Kia ora, He waka eke noa We are all in this together With the end of 2023 fast approaching and Term 4 well and truly underway we wanted to take this opportunity to spotlight two exciting intiatives led by our peers, Wilj Dekkers and Grow Waitaha. The Smart City Community Engagement and Education Programme, created and facilitated by Wilj Dekkers allowed the GCSN the opportunity to support an exciting, innovative project about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to education in our city. We also continue to support the Grow Waitaha DigiAwards and wanted to take this chance to extend our gratitude for this exciting opportunity available to ākonga across Ōtautahi. Stay in the loop about these and exciting future opportunities on Twitter, Facebook or via the GCSN website.
Noho ora mai rā,
The GCSN Team
Smart City Community Engagement and Education Programme
The Smart City Community Engagement and Education Programme, created and facilitated by Wilj Dekkers and supported by GCSN aimed to foster a greater understanding of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals among ākonga across various Ōtautahi schools. It sought to bridge the gap between global sustainability initiatives and the local context of Ōtautahi, aligning these goals with the Christchurch Council's Smart City draft plan.
Students worked directly with Wilj to explore the Sustainable Development Goals and think about how they apply to their lives before collaboratively designing and creating their solutions in a purpose-build Minecraft Education world, allowing them to apply their knowledge in practical ways. The primary objective of the project was to empower ākonga from diverse Ōtautahi schools with a comprehensive understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals and their relevance to local contexts. The programme ended with a live event at the 2023 Innovation Expo at Te Pae in the form of a collaborative Minecraft Education build challenge. During the two day event, classes and teams also participated in a large number of interactive sessions with experts in the field of city design, and innovative technological approaches to climate change, transportation challenges and game design.
Grow Waitaha DigiAwards 2023
GCSN is proud to be one of the 2023 DigiAwards sponsors, providing awards (as shown below) and also participating as one of the judges. Organised and facilitated by Grow Waitaha, the DigiAwards provide a chance for tamariki to unleash and celebrate their digital creativity. It is a competition that empowers primary and intermediate ākonga from across Canterbury to design, develop and showcase creative digital projects. The theme for the 2023 competition was the following whakatauki from the Refreshed New Zealand Curriculum:
Ko pohewa, ko auaha ngā ara ki ao hou
Creativity and imagination transport us to new worlds
Tickets are now available for those of you interested in attending the DigiAwards Celebration awards night on Thursday 23 November. The overall winning team will be lucky enough to win the digital storytelling kit below, sponsored by the GCSN. A message from Gabrielle Wall (GCSN General Manager): "I was super impressed as a judge at the high quality of the entries."
