What is Ōtautahi Outreach?

Ōtautahi Outreach is a digital readiness programme for New Entrant to Year 8 classes, designed to help upskill teachers through guided planning, co-delivery in the classroom, and resources to thrive in digital technologies education.

Based in Ōtautahi Christchurch and the Waitaha Canterbury region of Te Waipounamu the South Island, our facilitators work with educators and engage with learners to address strategy, facilitation, and independent delivery of practical and fun ways to weave DT&HM learning across curriculum areas from a uniquely Aotearoa NZ context.

Our aim is to grow capacity, build confidence, and unlock potential for sustainable pathways in digital technologies education within schools, kura, and communities across Ōtautahi Christchurch.

Helping shift learners from users and consumers to creators and innovators of digital technologies!

What is DT&HM and the revised Tech curriculum?

In 2017, the Ministry of Education (MoE) revised the Technology learning area of the National Curriculum ‘in response to this fast-evolving world’ and in order to ‘ensure that all learners have the opportunity to become digitally capable individuals.’

This means that since 2020, all schools and kura are expected to deliver learning outcomes that align with the new curriculum adaptations in Digital Technologies (DT) for English-medium, and Hangarau Matihiko (HM) for Māori-medium.

Here’s a quick look at the revision process, from public consultation to now:

What is digital readiness?

Digital readiness is the ability of schools, teachers, and learners to achieve the objectives put forth in the new DT&HM curriculum.

We’ve designed the Outreach programme to provide a bespoke support system in order to help gauge readiness, identify solutions, and offer practical experience so that teachers are able and excited to deliver fun and effective DT education in the classroom.

Start by connecting with us, then if we’re able to confirm a commitment, we work with you to navigate your situation and help create practical solutions for you to thrive!

What happens in the classroom?

After onboarding with you to form a custom strategy for your classroom, our facilitators will engage in weekly visits with your class to help you run practical DT&HM-based sessions that involve computational thinking, digital design, both unplugged and computerised contexts, a wide range of kit, and themes that draw on all manner of learning areas.

Here are a few of the tools, platforms, and programs we introduce for you to use:

  • Scratch & Scratch Jr

  • Blue-Bots & Bee-Bots

  • Sphero

  • Makey Makey

  • Micro:bit

  • Python

  • Trinket

  • Tinkercad

  • and more!

How long is the programme?

Choose a 1- or 2-term commitment and work with our team to tailor a schedule to your unique situation and aspirations.

Over the course of the programme, our facilitators will guide you to run sessions and hone skills that ensure you and your school will come away with the tools to succeed on your own!

How did the Ōtautahi Outreach pilot Programme do?

Here are a few of the quantifiable results that we achieved with the 2021 pilot programme:

Whakapā mai! Get in Touch

Talk to us, we're here to help! Please feel free to drop us a line with any questions or to express interest in this program for your school or kura.