09-46

=Gamilaraay Online = toc

**RTO**
TAFE NSW New England Institute

**Contact**
Vivian Evansvivian.evans@tafensw.edu.au

**Category**
Empowering learners

Executive summary
NSWTAFE New England Institute through the auspices of the Aboriginal Education & Training Unit has been working for over 8 years on the renewal and reclamation of Gamilaraay language in partnership with a number of organisations. **//The challenge//** we now face is that the limited number of proficient teachers and the increasing number of interested students are wide spread.
 * // The compelling learning //** **need is to offer an engaging, personable means of connection** **that indigenous teachers and learners feel comfortable** **to engage in learning from a distance.**

The Gamilaraay Online project brings together a team with experience and expertise in the Gamilaraay language, indigenous pedagogy and flexible delivery in //partnership with Indigenous communities and individuals, from a number of rural and remote communities.//

Through this project the team will explore, utilise and build effective, culturally appropriate resources to engage Indigenous learners both in schools and the wider community through a combination of engaging synchronous and asynchronous connections to focus on the **important objectives of revitalising Indigenous languages, developing identity and self esteem and increasing the engagement of Indigenous learners and teachers in flexible //delivery//**//.//

**Project Updates**
Check out our key websites Our Hub [] ...

Some results from a recent survey of students...

//Project implementation and sustainability//
The project consisted of four distinct phases: Phase 1: Website development and engagement of key stakeholders and team (April – June) F2F meetings of project team and community stakeholders to fine tune our strategy & program. Weekly meetings using key communication tool to ensure team is ready for July start. Phase 2 Engagement of students and clients, feedback, reflection and review of achievements and issues. (July – Aug) Phase 3 Information exchange and knowledge construction phase (Sept – Oct) Phase 4 Final reflection and feedback phase (Nov- Dec) A variety of tools were utilised that were both for synchronous and asynchronous connections. We engaged on a weekly basis in **Adobe Connect virtual classroom** for live chats, to hear voice, pronunciation, engagement activities, recordings and revision. Engaging students in use of audio, text and graphical aspects in virtual conference rooms to feel empowered in the online environment. Sessions were varied and all students engaged in pronunciation, singing, games, translations and more. Sessions were broken up with synchronous yoga – and steps for these were gradually introduced in Gamilaraay language. Fun was the key and games like Gamilaraay Idol singing Silent Night and Body parts Bingo were highlights. Each session was recorded and links of the recordings embedded into the asynchronous hub website. Adobe connect classroom sessions remain available between sessions with words and sound recordings so that students could independently access to read and play audio to revise and practice. A group of students in Collarenebri had a lot of fun each Sunday gathering together to replay recordings and revise the previous weeks work. They enjoyed hearing themselves and had a good laugh whilst they revised.
 * //The solution//**
 * Synchronous Connection **





A particular focus for this project was to build a site open to the World Wide Web to engage participants free of passwords so as not to impede people from initial participation and engagement with the resources. Even those who are not enrolled are able to access the site which we hope will entice more Indigenous community members to explore and then perhaps enrol in the course. Initially we tried the NSWTAFE Institute’s Moodle site but due to a number of issues of accessing off campus and choice of sound recorders we decided to build the core site in a Wetpaint wiki. []
 * Asynchronous Connections **

We chose content that could utilise a variety of learning and assessment tools that could also be embedded within Wetpaint website: Voicethreads was also used to demonstrate how to use the various computer programs using visuals and voice. We are currently working on demonstrating these skills with the use of a screen recorder which films the computer steps and then voiced over instructions are then added on Voicethread. To see the full published collection of Voicethreads related to the course go to [|www.voicethread.com], select the browse tab and search ‘gamilaraay’.
 * ** Voicethreads ** – a great way to hear and speak Gamilaraay with the use of visuals to prompt students’ engagement was embedded in most of the sessions in [] . Students were encouraged to revise the live chat session by playing the Voicethreads, listening to the correct pronunciation by their teacher and then record their own pronunciations. (An examples is pictured below... the images on the side show the individual recordings and can be individually selected for replay and can be deleted by the individual or the teacher if required)

media type="custom" key="4917107" media type="custom" key="4917105" Near the end of our project we have 50 Gamilaraay toondoos created which in itself is a growing resource.
 * ** Cartoons ** We focused on [|www.toondoo.com] as a fun format for writing as well as reading Gamilaraay. The adult students and staff enjoyed utilising this tool and you can see a collection of results which will continue to grow on [] Below is an example of one of the students toondoo animation putting their writing of Gamilaraay into practice.