David Bell at Mahara Hui in Wellington on 19 March 2014 https://maharahui.org.nz/course/view.php?id=2

1. mahara hui
March 2014, Wellington
Putting the WOW! Factor into Theological Education

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Open Badges
Display in Mozilla Backpack, Linked-in and in your mahara
e-portfolio. Trinity College open badges are verified
certificates. New LiMS courses in online ministry resourcing
using open badges. NZQA and LiMS credits are in your
transcripts.
Tcolnow
Virtual learning connexion, for lay educational resourcing,
with a sharp focus on real-time video classrooms around
NZ. Field trips, empowering full-time students with new
perspectives on Te Taha Maori. Coursera participation
encouraged.
Mahara
Alumni, e-portfolio, forums, HUB, individual learning
plans, journals, pages, personal profile, career professional
development, qualifications, resumè, secure social
networking, study groups, Touchstone news-feeds.

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We need to unrelentingly focus on raising achievement of
Māori and Pasifika students. By 2030 thirty per cent of New
Zealanders will be Māori or Pasifika, and as such it is essential
that tertiary education improves its delivery to these groups.
Steven Joyce, 5 March, 2014, Speech to the Higher Education Summit
Mangungu, site of the Wesleyan Mission Station. Here the Treaty of Waitangi was signed by some 70 chiefs a week after 40 signed at Waitangi

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O
NE of the most
significant lessons
I have learnt in the
last six years, is that
commitment to the bicultural principles
of the church can result in bursts of
unexpected creativity which develop
strong community insights in College.
Equally, when those principles are
ignored decay can creep in.
One of the dangers in working in a
Methodist Connexional role is that the
sheer volume of work in many different
spheres of church life can result in a loss of
vision, blotted out by the myriad of details.
It happens to most of us, and needs to be
guarded against. What I have often done is
take the time to listen and reflect upon the
vision of Te Taha Maori.
In point of fact, I know that Trinity
College’s most creative learning projects
owe their origin to the educational
aspirations for Maori and Pasifika
articulated by their leaders. Retreat from
that? No.
Here is an example. The latest
government strategy for tertiary
education in New Zealand requires
institutions like Trinity to demonstrate,
among other things, skills based training
appropriate to employment outcomes,
and increasing Maori and Pasifika
participation rates, with quality learning
outcomes.
This government directive is of prime
importance. The cost of not meeting these
strategic aims would inevitably mean
loss of government funding to the College
via Studylink, which would severely
disadvantage some students. Since its
inception, Trinity College has always
accepted accountability beyond the
church. And, with good reason: the wider
vision of the church requires it - stay
relevant, or fade away.
Through its bicultural commitment,
Te Taha Maori has ensured that the
College can creatively deliver high quality
programmes for all. The result? An
unexpected but very welcome renewal
for the College. I wonder whether other
Connexional leaders could share similar
insights for students.
Meantime, future-proofing the College
has been top priority since 2009. The
College exists for the sake of its students
and their future ministries. The church,
as never before, needs future-proofed
leaders, in the emergence of a new faith
for today.
Rev Dr David Bell notes that lay empowerment, a cornerstone of Te Taha Maori policy, helps future-proof the College.
Response

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Coursera and tcol-mahara
Studying online with students from all round the world in MOOC has
been an amazing and very worthwhile adventure into another way
of studying…Overall I found Coursea e-learning very easy to manage. It
was very basic compared to Trinity College: tcol provides the student
with many more tools to save, produce, present and share their work.
Dorothy Willis

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Mahara enables 2014…learning without limits
Hope and belonging is integral to the survival of humankind.
Metaphorically-speaking, churches must bear the marks and scars,
as well as the faith, hopes and vision of the people it is intended to serve.
A sanctuary of belonging will bear testimony to the people who have
passed through from one generation to the next, and this will serve to
encourage and inspire the enhancement of the local church.
Shadrack David