In this literature review, the authors examined three key areas that were chosen as relevant to the challenges faced by small rural schools, and collaborative practice between schools working in virtual learning environments in New Zealand. The first area was rural education, where definitions of rurality and the demographics and characteristics of small rural New Zealand schools were described, and the challenges and innovations in rural school setting were explored. The second area was collaborative practice, where features of effective collaboration were discussed as is the professional practice and theory that underpins collaboration across school networks. Finally, the third area was virtual learning, which was defined and described, along with the benefits and challenges of learning in virtual environments, and the growth of networked learning communities in New Zealand was chronicled. A comprehensive scope of the current New Zealand education landscape was included to provide the context in which this review resides.

中文翻译：

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新西兰农村小学的合作与虚拟学习：文献综述

在这篇文献综述中，作者研究了三个关键领域，它们被选为与小型农村学校所面临的挑战以及在新西兰虚拟学习环境中工作的学校之间的协作实践相关的领域。第一个领域是农村教育，其中描述了农村的定义以及新西兰小型农村学校的人口统计学和特征，并探讨了农村学校环境中的挑战和创新。第二个领域是协作实践，其中讨论了有效协作的特征以及支撑整个学校网络协作的专业实践和理论。最后，第三个领域是虚拟学习，定义和描述了虚拟学习，以及在虚拟环境中学习的好处和挑战，并记录了新西兰网络学习社区的增长。包括了当前新西兰教育前景的全面范围，以提供本次审查的背景。