision of learning environments that enable people to participate in high-quality learning experiences without physically travelling to classrooms and classes.

New technologies enable the asynchronous web currently based on text, images, and video, to be extended to facilitate multi-channel synchronous communications. There is significant potential to enhance learning using the 3D worlds used for interactive gaming, populated by avatars representing the participants, and chat systems using text and audio channels.

Developing and using 3D web-based learning environments, staff and students conducted their interactions through the virtual space. Results indicate that the 3D web-based environments were well received by the students and show significant potential for the future provision of learning environments. The technology has no negative impact on students’ perception of their learning environment.

Dr Chard’s research suggests directions for the future development and application of 3D webbased technologies to fully enable their potential to be achieved in educational learning environments.

Sue Chard teaches in the Bachelor of Information Technology at Whitireia New Zealand. Publications from her thesis include:

Chard, S. M. (2004a). A 3D learning environment: Building a virtual classroom. Paper presented at the Whitireia Research Symposium.

Chard, S. M. (2004b, July 2004). A 3D world for learning: Building a virtual classroom. Paper presented at the Proceedings of the NACCQ 2004 Post- Graduate Symposium, Christchurch, NZ.

Chard, S. M. (2004c). Building a virtual classroom: The construction process. Paper presented at the Refereed Proceedings Eighth Annual NZACE Conference.

Chard, S. M. (2005, August 2005). Evaluating the learning environment: Students perceptions of the virtual classroom. Paper presented at the Fourth International Conference on Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Victoria, BC, Canada.

Chard, S. M. (2006). Evaluating the virtual learning environment. In D. L. Fisher & M. S. Khine (Eds.), Contemporary approaches to research on learning environments: World views (pp. 603-620). Singapore: World Scientific.

Chard, S. M. (2009). Learning in 3D virtual worlds: Experiences with design. Paper presented at the World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education 2009 Vancouver, Canada.

Chard, S. M. (2010). Experiences of learning in 3D worlds. Paper presented at the Sixth International Conference on Science, Mathematics and Technology Education, Hualien, Taiwan.

The new Kapiti Campus is on Kapiti RD, Paraparaumu.

Almost two years in the making, The Whitireia Kapiti Strategy promised a large, new initiative to deliver the right qualifications to the people of Kapiti. And it is nearly ready. Kicking off in 2012, you’ll be able to see everything on offer in our Info Space in Coastlands Mall from early December 2011.

Alongside high school based courses which take students through all the steps to build a house – and deliver the final product – the new main campus has youth funded (Youth Guarantee) qualifications and general qualifications developed with industry. Fantastic contemporary kitchens will provide aspiring chefs with excellent facilities. Outdoor Adventure qualifications will be based here in 2012. Adventure tourism programmes tap into new niche tourism markets. Business and management, administration and small business related skills are among the options. You can call Customer Service on 0800 944 847 with any questions aboiut courses or pop into Coastlands Mall from 8 December.

The annual literary journal 4th Floor is releasing its 2011 edition along with
an ebook anthology of writing from the first six years of the journal. Both
will be celebrated with a live event on 20 November in Wellington.

4th Floor is the literary journal of Whitireia New Zealand’s writing programme,
and is published online each year. This year, however, some of the writers are
bringing it live to their audience with music, poetry and prose in performance
at The Ballroom Café in Newtown, Wellington on Sunday 20 November.

The event, which begins with an open mic, will feature music by the
publications’ editor, poet and musician Hinemoana Baker, and readings by local
writers James Brown, Adrienne Jansen, Natasha Dennerstein and Rob Hack among
others.

“I’m thrilled to be releasing 4th Floor with this big, busy live event this
year,” says Baker. “The celebration is a great way to bring these
e-publications – which are less tangible than print books – into the writing
community.”

 
Baker has edited the literary journal for four years and says it’s the
diversity she enjoys most about the publication. That diversity was apparent
again when selecting the work for the retrospective anthology and this year’s
edition.

“There’s definitely a lively frisson when these works are gathered together.
Everything from pig-hunting to Elvis Presley. It’s a vibrant and wonderful
mix,” says Baker.

Both 4th Floor and 4th Floor Since ’05 are collaborations between the writing
and publishing programmes at Whitireia New Zealand. All the technical and
production work for the ebook and website is undertaken by Whitireia publishing students
completing their year-long course in book publishing.

4th Floor 2011 is on the Whitireia website. The ebook 4th Floor Since ’05 is available as a free download from 21 November 2011.

Whitireia Fun Day poster.

Here it is, everything on in the Whitireia Fun Day on 29 October 2011: Performing Arts, comedian James Nokise, cake (of course), Wellington band Soul Foundation, lots of free childrens’ activities, sports activities for everyone with Stephen Bachop and lots of other stuff.

Invitation to Sigh After Sigh

Creative Writing tutor Mary Jane Duffy presents new poems with vocalist Lee Hodson and guitarist Jim Perkins at the Lembas Cafe, 34 Poplar Ave, Raumati South on Sunday 30 October at 5.30pm.