Abstract:

This paper will examine two units delivered by Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) in the Northern Territory of Australia. BIITE is an educational Institute for Indigenous Australian students that offers courses from access, beginning literacy level through to post graduate and PhD programs.
The Common Units are two compulsory first year higher education units offered across all Institute undergraduate diploma and degree courses. The two units, Public Communication and telling Histories, were initially conceived in response to student demand to have their chance to have a say, to have a voice, to be recognised in a fundamental way within their educational experience.

In an age of globalization and new technologies, the Common units use materials from the ancient past to produce innovative teaching styles that are unique. They embed Indigenous pedagogies and core values via ancient Greek educational philosophy of Aristotle’s Rhetoric and Praxis. It is believed that by providing perspectives on western education systems, Aboriginal students can more fully to embrace the world of academia.

This will be a multi media interactive workshop presentation that includes video of performances, photographs and application and examples rhetorical text patterns for powerful speech.

Keywords:

innovation, technology, research projects.