Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia

The aim of this project was to investigate how the use of social computingmight enhance the effectiveness of learning for Aboriginal students living in ageographically isolated region. The case study site is a small town in the vastKimberley region of WA. As with many other outback towns, education...

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Main Authors: Smith, Melanie, Trinidad, Sue, Biemmi Beurteaux, E.
Other Authors: Assoc Prof Kathryn Moyle
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Australian Council for Computers in Education 2008
Online Access:http://acce.edu.au/conferences/2008/papers/blogging-bush-using-social-computing-enhance-adult-literacy-remote-western-a
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20446
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author Smith, Melanie
Trinidad, Sue
Biemmi Beurteaux, E.
author2 Assoc Prof Kathryn Moyle
author_facet Assoc Prof Kathryn Moyle
Smith, Melanie
Trinidad, Sue
Biemmi Beurteaux, E.
author_sort Smith, Melanie
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The aim of this project was to investigate how the use of social computingmight enhance the effectiveness of learning for Aboriginal students living in ageographically isolated region. The case study site is a small town in the vastKimberley region of WA. As with many other outback towns, education in thiscommunity is a major issue of concern, in particular regarding theengagement of learners with educational programs. This project set out tofirst enable a group of adult literacy learners to use a social computingtool—in this case Blogging—and then to observe and evaluate the ways inwhich, and the extent to which, using this technology impacted on theirengagement with learning. The paper describes how the project wasestablished, illustrating the unique context in which the study took place; itoutlines some of the challenges faced by participants and researchers; and ittells how the project impacted on everyone involved. The findings indicatethe potential for social computing to be an extremely powerful educationaltool for Aboriginal learners and their teachers.
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institution Curtin University Malaysia
institution_category Local University
last_indexed 2025-11-14T07:34:45Z
publishDate 2008
publisher Australian Council for Computers in Education
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-204462017-01-30T12:19:21Z Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia Smith, Melanie Trinidad, Sue Biemmi Beurteaux, E. Assoc Prof Kathryn Moyle The aim of this project was to investigate how the use of social computingmight enhance the effectiveness of learning for Aboriginal students living in ageographically isolated region. The case study site is a small town in the vastKimberley region of WA. As with many other outback towns, education in thiscommunity is a major issue of concern, in particular regarding theengagement of learners with educational programs. This project set out tofirst enable a group of adult literacy learners to use a social computingtool—in this case Blogging—and then to observe and evaluate the ways inwhich, and the extent to which, using this technology impacted on theirengagement with learning. The paper describes how the project wasestablished, illustrating the unique context in which the study took place; itoutlines some of the challenges faced by participants and researchers; and ittells how the project impacted on everyone involved. The findings indicatethe potential for social computing to be an extremely powerful educationaltool for Aboriginal learners and their teachers. 2008 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20446 http://acce.edu.au/conferences/2008/papers/blogging-bush-using-social-computing-enhance-adult-literacy-remote-western-a Australian Council for Computers in Education restricted
spellingShingle Smith, Melanie
Trinidad, Sue
Biemmi Beurteaux, E.
Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia
title Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia
title_full Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia
title_fullStr Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia
title_full_unstemmed Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia
title_short Blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote Western Australia
title_sort blogging in the bush: using social computing to enhance adult literacy in remote western australia
url http://acce.edu.au/conferences/2008/papers/blogging-bush-using-social-computing-enhance-adult-literacy-remote-western-a
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/20446