Brisbane (AU), July 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 eLearning solution, the Department was able to engage with more than seventy 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 eLearning strategy, the Australian Flexible Learning Framework (Framework), the Interactive Ochre Toolbox is a high quality, cost effective eLearning and assessment resource that provides an efficient training option.
Furthermore, at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, the Interactive Ochre Toolbox provided a professional development opportunity that otherwise might 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 that 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.
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.
