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Scott Campbell, newly appointed Duty Investigator for the NSW Department of Education and Training and graduate of the pilot Aboriginal Mentoring Program for the NSW Government summarised the key benefits of participating in the program in the Wordle image below:-  learning, building, growth and the importance of self discovery, culture and reconciliation.

Created with Wordle.net

In early December 2008 the Pilot group gathered together to reflect and evaluate the Pilot program to date. Whilst members of the pilot group – mentors and mentees, still have many months to go to complete their mentoring program the Pilot period was drawing to a close and everyone felt it was important to reflect on what had been learnt.

The evaluation considered a range of aspects of the online environment and the broader mentoring program, focusing on:

1. content;
2. access;
3. visual appeal;
4. support available;
5. use-ability; and
6. the Interactive Ochre Toolbox.

Some of the benefits reported by the mentees are:

• “self-discovery” ;
• increased “self esteem“;
• “finding common ground with others“;
• “developed good relationships”;
• “a direction for my career”
  

Other mentee benefits include:

• promotions;
• higher grade positions in other agencies within the NSW public sector;
• increased computer literacy;
• enhanced professional (and personal) networks;
• a nationally recognised qualification;

Benefits reported and comments offered by mentors in the program are:

• “valued my life and professional experience“
• “non-indigenous learnt to understand part of our culture”.
  
• “important to meet other indigenous people”
  
• self discovery
• further study – one mentor started a coaching program
  
• “I’ve started a a couple of new projects prompted by the course”;
  
• “better understanding of where others are at”
• “learn more by helping”
  
• “don’t realise how much you’ve got until you start talking”
  

In addition participants are more familiar and adept at using online technologies and have enhanced their transferable skillsets.

What did we as a project team learn?

• To tap into the learning of others through both research and inviting key speakers to team meetings;
• More about Indigenous cultural preferences for learning, eg audio and visual;
• The way different technologies can be embedded in Moodle to enhance learning;
• The importance of the initial face-to-face workshop to develop relationships for Indigenous learners;
• The need for clear communication between all partners of the project team,
• the importance of offering choice in a learning program targetted to indigenous learners,
• The importance of the mentor/mentee matching to the success of a mentoring program, and where that program is an elearning mentoring program then some assessment of the digital lietracy of the mentoring “pair” should be considered as one criteron for matching.

Where to from here?

We will continue to enhance the program, learning from and improving the quality of the online expeience based on the feedback received from the pilot participants. The Institute of Public Administration of Australia (NSW), our parter for this this project, are offering the Aboriginal Mentoring Program for the NSW Government twice in 2009 – the first in March 2009 and then again in September 2009. For more details and to register please go to the program description on the IPAA NSW website.

The video is of Maureen Chapman Regional Co-ordinator, New England/North West NSW, NSW Department of Premier & Cabinet. I took the video in September 2008. I then uploaded the original video file to BlipTV and used this within a voicethread to faciltiate some comment by mentors and mentees. I embedded the voicethread within the Aboriginal Mentoring Program’s Moodle site

Click here to view the embedded video.

Elders and other respected community leaders have been key participants both in the face-to-face workshop and in the 8-week online environment. They have brought their own experiences; their own stories to the learning.

There has been structure in the online program alternating weekly between a focus on specific learning through activities and opportunity to meet and follow-up the discussions with their mentors.

The mentoring relationship will continue for another four months when a final evaluation will be undertaken.

Our starting point was text that had the learning environment looking like this:

But, with the help of Teresa Leon for the key design, and Jo Kay working on the programming within Moodle, we have now got this:

A key criterion when selecting the plug-ins was their accessibility within the workplace. Other key criteria to be considered included participant computer literacy, cultural and learning preferences. The inclusion of community and sharing was also identified with the idea of simulating a ‘story telling circle’. And compatibility with Moodle was critical. Those selected have included forums, blogs, Voicethread, Exabis E-Portfolio, Animoto, Gtalk and Blip TV with Slideshare and Toondoo still to be introduced.

Interactive Ochre, a Framework Toolbox, has been integral to the discussion and learning.

The video uses music from Interactive Ochre and I hope captures much of the energy and excitment of participants in the program and shows the huge amount of goodwill each has contributed.

Like many face-to-face programs the two day workshop began with introductions and a group exercise identifying expectations for both the workshop and the program overall. Many opportunities for participants to interact and get to know each other were included, especially on Day 1 as at its close mentees were asked to nominate their preferred mentor. Facilitators Bernadette Harris and Paul Newman then  worked together to match mentors with mentees, trying wherever possible to offer mentees their preferred mentor.

Content covered during the workshop included the following topics:

• definition of mentoring;
• roles and responsibilities of mentors and mentees
• learning styles
• creating a mentoring framework
• cultural respect
• workplace ethics
• and of course technological skills and building familiarity with the online environment.

