Virtual Learning Network

2012 has seen a dramatic increase in secondary schools throughout the country receiving
courses in Adobe Connect. 9 new schools have enrolled students in SILC
(Southland Interactive Learning Communities- which involves 11 Southland
secondary schools) run Adobe Connect courses. In fact classes were
oversubscribed at the beginning of the year and 50 odd students were
reluctantly turned away.

The most popular subjects have proven to be: Mathematics, Agriculture, Spanish, NZ
History, Japanese and junior French.

Despitesome initial issues regarding setup - lessons have gone extremely well. The
concerns experienced related to finding suitable locations, particularly when
VC rooms were being used. Schools that did not have a second polycom, had to
arrange a speaker phone which in some cases did take some time.

Already we have had students logging into lessons from home when they were unwell or
not at school for a particular reason eg teacher only days. A teacher was able
to deliver classes while on camp. Lessons have been recorded for students who
have had the occasional cause to miss a lesson due to school commitments.

The students have responded extremely well and there has been very few withdrawing
from lessons. 

Southland teachers are doing an excellent job delivering their respective courses and using the software features that best suit their teaching styles.  The flexibility of Adobe Connect allows for a range of teaching methods to be available.

While the upgrade to Adobe Connect has been postponed, resources are avaible for the current version are available at