Breaking Barriers for Business Ākonga
NorthTec | Te Pūkenga has launched a new way for business students to study and engage in their learning. Teaming up with Open Polytechnic, they have developed a range of built-in, face-to-face support wānanga sessions for their online business courses.
“These wānanga sessions are completely optional,” advised Lisette Buckle, NorthTec | Te Pūkenga pathway manager for Business. “However, they will give online students the chance to be on campus, met their fellow students, and get any support they need for their studies.”
Students will enrol through NorthTec for online business papers. Open Polytechnic, another business unit of Te Pūkenga, will be facilitating the online learning portion of the courses while NorthTec will handle the in-person support wānanga.
“Our goal is to foster a supportive environment for online students that allows them to get the most out of their studies, even if they aren’t on campus most of the time. These workshops allow students the ability to have face-to-face contact with support staff and other students.”
The sessions will have different topics and focus each month ranging from; a whakatau to welcome in new students, support-focused sessions, assignment-specific workshops and question/answer sessions, guest speakers from relevant industries, and much more.
“Students can attend as many or as few support wānanga as they would like. If there’s a session that’s particularly relevant to their goals or they need to touch base on an assignment or other area of their work, they can come in for the session. It’s about what works for the individual student and their needs.”
To help break down barriers to in-person study, the sessions will be available on rotating days and times so that students who can’t attend a session due to work or other commitments will have the option of other dates and times throughout the semester. These courses will also be offered across three of NorthTec’s campuses in Whāngarei, Ngāwha, and Kaitaia.
