Indigenous people and e-nabling technologies: an analysis of recent experiences in northern and central Australia

The potential of e-tools, e-media and e-learning to support the goals of Indigenous people, their communities and organisations for cultural, social and economic sustainability, is still relatively unrealised, particularly in the more remote regions of Australia. Although this paper acknowledges the key barriers to the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), it will demonstrate the potentially significant role that these can play in the development of learning spaces, resources and networks for Indigenous people. Researchers from the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre and the Social Partnerships in Learning Research Consortium (SPiL) based at Charles Darwin University and have been using a range of tools to support both vocational education and training, and research. Recent work has explored ways to use emerging technologies to incorporate and represent the voices of Indigenous learners across a range of contexts including e-portfolios, e-tools for resource development and social networking spaces. Existing and emerging technologies are powerful tools that can assist to recognise and validate tacit learning, support engagement in formal lifelong learning and establish pathways for engagement in the labour market. The analysis of a range of projects conducted in northern and central Australian contexts will provide evidence of the need for vocational education and training providers and employers to harness the potential that ICTs have to offer for the engagement, training and employment of Indigenous people.