The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students

The global COVID 19 pandemic highlighted that the delivery of online education inadvertently disadvantaged Indigenous Australian university students. This situation was particularly critical for Indigenous students from rural and remote locations. Australian universities increased the use of digital...

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Main Authors: Wilson, Arthur, Downing, Mandy, Buckley, Amma, Owen, Julie, Jackson, Max
Format: Conference Paper
Language:English
Published: 2022
Online Access:https://aisel.aisnet.org/confirm2022/22/
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93691
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author Wilson, Arthur
Downing, Mandy
Buckley, Amma
Owen, Julie
Jackson, Max
author_facet Wilson, Arthur
Downing, Mandy
Buckley, Amma
Owen, Julie
Jackson, Max
author_sort Wilson, Arthur
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description The global COVID 19 pandemic highlighted that the delivery of online education inadvertently disadvantaged Indigenous Australian university students. This situation was particularly critical for Indigenous students from rural and remote locations. Australian universities increased the use of digital technologies to engage, support and teach due to students’ inability to access campuses. This presented universities with challenges in supporting Indigenous students living in and returning to non-urban settings. Often not recognised is the need for better strategies and plans for Indigenous students returning to their rural or remote community to continue their studies due to COVID. These communities often lack suitable infrastructure that would allow access to pedagogical and learning support opportunities. This paper explores how the business decision made by Australian universities to increase reliance on teaching online during COVID impacted the education of Indigenous students. This paper will then canvas ways this ongoing dilemma can be addressed by considering risks, measuring and monitoring performance to guide transformation, including universities’ more inclusive and respectful use of digital technologies involving First Nations people and cultures.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-936912023-11-07T09:06:03Z The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students Wilson, Arthur Downing, Mandy Buckley, Amma Owen, Julie Jackson, Max The global COVID 19 pandemic highlighted that the delivery of online education inadvertently disadvantaged Indigenous Australian university students. This situation was particularly critical for Indigenous students from rural and remote locations. Australian universities increased the use of digital technologies to engage, support and teach due to students’ inability to access campuses. This presented universities with challenges in supporting Indigenous students living in and returning to non-urban settings. Often not recognised is the need for better strategies and plans for Indigenous students returning to their rural or remote community to continue their studies due to COVID. These communities often lack suitable infrastructure that would allow access to pedagogical and learning support opportunities. This paper explores how the business decision made by Australian universities to increase reliance on teaching online during COVID impacted the education of Indigenous students. This paper will then canvas ways this ongoing dilemma can be addressed by considering risks, measuring and monitoring performance to guide transformation, including universities’ more inclusive and respectful use of digital technologies involving First Nations people and cultures. 2022 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93691 English https://aisel.aisnet.org/confirm2022/22/ fulltext
spellingShingle Wilson, Arthur
Downing, Mandy
Buckley, Amma
Owen, Julie
Jackson, Max
The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students
title The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students
title_full The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students
title_fullStr The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students
title_full_unstemmed The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students
title_short The Indigenous Digital Divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on education delivery to First Nations university students
title_sort indigenous digital divide: covid-19 and its impacts on education delivery to first nations university students
url https://aisel.aisnet.org/confirm2022/22/
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/93691