Welcome
I am beyond proud that our team has had the opportunity to produce another resource connecting community, Country and technology. This work is such a personal passion of mine, because I have always felt so connected to it and am delighted to see how that passion has spread across our team to ensure its continued growth and authenticity. Technology plays a very important role in the future of all students in NSW DoE schools but has the direct ability to empower our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students by providing them with the opportunity to access, grow and engage in their learning. Technology can capture languages and stories that our elders are passing onto our students in multi-modal and digital ways that will continue to stand the test of time.
I’d like to acknowledge that this magazine has been produced and collaborated on, across many lands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in New South Wales. As I write this on Gadigal Country, I’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the elders of all those lands, past, present and emerging and acknowledge with that, my fellow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander colleagues who contributed to and are viewing this resource.
Phillips Rel. Principal Education Officer - Technology 4 Learning
T4L Kids Issue 18
This term’s student edition explores many of the same concepts found in this resource. The activities in T4L Kids gets students creating and exploring concepts of community and culture by linking them with the technology they use every day in the classroom and at home. Read it now
About magazine.T4L
This magazine is produced by Technology 4 Learning (T4L) at the Information Technology Directorate with the NSW Department of Education. This magazine is created on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation.
Aimee
Artwork by S RobertsHickling
8 Ways of Aboriginal learning
8 Ways is a NSW Education initiative, with eight simple pedagogies to guide frameworks for Aboriginal learning in NSW public schools. We explore some below with the team.
Meet Hayley Brown - Aboriginal Education –Strategic Delivery Officer
I’m a proud Yuin and Gunai-Kurnai woman.
I was born on Country at Moruya but I have a strong connection to the La Perouse Aboriginal community.
Story sharing in and out of
the classroom
Coming from an Aboriginal household, everything was done in story sharing. Having those intimate yarns at home about how we’re going to do something or discuss a process, that’s how my knowledge has been passed down. It’s an initial conversation starter. That’s the way our kids can learn. Everything is around story, it’s where a lot of our learning comes from. In school, Crunch and Sip was a great way to start the day and start the yarn.
Learning maps
We also looked at learning maps and I used them every day. I had a lot of students that visually needed to see where they were going each day. They could learn at the learning map on the board on each day. I also included Land Links – especially for instance if we were going to do a maths lesson outside.
Meet Hayley Saunders - Aboriginal Education –Strategic Delivery Advisor
I’m a Gamilaroi woman from north-west NSW, what is now known as the Liverpool Plains. I’m from freshwater country originally but now a guest on saltwater country on the northern beaches of Sydney.
We work and study in a Western system, which isn’t structured with Aboriginal people in mind. As an Aboriginal educator, we are at the interface of bringing ancient knowledge systems and Western knowledge systems together in our classrooms and school environments.
To learn more about 8 Ways, head here.
Embedding tech into your Aboriginal learning and pedagogy
Learning about our Aboriginal histories, cultures, stories and traditions can go hand in hand with digital tools and technology to support your learning.
By Aimee Phillips
Learn
Take time to learn about the lands on which you teach and learn on. It’s important to learn about the Aboriginal Country you are on and what language or languages are spoken. Learn how to pronounce the names of each nation and language. Take yourself out to explore, do a cultural tour, take a nature walk or plan for a trip to any significant natural or cultural site. I recommend you take your iPad or iPhone, or a device you can use to capture any images, words, thoughts and feelings you might have on this exploration. These can always be then placed on a whiteboarding tool such as MS Whiteboard or Canva Whiteboard and begin to build the foundation of learning about your local area and the Aboriginal people.
Explore your local Aboriginal Country.
Connect
It is essential to connect with your local Aboriginal community and within NSW public schools the best way to start this connection is through your Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG). The NSW AECG website has a great range of contacts and resources and even have their own Apps including one for languages. It’s a great idea to connect with any community groups where appropriate, but in any case your local AECG can direct you with the best ways forward when connecting with community and Elders.
