Creation
Envirocare: A Collaborative Approach to Integrating Indigenous Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing into Curricula with a Digital Learning Space
Deakin University
Amanda K Edgar; Lea Piskiewicz; Sureikha Ratnatunga; Anthony Neylan; Ruary Ross; Dr Shannon Kilmartin-Lynch; Paris Beasy; and Dr Angela Ziebell
Content Advisory: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Material
Please be aware that the following content may include photos featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have passed. Viewer discretion is advised, and sensitive viewers are encouraged to take this into account before proceeding.
Acknowledgements
We thank the Traditional Owners of all the lands, skies and waterways across this country. We would like to express gratitude to those that participated in interviews for Envirocare and reviewed the product that have kindly helped us to disseminate their messages. Additionally, we want to thank the Traditional Custodians of this land for Caring for Country and recognise that this land (never ceded) would not be the country it is now without thousands of generations of First Nations Peoples having cared for Country.
Overview
There is a persistent gap in the understanding of Australia’s First Nations peoples’ culture and histories across Australia. This chapter presents the development of Envirocare, a digital learning space developed to support the integration of cultural intelligence and the appreciation of First Nations science into science curricula across Australian universities using the lens of Caring for Country. We present the design process of an equitable open access and sustainable space that provides choice to study at any time and at any pace, while meaningfully supporting culturally appropriate content.
The journey developing Envirocare brings together third space professionals and academics, a teaching academic, a dean’s council, young First Nations scientists, a First Nations advisory board, and 9 members of Community. We aimed to fill a resource gap at the classroom level where many educators feel unable to build their own resources either because they are resource and time poor, or they feel ill-prepared. Together, these groups and individuals have been able to meet the overarching goal of producing a resource for developing capabilities in cultural intelligence and Indigenous science, including a nascent understanding of First Nations ways of knowing, being and doing. We privilege representation from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders through stakeholder consultations with the advisory committee of First Nations rangers and educators, video interviews with the Community members, and content generation by First Nations scientists and educators.
The following is a case study that highlights the capability of embedding First Nations perspectives, through the lens of third space professionals and academics, to emphasise the opportunity for using open access to promote cultural intelligence i