Classroom 2000 - C2k

C2k is a 10-year government-funded project set up to implement and manage one of the largest online education systems in the world. It is funded by the Department of Education, under the auspices of the Western Education and Library Board. C2k provides the technology infrastructure, software and online access to resources to meet the aims of the Education Technology Strategy for Northern Ireland.

The project delivers a managed ICT service to schools in Northern Ireland. The service includes local networks of computers in all schools, connected by broadband to a wide area Northern Ireland network. This infrastructure provides world-class educational content, applications and management information software to support some 400,000 users. Streaming video, high speed video conferencing and a sophisticated online managed learning environment will cater for the educational needs of teachers and pupils and facilitate the online delivery of the Northern Ireland curriculum, all as an integrated, supported package.

The new C2k education network is:

• helping teachers work together to develop joint learning programmes with other teachers in Northern Ireland and throughout the world, exchange information with each other, easily gain access to education experts and improve communication with parents and the community;
• enabling schools, libraries and local communities to collaborate on developing learning programmes;
• providing pupils with opportunities to develop the skills needed for work and leisure in our fast-changing society;
• offering different ways of communicating to pupils and teachers, such as email and online discussion, to complement face-to-face classroom interaction;
• saving teachers time by providing integrated online management information systems;
• enabling young people in Northern Ireland from primary school to have an Internet address and to access virtual classrooms throughout his/her schooldays;
• providing a wide range of top class digital resources for both teachers and pupils across Northern Ireland. This is of particular benefit to schools with limited resources;
• making it easier for children to access learning resources inside and outside the school environment. This access to learning is particularly helpful to pupils unable to attend school because of illness, severe weather conditions or prolonged absence; and
• providing access to online content that can help parents support homework studies.

Schools in Northern Ireland, with the assistance of C2k are using the C2k services to:

• provide online support for the delivery of the curriculum through virtual learning environments;
• produce sophisticated digital video productions;
• make use of high quality, commercially produced software and applications accessible from their C2k networks;
• use text and video conferencing to enable pupils and teachers to collaborate with pupils and teachers in schools in South Africa, Sri Lanka, USA and Ireland on agreed topics; and
• receive staff development through online courses made available by C2k in partnership with the Regional Training Unit, Higher Education institutes and the Northern Ireland CASS service.

The Director of C2k is Mr Jimmy Stewart.

To find out more about C2k visit their web site at http://www.c2kni.org.uk