Connect with your local AECG.
Listen
Take time to listen to the Elders and community. Their stories and cultural knowledge are simply invaluable. Many schools I’ve worked with have developed some wonderful community projects to capture these stories or Languages, including creating podcasts and audio dictionaries. Some schools have even turned this into a local language podcast! Our first languages are disappearing at a rapid rate, and in utilising tech, we can ensure we can listen and learn from these for many generations to come. Remember to seek advice from your local AECG and ensure you have the appropriate permissions for recording.
Try our podcasting kit.
Acknowledge
Writing and creating your own personalised Acknowledgement of Country for yourself, your class or school is empowering. This process can be built from your work and experiences weaved in the previous work, but it is exceptionally important to ensure you develop an Acknowledgement that doesn’t break the essential mould of what this protocol is for, but weaves in your own connection to the land, people, culture and stories. As an Aboriginal person, I personally have a deep respect for my colleagues that take time to do this, as it is personal, honest and genuine. Technology can again support you in doing this. Build from your MS Whiteboard or Canva Whiteboard and use our Connecting to Community T4L magazines to help you write and create.
Watch this Acknowledgement in AUSLAN.
Create
I have had opportunities to work with many schools on projects that highlight the nexus of Aboriginal education and technology at its very best. Work with your local AECG and the NSW DoE’s Aboriginal Education teams to build and create resources that support your contextual needs for students and/or teaching and learning programs and then create! One of the highlights I’ve seen in this space has been through the use of CoSpaces (which includes coding and VR elements where applicable) to create an Aboriginal language dictionary. Technology is an enabler. It provides access and engagement, but also has that powerful ability to capture, sustain, improve and support our Aboriginal students, as well as ensuring knowledge sharing for all students and teachers across Aboriginal history, cultures and community.
Turn over for great school stories.
Connecting with Country
Cabbage Tree Island Public School Bundjalung Country
Building and celebrating community connections with a digital approach
Meet Mikaela Cashin from Cabbage Tree Island Public School, a small school in the Lismore region/area with 40 Aboriginal students and a staff of 10. Aunties and Uncles in the community play a huge role in the school, and are employed in active roles as School Learning Support Officer (SLSOs), Aboriginal Education Officer (AEOs), and in the leadership team. The digital revolution is alive and well at Cabbage Tree Island Public School, and technology is integrated in all aspects of teaching and learning.
Voice, language, story and culture through tech
The school hosts community event days where the community can see the success of students in the classroom firsthand. One of the main areas of focus in the initiative was to incorporate cultural history, stories, saving voice and language and values of the community. This was achieved by hosting community event days, where families, Aunties, Uncles and Elders could see the success of the students in the classroom firsthand.
They used MLDs to create PowerPoint presentations to display what is being taught in the class, including photos and videos of the students on their learning journey.
Students shared their stories and learning about culture through the tech supported programs, such as creating self-portraits using Canva and Google Drawings in their art classes.
Students are now collecting language and building an audio dictionary using QR codes around the school.
Outcomes
From the community event days parents and friends could see the shift in each students’ connection with tech, from being glued to screens in their downtime to using tech as an effective learning tool. Not only has the school lifted its visibility in the community, the digital approach has created engagement and excitement for students who can see their work come to life.
Learn more
Take the time to watch Mikaela’s presentation and hear more on how much joy this program gave to students and inspired the community.
Bermagui Public School Yuin
Country
Creating a digital dictionary and harnessing culture and connections
Meet Tom McLean from Bermagui Public School on the south coast of NSW, home to Yuin people. Together with the community, the school has been building a digital resource to preserve and celebrate one of the languages of the Yuin people - Dhurga. The school has a 25% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population and teachers and students have created a wealth of digital resources in language. Bringing the traditional language of the land back into being spoken, shared and appreciated by the community continues to be a special way to connect digital innovation with students and community.
