‘It opens up experiences that I would most probably never encounter’: digital placed-based learning

The world-wide movement towards the provision of on-line courses is stimulating change within the tertiary education system; necessitating a reconsideration of university pedagogical practice, recruitment strategies and marketing image. Alongside the push for technological ingenuity within the on-line modes of education is the recognised need for the Indigenisation of curricula across Australian tertiary and secondary educative institutions. The University of Tasmania has sought to harmonise these two emerging ‘frontiers’ in education within the on-line unit ‘XBR113 Indigenous Life Worlds: Local to the Global’ offered by the School of Social Sciences. One such innovative measure trialled within this unit is the virtual touring of Country alongside Indigenous Elders and knowledge holders; bringing together Indigenous epistemologies and place-based learning along with high-quality filming and on-line accessibility. This presentation will examine student eVALUate comments provided between 2017 and 2019 in response to the question ‘What are the most helpful aspects of this unit?’ Results indicate that the students found the virtual tours of Country to be the most effective and meaningful aspect of the unit overall, suggesting that using digital place-based learning is a useful method to engage undergraduate students in an Indigenous epistemology and offer a unique experience tailored specifically to the University of Tasmania.