Abstract:

In this paper, we discuss how students and staff, learn together and build knowledge and skills in a fast-changing discipline, in a collaborative manner, in a nurturing environment. We have drawn on the Maori concepts of Ako, waka, whanau and the principles of Kaupapa Maori to create a nurturing environment and cater to the diverse learning interests, styles and needs of our mostly international students from more than twenty countries. We gain not only discipline specific knowledge and skills, but also improve other skills, including written and oral communication skills, cross-cultural communication skills, time and project management skills, interview and presentation skills, confidence and self-esteem, and keeping healthy, physically and mentally. We operate a carousel system of intakes that helps transition students, all of whom come from traditional lecture/tutorial mode of learning and expect the same here to our way of learning in a collaborative manner, with no lectures. We also include some details of how we transition newly recruited staff used to traditional lecture/tutorial mode of teaching to the collaborative knowledge building environment.

Keywords:

Collaborative knowledge building, Ata, waka, whanau, Kaupapa Maori, project-based learning, software development, computing, international students.