Ōtautahi teachers 'gatebreak' digital tech success

The Burnside High School digital technologies department. Steven Rodkiss, Katana Dunn, Steve Dunford, Toni Maddaford, William Thew, John Creighton and Samuel O’Sullivan. Absent: Carol Veatupu.

An adage quote tells us that if you give someone a fish, you feed them for the day, but if you teach them to fish, they are fed for a lifetime.

A group of teachers from Burnside High have taken this to heart in their aim to make the digital technologies they teach available to all teachers and students across the country.

The result is Techquity; a comprehensive online resource teaching full programmes for all Year 9 and Year 10 digital technology and electronics courses. There are also courses for some Year 11–13 subjects including computer science and programming, electronics and product design.

The website is entirely free to use and totally accessible; made by teachers for teachers.

Diverse teaching needs

Head of department for technology, John Creighton, says the resource has been designed to support both tech-specific teachers and those teachers who find themselves leading a subject outside their area of specialisation.

“This was the driving force behind it; that it could be accessed anywhere by anyone at any time.”

Burnside High School has a strong technology department. On a team of 21 teachers, there’s a software engineer, a graphic designer, a web designer, an electronic engineer, a network engineer and a games developer, all sharing these skills in a teaching capacity.

Putting their brains together, they began to craft the online resource to distribute content aimed to better their students.

“For example, if the student was away, they could still access the learning from home. If they were working fast, they could move into the next topic or another area of interest. Or they could learn the subject at their own pace,” says John.

The Burnside teachers saw the potential of the resource and decided to officially turn it into an online textbook with resources, assessment tasks, exercises and supportive videos.

“Absolutely anyone can pick up the resource and teach it, even if they’re a maths or science teacher that’s been tapped on the shoulder to help for the day. If a school doesn’t have a digital technology teacher, there’s still that option for the students who want to study the subject.”

The Burnside High School digital technologies department won the Supreme Award at the University of Canterbury Technology Conference for their work on Techquity.

Collective effort

The resource was a team effort created in conjunction with the Digital Technologies Teachers Aotearoa subject association with NEX funding. Computer scientist and Canterbury University professor Tim Bell also contributed advice and resources. 

“Techquity is just the tip of the iceberg. Underneath are all the incredible people who helped create it,” says John.

Techquity was made on an open-source Google platform.

“Its design works as drag and drop so no hardcore HTML and CSS wizardry is going on behind the scenes, rather it’s a simple way we can upload and change content relatively easily.”

It just took “five unbelievably passionate teachers who put hours and hours of their time into getting the system up and running.”

The team went through several iterations of the resource; the first worked for Burnside students and the next versions were created to work for other schools.

Teachers across the motu have been using the resource in its entirety or incorporating it into their own school programmes.

“People can’t believe the generosity of the teachers and the hours they’ve put in to create this resource,” says John.

Built for the future

John says the end goal is for every student in Aotearoa New Zealand to have access to quality technology programmes.

Supreme Award at the University of Canterbury Technology Conference

“We want there to be programmes that will enable students to carry on with their career in digital technologies or in a career that uses digital technologies – which is almost everything.”

He hopes that Techquity will be able to help students go beyond learning basic digital technology skills, branching out into computer science, electronic concepts and programming fundamentals, even at an early age.

John’s number one tip for schools wanting to create their own subject courses in a similar format to Techquity is, “Find the right group of people that really want to get something out there.”

The second bit of advice is to touch base with the supporting communities; universities, polytechnics, and the subject association. This is to make sure the information is accurate and relevant.

“Get lots and lots of feedback and then take that feedback on board. Don’t be afraid to be told that you haven’t got it right and that you need to make a change. Back yourself and back your resource.”

To find out more, visit techquity.co.nz(external link)