On the morning of Day 2 mentee/ mentor pairings were announced and time was provided for pairs to briefly speak together. After this all participants relocated to the technology classroom for thier first experience of the  online Moodle envirnment that would be the backbone of their program for then next 6 months. A series of activities were designed to facilitate participant’s exploration of the site and to build capability and confidence using the Moodle environment, key Web 2.0 technologies to be used e.g. Voicethread, Exabis ePortfolio and the Flexible Learning Toolbox Interactive Ochre.

The workshop provided the  opportunity for mentoring pairs to hold their first meeting face to face and work through their expectations and begin to identify some groundrules for their mentoring relationship. Here is a brief video of some of the meetings.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As Bernadette said in her post, at the beginning of a new project there is often a great deal of uncertainty. There is also excitement. . The Aboriginal Mentoring Program is no different and, because of its cultural components, it is certainly presenting many deep and worthwhile learning experiences for the development team.

Fortunately we have been able to draw on the experiences of others to help us on our journey. These have included

• Rhonda Appo, QLD E-learning Innovations Project Manager and previously Manager of  Indigenous Engagement, a 2006-07 Framework project, shared her learning with us and provided some very worthwhile tips and examples of previous projects – check out Jobs for Our Mob as one great example!
• Jeff Hunter from South Australia who managed the development of the brilliant Interactive Ochre – a Framework Flexible Learning Toolbox targeting Indigneous learners.
• Georgina Nou, also South Australia, who has been involved in some very successful Framework projects introducing technologies to Indigenous learners in the Northern Territory and South Australia.

With the added assistance of Alexander Hayes who is providing technical advice (and who always has the ability to challenge mindsets) and Robyn Jay, NSW Manager of E-Learning Innovations, who has a wealth of e-learning experience, Bernadette – being the hands-on developer and Project Manager of the team – had plenty of work ahead.

And would you believe, choosing a name has been one of the biggest hurdles! Lets face it – ‘whitefellas’ can’t impose a name on a program that is going to be targeting ‘blackfellas’! So the naming was delayed until more access to feedback from prospective Aboriginal mentors was available. While the team thought we had come up with a few good ones to select from, the creative ability of some of the mentors left us floundering and we now have quite a list! We’ll let the process evolve though and look forward to hearing the final decision this week.

Frank Edward-Haines has come on board to assist with the cultural awareness component, and Paul Newman (no, not that Paul Newman but just as personable I am sure) from the Dept of Aboriginal Affairs, has also joined the team and will work with Bernadette as a program facilitator and general adviser to the project.

And lets not forget the design! We were keen to have an interface that was visual and appropriate. Teresa Leon has helped us out there and as soon as it is bedded down you can see too:-)

We are now half-way there with the shell of the online environment almost there and content on its way. The finalisation of the interface, designed by an Aboriginal, is nearing completion, technologies continue to be tested for inclusion (although we are waiting to test those dreaded firewalls more), and the design of the f2f component is almost complete.

And so the learning continues …

My first step was to investigate existing resources through the Framework’s earlier projects. I found lots that were relevant, the following are only a few of the many I  found helpful:

• Different Voices Different Spaces by Delia Bradshaw
• Checklist for developing Indigenous e-Learning resources
• Practical tips to increase the effectiveness of teaching, coaching and mentoring when working in Aboriginal education
• Connecting the dots: breaking down the barriers to participation
• Indigenous Inclusiveness: Getting down to business and
• E-learning on a Shoestring

Some other resources I read in preparation for the program are listed below:

• Mentoring Made Easy3rd edition
• Strategies to support aboriginal employment
• Mentoring Program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Staff – Evaluation Report April 2006 NSW Housing
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Staff Mentoring Program. Joint guide for mentors and mentorees.NSW Housing
• DO’S AND DON’TS working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders NSW Office of Fair Trading
• Mentoring A-Z ResourcesTAFE NSW ICVET

I was now ready to speak with people who had run Aboriginal mentoring programs, particularly in the public sector. I was referred to Mary Ciantar the Diversity Program Consultant for the NSW Department of Housing who took a lot of time to share her experience and knowledge. Her insights added greatly to the final product. Mary discussed the need for mentor support throughout the program and the importance of relationships and clarifying the expectations between mentors and mentees at the beginning  the program.

I was also lucky enough to meet Jill Jessop the Co-ordinator Aboriginal Program for the NSW Office of Fair Trading. I interviewed Jill about the Office’s engagement and support of Aboriginal Liaison Officers and her role within it. The OFT Program is not strictly a mentoring program, nor does it run across agencies, however as you will hear, Jill offers a range of insights that have emerged from their learning over the 10 years of the program’s existence. Many of the insights and tips offered are relevant to other initiatives directed at Aboriginal people, not simply mentoring programs.

Interview with Jill Jessop Part 1 (4:54 mins)

In the opening section of the interview Jill discusses her role as the Co-ordinator Aboriginal Programs and the strategies used in the NSW Office of Fair Trading.

Interview with Jill Jessop Part 2 (1:24 mins)

I asked Jill what are some of the staff issues that she deals with as part of the program

• health,
• difficulty in coming to work,
• relationships with managers,
• role clarification and
• the importance of support from senior management.