National Reconciliation Week (NRW) are held from 27th May to 3rd June 2018. The initiative started in 1993 (the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People) and was supported by Australia’s major faith communities. In 2000, Reconciliation Australia was established to continue to provide national leadership on reconciliation.
NRW is a great opportunity for individuals, schools and early learning services and organisations to organise and attend public celebratory events.
illuminance Solutions understands the imperative for all Australians to attain a high level of digital literacy, and the disadvantage that can result from limited digital literacy. We also recognise the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. At present our workforce is diverse in age, gender, culture and ethnicity. Our staff recruitment has clearly demonstrated the absence of Indigenous people pursuing a career in ICT. Given the incredible growth in this sector and the increasing reliance of industry, and the economy generally, on technology, Illuminance Training’ aim in offering its Office 365 training for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students is to encourage and facilitate the uptake of ICT as a career path of choice for Indigenous people.
Answering to the awareness week NRW, Illuminance Training has launched a program to teach essential technology skills for improving productivity with Office 365. From this week onwards Illuminance Training offer a free one-day training course for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students enrolled, or thinking of enrolling in higher education at their own premises in East Perth or at a university.
Digital literacy for all Australians
Digital literacy is essential for all Australians, and this course will help address two key inter-related issues currently faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, namely lower education completion rates and lower digital literacy levels than non- Indigenous students.
While there have been higher year 12 completion rates for Indigenous Australians and improvements in Indigenous university enrolment numbers over the past 10 years, Indigenous students remain underrepresented in higher education in comparison with the domestic student population. Indigenous university students also have significantly lower completion rates than non-Indigenous students.
Indigenous Australians are also amongst the groups of Australians who have lower than average levels of digital literacy which, in turns, results in a lower than average ability to use digital technology. This necessarily impacts upon all areas of life, from the ability to use the internet, to bank online, to communicate with others, to receive a quality education, and to gain and hold employment.
These problems are compounded by the current rate of technological advances and the impact this is having on the economy and the nature of work. Digital literacy is essential for all Australians and it is crucial to ensure that Indigenous Australians have equal opportunities to participate in education, employment, and economic and social life.
Furthermore, the ICT industry, which offers many opportunities for success, is not generally seen as a career of choice for young Indigenous people or a pathway to achievement in other areas of employment.
Course
As well as developing an understanding of Microsoft Office and Microsoft Windows, students will learn how to use Outlook Online, Skype for Business, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and OneNote.
The course is designed with real world scenarios in mind and is delivered by industry experts provided by Illuminance Training, a Microsoft Gold Partner. To maximise each student’s learning potential, training is delivered through hands-on learning sessions and the number of participants is limited to 10.
At the end of this one-day course participants will be able to effectively navigate Office 365 and make use of all of the features of Office 365.
Eligibility
To be eligible for the one-day Office 365 training initiative, candidates need to:
- be between 17 and 35 years of age;
- identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander; and
- be studying or intending to study at university.
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