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Experiencing Indigenous Knowledge Online as a Community Narrative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2012

Cat Kutay*
Affiliation:
Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Australia
Janet Mooney
Affiliation:
Koori Centre, University of Sydney, Australia
Lynette Riley
Affiliation:
Koori Centre, University of Sydney, Australia
Deirdre Howard-Wagner
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Cat Kutay, School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, NSW 2052, Australia. Email: ckutay@cse.unsw.edu.au
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Abstract

This article explores a project at the Koori Centre, University of Sydney, funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) in 2011, titled ‘Indigenous On-Line Cultural Teaching and Sharing’. One of the team members (Kutay) was also a project team member on the ALTC-funded project ‘Exploring PBL in Indigenous Australian Studies’, which has developed a teaching and learning process (PEARL) for Indigenous Australian studies. In this article, we present the ‘Indigenous On-Line Cultural Teaching and Sharing’ project as an exemplar of this teaching process. The project turns a highly successful interactive kinship workshop into an interactive online experience for all students and staff of the University of Sydney. The project is developing a sharing portal for Aboriginal people in New South Wales (NSW) to incorporate their stories and experiences of cultural, historical and educational issues within a knowledge-sharing workshop. The site will use voices of Aboriginal participants to express the knowledge of their culture in a comparative and affirmative context. An interface for uploading audio and video has been generated to combine example stories from different perspectives. The interactive kinship workshop and Aboriginal voices will then be used in an online game, embedding Aboriginal knowledge and values within different professional learning contexts, such as law, social policy, health, and education.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2012

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