Locality, culture and I.C.T.: a case study in collaborative software design

This thesis documents the creation of a mobile phone learning application, developed in partnership between remote and urban secondary school students. Contextual background to Rural and Remote education is provided by historical examination of education policy development, technology adoption and the paradoxical social situation facing Indigenous students. The investigation utilised a design experiment case study, informed by video conference recordings, focus group interviews, online surveys, emails and classroom discussion notes. Data analysis identified the changing patterns of technology integration at each school during the collaborative design process, along with social interactions that occurred as the groups combined to achieve understanding and inform their learning. Collaboration of this nature between schools could promote higher levels of student interest in ICT. Indigenous knowledge was privileged throughout the App development process, which also explored the relationship between traditional Indigenous pedagogical practices and those ascribed to design and project-based learning. The findings contend that each school relied heavily on the use of graphics to clarify their understandings and that the use of culturally appropriate graphical strategies may improve understanding of computing and design processes that currently remain opaque to many. Pedagogy and classroom activities have frequently been typified by a disconnect with the schools’ local environment and this situation is more problematic for students attending rural schools, as they also experience the effects of a digital divide. Progressing the use of appropriate graphical resources may engage rural students through a cross cultural pedagogy that puts “place” at the core of their learning and promotes epistemic agency as they pursue significant questions relevant to their local environment. In doing so, there is potential to increase uptake of computing by Indigenous students and promote the transition of greater student numbers from the role of passive user to that of active technician, designer and developer.