Nine To Noon for Tuesday 13 November 2018

 

 

09:05 On-line exam glitch: "I panicked for 20 minutes"

A secondary school principal says the failure of a server which saw potentially thousands of students have an on-line exam interrupted is cause for concern.  Students sitting their first ever digital NCEA level 1 English paper have reported to Nine to Noon they panicked for up to twenty minutes, while their screens froze, before it was clear to them that they could proceed with the exam on-line. Others opted to complete the exam on paper.  Tony Kane, principal of Kapiti College, one of the schools taking part in the pilot programme testing-out digital exams, says this raises questions about how well prepared the qualifications authority is for its plan to make all exams fully digital in by 2020.  3,631 students were registered to take part in the Level 1 English Pilot exam, across 38 schools. NZQA have reassured students they have robust processes in place to ensure that no student is disadvantaged.  Lynn Freeman speaks with Tony Kane,  Kapiti college Year 11 student Hayley Searancke and NZQA's Deputy Chief Executive Digital Assessment Transformation, Andrea Gray.

 

09:20 The Syrian crisis through a child's eyes

'Home' is collection of drawings by Syrian children, curated by prize winning Australian artist Ben Quilty. The drawings are simple but honest accounts of a brutal civil war from the perspective of children, as young as 6 years old. Proceeds from the sale of 'Home' will directly support World Vision's Child Friendly Spaces, early childhood and basic education projects in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. Around half of the 5.6 million Syrians who've fled their country as refugees since 2011, are children.

09:30 Creating what we need, from what we have

Juliet Arnott talks to Lynn Freeman about the Necessary Traditions Festival on in Christchurch, which showcases 40 crafts people who keeping traditional skills alive. Skills such as mandolin making, spoon carving, working with green wood and pin-hole photography. The social enterprise, Rekindle has put together the event to show how undervalued resources can be transformed with a little thought and effort.

09:45 California's deadliest wildfire on record, Trump lays blame

From the US, Washington bureau chief of The Guardian, David Smith reports on the devastation caused by the wildfires sweeping California, with 31 dead and more than 200  people still unaccounted for. President Trump Donald Trump apportioniung blame, tweeting about 'forest management". Also, the midterms aren't quite over with some states still counting ballots and Florida doing a recount, however Democrats and Republicans are now turning their attention to electing leaders in the House of Representatives, with Nancy Pelosi and Kevin McCarthy the favourites. 

10:05 Jill Dodd: Life in a billionaire's harem

Former Parisian model and beachwear designer from Los Angeles Jill Dodd was also a pleasure wife to one of the world's richest men in the 1980s: Adnan Khashoggi, the billionaire Middle Eastern arms dealer - a womanizer with three wives and 11 pleasure wives at his beck and call.  Several inches shorter and twice her age, he reminded Jill of her friend's father.  Jill  appeared in Paris Vogue, Marie Claire, French Cosmopolitan, Olympe, American Glamour, Bazaar, Mademoiselle, and Teen among other glossy magazines. She made a very successful transition from model to fashion designer as the founder and designer of global fashion surfing and sports brand ROXY, which she started under the umbrella of Quicksilver. Jill talks to Lynn Freeman about her years modelling in Paris and with Khashoggi in the early 80s, which she has written about in a new book called The Currency of Love.

10:35 Book review - In the City Of Love's Sleep by Lavinia Greenlaw

Kiran Dass from Timeout bookstore reviews In the City Of Love's Sleep by Lavinia Greenlaw, which is published by Faber.

10:45 The Reading

The Whole Intimate Mess by Holly Walker - Episode 2 of 5 episodes written and read by Holly Walker.

11:05 An insurer in liquidation and electricity skewing

Business commentator Rod Oram looks at the liquidation of CBL Insurance, a claim by small electricity retailers that the big companies are skewing the market, and  Vodafone NZ confirms it will list on the stock market in 2020.

11:30 Stress on the Australia - NZ relationship

Professor Paul Spoonley from Massey University on his impressions of the state of Trans Tasman relations after attending the Metropolis conference on immigration in Sydney.

11:45 Stuff change of ownership on the cards

Media commentator Gavin Ellis on the future of Stuff, with Australian regulatory approval for the Fairfax-Nine Network merger coming through. Will that mean a pruning exercise to get the New Zealand group ready for sale?. And US President Trump has signalled he is moving his attack on truth from media companies to individual journalists, with CNN's Jim Acosta is removed from the White House.

Gavin Ellis is a media commentator and former editor of the New Zealand Herald.  He can be contacted on gavin.ellis@xtra.co.nz

Music played in this show

Artist:   4 Hero
Song: Morning Child
Album: Play with the Changes
Time: 10:45

Artist:  Anchorsong
Song: Ancestors
Album: Cohesion
Time: 11:26