Evaluating the planning and pedagogy for Indigenisation of Curriculum Design for a STEM subject using the 8 ways framework

This project comprises the second stage of a design science research initiative to embed Indigenisation of the curriculum holistically in a subject unit that is mandatory for students undertaking IT Degrees at the University of Canberra (UC), in response to a mandate by the university (2017, 2018) to Indigenise curriculum (not just content but also epistemologies and pedagogies) in all courses. The first stage involved working with educational designers to pilot the integration of Tyson Yunkaporta’s (2009) 8 Ways of Indigenous learning framework into the content, teaching methods, and assessment in the unit outline, and then the teaching staff observing and reflecting systematically on the successes and challenges of its enactment over one semester with one cohort of students. The second, more substantial stage involves refining the unit curriculum on the basis of those teacher observations and reflections, implementing that amended curriculum through another semester, and evaluating the student experience of the unit using traditional Indigenous yarning circle methods cross-mapped with DSR. From this the team will develop a set of principles for Indigenisation of other IT units that currently have no Indigenous components.