Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that
this video contains images and voices of people who may have passed away.
Kaiala Minyaghu - Welcome to Kombumerri country.
In 2020, a group of Year 10 Digital Technologies students
embarked on a project to bring the Indigenous local heritage of their area to an interactive, digital medium.
They interviewed the traditional custodians, the Kombumerri people,
and learnt about their dreaming stories; their tools, artefacts and language.
This segment provides an example of how to use an Indigenous context within Digital Technologies,
to develop real world applications that make a difference.
So, I've been teaching for 10 years, and I'm a big believer in reflecting on my teaching practice
and when I looked at the AITSL standards every year,
there was one area that I just never seemed to be addressing;
demonstrating broad knowledge of, understanding of, and respect for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and languages.
It was an area that I really wanted to be better at
and have the confidence to feel like I could do it.
I just wasn't really sure how to do it.
Recently I went for a holiday up to Rockhampton with the family, and we visited the cultural centre.
We met a man named Frankie, and Frankie and I started to talk and we
just started talking about our families, and it was really interesting to
hear about his son's coming of age and the rituals around that and his culture,
and he started to reflect on when he was young and he went
through these rituals as well and his memories of his grandfather, Eddie Mabo.
When I came back to school, I was really inspired to do something in this space,
but I wanted it to be a real world project,
something that wasn't just thrown away at assessment time,
something that could actually be used by the community.
When I started my journey, it took a bit of time and a few phone calls before my efforts
led me to a Kombumerri woman, Maddie, who then introduced me to Justine from Ngarang-Wal.
This organisation became our stakeholder.
Finding stakeholders can be challenging, but it definitely is achievable.
Indigenous Australia is made up of hundreds of different nations, and within that there are tribes
and clans and language groups, and within that there are dialects.
So it's important that you do your background research to make sure
you're being respectful of the Traditional Owners who have bloodline connection to the country.
And it's important to find, within those communities, [people] who can speak for the country.
There were three things that I told Steve that we're really important throughout the process.
The process had to be accurate, it had to be respectful, and it had to be appropriate.
In terms of being accurate, the people had to be Traditional Owners of the area,
so in this case, Kombumerri people who could speak for country,
and who could share the knowledge that was required to create the digital platform.
In order for the process to be respectful and culturally appropriate,
Justine and I were consulted with throughout all phases of the project.
We were always asked questions, and given opportunities to provide feedback to the students,
to tweak things to make sure they were as accurate as possible
to our stories, our dreaming, our language and our artefacts.
So when the students are coding the solution,
at different points they'll create a release to share with the stakeholder,
so they can get feedback and make sure that they're still on track.
Throughout the project I facilitate the process
and help students when they're stuck
but for the most part they are working independently.
Working in this way allows us to differentiate across students that may be first time coders,
returning coders, or more advanced.
I'm also the central point of contact between the students and the stakeholder,
usually over email to provide clarity and student safety.
What was great about this assessment is that compared to others, once you've finished it's gone
you know, you've got your mark you've moved on, but with this one
it's going to remain in the community for a while, which I think it's great.
It's great to know that this app is available to all schools in Queensland
so students can develop upon it and have the same great experience that I did.
Seeing the students respectfully and meaningfully engage with
Kombumerri perspectives - that was really special to me.
They were so respectful and I felt like they knew that what they were
doing was significant, and held such a meaningful place in the hearts of
our community that they had to get it right - and they did.
The other thing that I really took away from the project, was the connections formed.
When the Kombumerri Experience was launched at Preece House, Nerang,
there were students, parents, staff, Kombumerri people, non-Indigenous people,
all together in this one space to launch this amazing platform and celebrate it,
and to me, that was really special, creating those community connections.
So when we were planning the application, we decided on a modular design,
that way it can continue to be developed by new students without knowing the existing base.
They can just work on a new module and add it. So it can be done the following year,
it could be done by other schools.
It's really becomes a community project that gets shared around.
Even though we specifically developed this for the Kombumerri people,
what we've done is we've developed a base that can repurposed
for other First Nations people.
In fact, we're currently working on a version for the Kuku Yalanji people of North Queensland.
So, first steps:
Get in touch with your regional office and ask them to put you in touch
with the Traditional Owners of your location.
Once you have a contact, make some time to have a yarn about what you'd like to achieve with your project,
and seek their approval about being involved.
Frequent consultation and collaboration are the keys.
So check in regularly to ensure work is accurate, respectful and appropriate.
Then be guided by the Australian Curriculum for your subject area
to develop your collaborative project and consider using a problem-solving process
as a framework for iterative improvement.
As Digital Technologies teachers, our primary focus is on our core objectives,
which is coding and the curriculum.
So when you add in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives,
it can sometimes feel like it's an add-on that may even detract from the core.
The interesting thing going through this project though,
is that I found that it was the exact opposite.
It really was the catalyst for the kids to have that autonomy
to interact with the community, interact with the local Indigenous people
and they really took ownership of the app
and that drove them to achieve the coding and to be able to do all those core concepts
that would allow them to achieve the result.
So my journey may have started by trying to fulfil one of the AITSL standards,
but it's become so much more than that now.
I've made connections to the community, which I've been able to bring into the classroom.
We've been able to see stories from the local area
and it's really been a motivator for the students to achieve those core objectives that we want to in the class
and beyond that, I'm even able to share it with other schools so they can have that experience as well.