Twelfth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Abstract

In the modern world, some children suffer from limited access to resources, even in some developed countries. In Australia, because of its vast landscape, students in rural and remote locations suffer from a variety of disadvantages. Due to limited resources available in their local environment, gifted students in remote areas do not achieve to their best potential, and they may perform well below their counterparts in urban locations where resources are more readily accessible. Complicating this locational reason, Aboriginal students have also suffered from a broad range of disadvantages due to historical traumas during British colonisation in the last two centuries. This chapter illustrates how information technology enables researchers and government to engage educators and students in a collaborative research project known as Ngara Wumara in the Aboriginal language, which means cultivating capabilities in English. The purpose of the innovative learning was for students who were isolated in remote locations or whose special circumstances prevented them from attending school regularly to engage in cooperative learning in a online learning environment. The perception of Aboriginal students, parents and teachers who were involved in the online PBL environment are explored in a case study focuses on a circus community in Australia. The findings identify how applications of information technology and delivery of pedagogies through online platforms effectively cater to the needs of learners who are disadvantaged.