Desert disconnections: e-learning and remote Indigenous peoples
Desert disconnections: e-learning and remote Indigenous peoples Report
- Author(s): Young, M, Robertson, P, Sawyer, G, Guenther, J
- Published: 2005
- Publisher: Australian Flexible Learning Framework and Desert Knowledge CRC
Abstract: • The desert provides unique challenges for the delivery of post-compulsory education programs for Indigenous peoples. While information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer the potential to transform teaching and learning practices in small, remote Indigenous communities, the rollout of such infrastructure is fraught with a range of problems, including appropriate, reliable and affordable energy supplies, bandwidth and interoperability issues—such as the standardisation of technology services and information formats. These difficulties are further compounded by the range of agencies and other organisations involved across a range of jurisdictions. • ICT use is increasing. However, much of the ICT infrastructure development on remote desert communities is still targeting basic communications needs. Where community access centres or telecentres are in place, they are being championed by Indigenous organisations, including the Indigenous media sector, and for activities which enhance local information flows, knowledge exchange and cultural activities, and provide basic service access like banking. These activities support a threshold of knowledge, skills and ownership which can enhance flexible learning opportunities. However, at present ICT is not being used much for formal education and training. • The lack of appropriate resources, technical support, poor English literacy skills and the range of skills of both trainers and learners in adapting resources or troubleshooting hardware or software problems, limits opportunities to use e-learning in remote Indigenous communities. Ongoing financial support is essential, given the poor capacity to pay for such services in many of these small Indigenous communities. • A key challenge for the vocational education and training (VET) system is to build on the ways in which Indigenous desert peoples are actively embracing ICTs for their own ends and purposes, rather than focusing on using these technologies to distribute predefined and often inappropriate services and resources.