Jindaola is an educational development grants program which engages participants in an Aboriginal way towards achieving Curriculum Reconciliation. The program builds UOW staff capacity to bring Aboriginal Knowledges and perspectives into university curriculums using a traditional Aboriginal learning and teaching approach.
In August this year, Jindaola moved into the Indigenous Strategy unit at UOW and is now housed within the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre. This move has deepened engagement across our various stakeholders, particularly as Jindaola continues to have reach outside of UOW.
The newest teams to join Jindaola this year are the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences (SEALS), ANCORS and the School of Nursing. Excitingly, for the first time in the history of Jindaola, a Top 8 University has been successful in their bid to join the program, that being the University of Technology Sydney.
Jindaola has been recognised not only within UOW for its contribution to Teaching and Learning, but both nationally and internationally in the tertiary education sector. In 2021, Jindaola was named first finalist in the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards in the Teaching and Learning Excellence category. In 2018, Jindaola was the Inaugural Overall Winner and Winner of People’s Choice Award at the Australasian Academic Development Good Practice Awards, awarded by the Council of Australasian University Leaders in Learning & Teaching.
In November, Jindaola held our Best Practice Online Teaching Symposium which showcased presentations from Jindaola’s past participants on the changes they have implemented in their schools, faculties and centres (photo below). The Outstanding Best Practice Award was awarded to UOW’s Library for their contributions to Jindaola Best Practice, while the Peer Choice Award was awarded to Grace McCarthy for her adaptations of an ‘On Country Day’ in the Master of Business Administration to an ‘Online Concepts Day’ which showcased Aboriginal approaches to leadership and decision-making.
As we look to the future and what’s next for Jindaola, we are finding that there is a strong interest and appetite for the principles, pedagogies and methodologies of Jindaola in industry. We have begun engaging with different industry groups and decision-making groups in the Illawarra region and are building research around the way Aboriginal approaches to decision-making can influence healing and regeneration and contribute to autonomous and sustainable communities for the benefit of all.