Toolbox strengthens awareness of Indigenous culture

23/06/2009

Did you know that in my culture to stare in your eyes is disrespectful?

This is one of the messages given to teachers in South Australia as part of the roll-out of the Interactive Ochre Flexible Learning Toolbox (Toolbox), designed to train secondary and primary school teachers about contemporary Indigenous cultural awareness issues.

Facilitated through the Department of Education and Children's Services, the program sought to provide training to teachers in schools with smaller numbers of Indigenous learners, where formal Indigenous training programs were not seen as economically viable.

By using an e-learning solution, the Department was able to engage with more than 70 teachers and encourage schools to download the Interactive Ochre Toolbox on to their school server, to allow them access to the learning material at any time. They complemented this with training and development sessions so that the teachers could pass their knowledge on to staff within their school.

Developed with funding and support from the national training system's e-learning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework), the Interactive Ochre Toolbox is a high quality, cost effective e-learning and assessment resource which provides an efficient training option.

Learners access real-life problem solving scenarios in a virtual environment, and the Toolbox is supported by case studies and learner activities.

Furthermore, at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Interactive Ochre Toolbox provided a professional development opportunity that otherwise may not have been available to staff.

"It isn't economically viable to bring all the speakers included in the Toolbox together in one place to provide training for our staff," said Mary Wagner, Staff Development Consultant at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

"Instead, the Toolbox allowed staff to hear first-hand from Indigenous Australians about the historical and current issues which have affected their people. Staff engaged with this type of learning, and we plan to continue to roll out the Toolbox to our administration and nursing staff, and others."

There are seven additional Toolboxes which are designed to provide training for Indigenous learners, or for the wider population, about aspects of Indigenous culture. They are:

• Help from Within - advice and information from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members as well as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health practitioners working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
  
  
• Deadly Jam Music Festival - designed for Indigenous learners, covering competencies relevant to Certificates II, III and IV in Music. Learning experiences cover a range of topics including forming a band, getting a gig, negotiating deals and planning sound systems.
  
  
• Building Skills - designed for apprentices and pre-apprentices in the building and construction industry. Building Skills uses the scenario of building a bush kitchen to introduce learners to basic building skills including concreting, levelling, installing doors and measurements.
  
  
• Cultural Resource Management - supports competencies from the Conservation and Land Management Training Package in the area of Cultural Resource Management. The Toolbox uses simulated Indigenous cultural heritage sites and tasks to allow Indigenous learners to expand on their hands-on learning in this area.
  
  
• Horticulture for Indigenous Learners - provides realistic workplace scenarios and problems for Indigenous students studying selected units of competency at the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) levels 1 and 2. The Toolbox is set within a fictional horticultural setting that includes a garden area, meeting place, nursery, machinery shed, and lunchroom.
  
  
• Learning about Native Title - focuses on the native title claimant application process. It is designed for Indigenous learners and employees of local government, native title representative bodies, or other government and non-government agencies involved in native title matters. The Toolbox provides a reference resource for a range of competencies in the Local Government Training Package and the Rural Land Management Training Package.
  
  
• Indigenous Ecotourism - covers a number of units of competency from the Tourism Training Package, including environmental impact; culture and cultural considerations; economic and social issues; health, safety and security; the tourism sector; and developing an ecotourism plan and trialling the venture.

All of the Framework's Toolboxes are available for preview and purchase from the Toolbox website. Individual learning objects from the Toolboxes can be accessed via the Framework's Toolbox Repository. Toolbox Champions operate in all states and territories, assisting registered training organisations, business and industry to successfully implement and customise Toolboxes in their organisations.

For more information visit:

http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/toolboxes