Abstract:

Objective:
To provide an online portal for teachers to access material about Aboriginal Tasmania to use in their teaching, as many teachers are unwilling to include this information as they have not been fully prepared to do so through their own education or teaching training.
Teachers are also busy and time poor to seek out the information themselves, making it available in one location as a resource portal to increase its accessibility.

Methodology:
This project was initiated as a Community Engagement project during 2015 with key stakeholders which highlighted the following:
(1) The need for non-Aboriginal people to learn more about the contribution made to history by Aboriginal people in Tasmania.
(2) The importance of Aboriginal peoples identifying, recording and writing their own histories of self and of country.
The project team consisted of seven members and were joined by four major Aboriginal community groups with more than 80 people involved in creating the map.
Our objective was to provide a learning resource through community collaboration and investigate its use over time.

Results:
Aboriginal places from a range of sources were contributed to the Aboriginal Tasmania Digital Map site, then assembled, to create meaning and a deep sense of place using a range of formats, so that teachers can enrich their teaching by integrating components from the resource, which contains more than seventy objects unique to Tasmania, of varying language difficulty and aesthetic quality.
The web-based resource provides a virtual tour of Aboriginal Tasmania, highlighting regions and people, groups and organisations and places and events of historical and cultural importance.
This project also brought very positive media coverage http://www.media.utas.edu.au/general-news/all-news/online-interactive-aboriginal-story-map-launched
The product is being used as a teaching resource in courses at the university and also by teachers in schools throughout the state and be accessed at http://www.utas.edu.au/aboriginal-tasmania-storymap

Conclusion:
Project lead and University of Tasmania academic Clair Andersen said the map provided greater access to a wider audience looking to learn more about Tasmania’s Aboriginal history.
“Residents, tourists, teachers, historians – the map is designed for everyone to use,” she said.
“What’s also important about the story map is it will evolve with ongoing collaboration and development.”
This digital story project achieved its goal to reveal Aboriginal place names and languages and to support reluctant primary and high school teachers to include Aboriginal content in their teaching programs.
The Aboriginal Tasmania Digital Story Map, launched on 27 May 2016, assists in building greater awareness of Aboriginal histories and culture, by providing easy access for the general public in Tasmania, as well as tourists.
“This resource is a unique story map, taking locals and visitors on a virtual tour of Aboriginal Tasmania and allowing access to important historical information, events, places and people, some of which may not have been told before,” said Professor Calford at the official launch.
Currently teachers are accessing the resource and we will continue to monitor use over the next 2 years.
This session will explore the research and processes involved to engage with community to create the story map.

Keywords:

Aboriginal Tasmania, history, people, places, online teaching resource.