Growing Yuin Languages
This incredible initiative is a bank of resources for the community which has been a collaboration been the school community elders and the wider community including the Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Council, the Red Cross and the Bega Valley Shire Council.
This website is a bank of resources created in the Dhurga language, which have since been brought into the classroom in different ways.
This collaboration shares a huge range of resources and experiences that can be used as a template to remix for other schools.
Outcomes
This unique project guided by the Yuin community and Elders has enabled a sustainable resource to be developed to preserve the Yuin language for students and teachers to learn from, but also to ensure it can be continued for many generations to come.
Learn more
Hear from Tom about how the collaboration between Bermagui Public School and the community worked to build this incredible online resource.
Bardia Public School Dharawal Country
Strengthening community through art
Bardia Public School on Dharawal Country has been on a journey over the last couple of years to create an Aboriginal artwork that connects the school and the community. The result was a truly collaborative effort. Aboriginal Education Lead and Special Education teacher, Rachel Dutton at Bardia Public School, stepped us through the incredible process.
Q How did the idea to create a digital artwork representing Bardia come about?
AThe digital artwork and email signature stems from our collaboration with our Deadly Buraay (‘buraay’ is the Dharawal word for ‘child’) students and their kin and mob. Over the last eighteen months, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community have yarned, shared a vision and created a mural that tells a story of Bardia Public School connection to the Dharawal bushland, the Georges River and the rising sun. The digital artwork takes the story of our mural and uses the same symbolism to represent our wider community in our school colours of yellow and blue.
Q Who made the artwork?
AOur Deadly Buraay students, their families, wider kin and mob and staff on our Aboriginal education committee met with Michael Fardon, a local Dharawal Aboriginal artist, to yarn about symbols and what aspects of our surrounding bushland and river systems connected us. We learnt what animal was the totem to the Dharawal land surrounding our school and shared why it was important to recognise the rising sun as a nod to our military history and our current school emblem. This was shared with our local AECG and further endorsement sought to allow us to digitally create a new optional uniform shirt design.
Community consult - mural and Yarn Aug 2023
End 2022 process began
Deadly Buraay student groupNov 2023
Yarn and Tucker Dec 2023
Term 4 2023 every Wed for 6 weeks - painting the mural with our Deadly Buraay students
Yarn and Tucker Feb 2024
Proposed unveiling April/ May 2024
AECG - request for endorsement March 2024
Q How was it created?
A We have been lucky to have Michael Fardon guide and support our creative design work. He has been able to digitally design all artwork before transferring it onto wood for the students to paint. He also worked with us to transform this design into our digital signature, our digital welcome boards at the front of the school and our upcoming uniform shirts.
Q What story does it tell?
AThe blue river snakes around each panel encompassing community and land. The river is the Georges River that runs through Dharawal Country and is linked by schools of fish throughout the panels. The waratah is a significant symbol to many different mobs including the Dharawal people. The background includes animal tracks and represents both our urban and bushland environment. The handprints have been individually placed on the artwork by our own Bardia Public School Aboriginal students, linking in personal identity. Each of the five yellow and green meeting place symbols represent the original Mobs on Country here at Bardia. This element is symbolic of the traditional owners of the land Bardia Public School is built on. The surrounding smaller yellow and red concentric circles are our Aboriginal community families, while the grey and black represent how our community are connected together through Bardia Public School. The rising sun is an important element to recognise Bardia’s military history and what is currently represented through our school emblem. The lyrebird is the Dharawal totem for the Campbelltown people. Lastly, the larger concentric circle represents Bardia Public School, the staff and students.
Q What advice do you have for other schools keen to create an Indigenous artwork or utilise one that already exists to incorporate into school?
ASeek authentic consultation through your local AECG. The AECG will be able to connect schools to Elders, knowledge holders and artists that can guide you through conversations on how to connect to community and tell your own Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander story.
