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Indigenous inclusion still a dream: professor
PVC of Indigenous leadership says improvements to date fall short of comprehensive system.
Progress has been made regarding the inclusion of Indigenous Australians and culture but universities still have plenty of work to do in adopting a whole-of-institution approach, a leading academic says.
Speaking to Campus Review at the recent
MOOCs: a‘ social obligation’ for unis
Marnie Hughes-Warrington
Universities Australia 2015 conference in Canberra, Charles Darwin University pro vice-chancellor of Indigenous leadership professor Steven Larkin said approaches now in place worked“ better for non-Indigenous people”.
“ I guess what we’ re saying is that we want a system that is inclusive, that takes account of Indigenous standpoints and perspectives, and cultural differences,” he said.“ Not something to be necessarily stigmatised, or to be spoken of on deficit terms, but as an active contributing factor
Deputy VC says the online courses provide diverse pathways and opportunities to reach many students.
MOOCs are a great opportunity to diversify the delivery of education and knowledge, rather than a threat to the future of traditional academia, an expert has argued.
Also speaking to Campus Review at the recent Universities Australia 2015 conference, Australian National University deputy vice-chancellor academic professor Marnie Hughes-Warrington said the platform was proving to be not only a boon for non-enrolled students interested in specific knowledge areas but also a pathway to broader studies.
“ Typically when we talk about pathways we talk about students who have a deficit of learning – they don’ t have enough English, or they don’ t have a high enough ATAR,” she said.“[ Then ] there’ s another group of students out there who in a way are jumping over the top of the curriculum. They may be frustrated that they’ re not getting the to how we might do things differently for the betterment of the future.
“ The whole-of-university approach I’ ve outlined is consistent with what we already have, just that it’ s more culturally inclusive.”
Larkin said Australia had socialised its population not to have to consider or engage with Indigenous cultures and knowledge“ as part of being Australian”.
“ We know from things like the 2007 social survey run by the ABS that 94 per cent of non-Indigenous Australians had little or no contact with Indigenous Australians, so if that’ s the mindset we’ re bringing into universities and their workforce, we’ ve got some work to do,” he said.“[ As a sector ], we say in our corporate strategic plans and other documents that we want to go towards a future where the university is accessible by Indigenous Australians, that they do well there, and they complete their degrees and we develop this new form of citizenry and leadership.
“[ But ] if you don’ t do this training, we’ re going to go in the opposite direction of those aims – we’ re going to go in a different trajectory, and that’ s the one we’ re on now, which has been no change.” n
opportunities to accelerate their learning.
“ MOOCs are a great way of building pathways for those students and frankly we need to build those pathways … to get behind students and the teachers to support excited learners who want to selfaccelerate and build their own pathways to university. We actually have a social obligation to help build those pathways.”
Hughes-Warrington said HSC-level students were also increasingly using MOOCs to expand their studies and get a head start – including advance credits – on future university courses.
The other great advantage, she added, was that MOOCs can be taken live or sourced online in the student’ s own time, building greater flexibility into the system for those who preferred to take their time and think information through in further detail before moving on to the next unit.
“ We may worry and wring our hands about whether our lecture theatres are empty or not,” Hughes-Warrington said.“ But frankly, in my own institution, I have to say people are excited because they realise they can deliver on their dream of reaching as many learners as they possibly can and helping them.” n
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