How can Aboriginal Education Officers (AEOs) use technology to create local educational resources for their schools and communities? This is a question that has been at the centre of a project we are currently working on.
CuriousWorks is one of the groups working on the Community Writer’s Kit project in Kempsey. The project is being run by Indij Readers and involves a number of schools in the Kempsey area. The project is focussed on delivering training and support to AEOs around creating local materials that relevant to kids from the local community and also create a way for local Indigenous communities to have a connection with the materials that kids use in class.
Sharon Hughes, an author from an earlier Indij Readers project. Click on the image to check out Sharon's book.
The great thing about the project is that contemporary stories from the local community get a chance to be published and used by kids in schools. We’re excited about being involved because it’s a very hands-on approach to making stories, it’s very connected to local communities and it has a DIY attitude. Our involvement is to do with the technology side of things and we’ve helped put together what I’m going to call a Portable-Community-Media-Pack.
I made a video to break it down. Here are the items in order:
- Mouse Pad
- Mouse
- Digital Camera
- Flip Ultra Video Camera
- Mini Tripod
- Laptop with WiFi
- USB Flash Disk (8GB)
Just add Internet!
It’s great that Curious Works is involved with Indij Readers in this project … all the AEOs who are coming to the workshops are excited about it …can’t wait to get into their media packs … there’ll be some ‘deadly’ stories coming out of the Kempsey area …