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Dr Tangi Steen

Position: Portfolio Leader - Teaching & Learning/Senior Lect Dr Tangi Steen
Division/Portfolio: Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences
School/Unit: The Unaipon School
Campus: City West Campus
Office: Y2-29
Telephone: +61 8 830 20923
Fax: +61 8 830 27034
Email: Tangikina_dot_Steen_at_unisa_dot_edu_dot_au
URL for Business Card: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Tangikina.Steen


I am a Polynesian woman from the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific and a community radio broadcaster with the Tongan Community Radio of SA Inc in the ethnic radio station 5EBI 103.1FM. I am the Portfolio Leader: Teaching and Learning and Senior Lecturer at the David Unaipon College of Education and Research (DUCIER); in addition to course co-ordinating a number of courses at DUCIER within the Division of Education, Arts and Social Sciences at City West Campus.

My academic interest lies in Information Technology (IT) education and its uses in learning and research. My PhD research focuses on the problem solving strategies that students use when they encounter difficulties in IT. These strategies not only depend on students' level of IT competencies but also on a number of social and cultural factors which influence students learning of IT.

I am also interested in cultural studies of culturally and linguistically diverse people of Australia and that of the world's indigenous people. In particular, the changing social constructions of themselves as minority groups and their levels of participation in the social, political and economic processes that impact their lives.



Senior Lecturer & Portfolio Leader: Teaching and Learning - David Unaipon College of Indigenous Education and Research, University of South Australia

T&L Project 2009: Developing a teaching and learning model for students’ collaborative work in wikis.

T&L Project 2008: Evaluation of existing web-based marking tools that assess group work.

T&L Project 2007: Students' perception of the online discussion board as an asessment tool.


Teaching interests

  • Information Technology education on a cross-cultural basis. Social diffusion of technology. Social and cultural impacts of technology on world's indigenous cultures.
  • Research methods. Quantitative and qualitative analysis.
  • Cross-cultural issues in higher education especially those related to Indigenous Australians.

I teach the following courses

COMP 26Introductory Computing
COMP 1004Computers and Information Management
HUMS 3042Project Management in the Social Sciences
POLI 3009Australian Workplace: Policies and Demands
NURS 1036Cultural Perspectives on Health


Professional associations

Tonga Research Association

The Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society (ANZCIES)

Digital Divide Doctoral Research Group (D3) - School of Information, University of Michigan (Ann Arbour Campus) http://www.digitaldivide.net/

National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasting Council, Melbourne (NEMBC)

5EBI - Ethnic Broadcasters Inc. 103.1FM at 10 Byron Place, Adelaide.


Qualifications

B.Sc (Mathematical Sciences). Adelaide University, 1981.

Graduate Diploma (System Analysis). University of South Australia, 1991.

Graduate Diploma Teaching (Adults and Further Education). University of South Australia, 1992.

Masters of Education (Information Technology). Deakin University, 1995.

Doctor of Philosophy (Computer Education). University of South Australia, 2003.


Research interests

  • Impacts of Information Technology on education and training of Indigenous peoples.
  • Factors which influence the use of Information Technology in tertiary (mainly university) learning.
  • Social diffusion of Information Technology and its impacts on traditional societies.
  • Representations of Indigenous knowledge in the world wide web.
  • Community radios and its role in community building.

Research publications

Book & Book Chapter:

Steen, T (2007). 'Creating a culturally safe space for Tongans in Adelaide: The Gap Project.' in Wood-Ellem, E (ed). Tonga and Tongans heritage and identity. BPA Group, Melbourne.

Steen, T; Degenhart, H; Degenhart, B & Orkina, A (eds) (2005) Keeping cultures alive - 30th anniversary of multi-cultural radio in South Australia. AL Printer, Adelaide.

Steen, T (2001) 'Tangi Steen, a migrant in Australia', In Oster, S. Cardinal Points Mapping Adelaide's diversity - people, places, points of view. Wakefield Press, Adelaide.

PhD Thesis and MA Dissertation:

Steen, T (2003) Students' adjustment to using IT in their university studies. Doctoral thesis lodged at the University of South Australia. Unpublished manuscript.

Steen, T (2000) Impacts of Information Technology (IT) on Indigenous Australian small businesses: Does IT mean ET (Education and Training)? Unpublished Masters research thesis.

Journal Article:

Lushington, K, Cook, J, Steen, T, Wyld, F & Snowden, C. (2009) 'The Book of Beyond: Designing PODcasts to Provide Spoken-Word Health Information for the Oral Culture of Remote Australian Aboriginal Communities' in The International Journal of the Book, CG Publisher at http://ijb.cgpublisher.com/product/pub.27/prod.279

Steen, T; Sparrow, S; Baker, J; Gollan, S. (June 2007). Socio-spatial issue and the Indigenous Australian culture: Factors which influence Indigenous peoples' use of space within western institutional setting. Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues. Indigenous Researchers Forum Special Edition. Vol 10, (2) pg 13-25.

Article above also appears in Gunstone, G (ed) 2008. History, Politics and Knowledge: Essays in Australian Studies, pp77-94. North Melbourne, VIC: Australian Scholarly Publishing Pty Ltd.

Steen, T (1997) A comparative study of Indigenous groups in Australia, Canada, USA and minority groups in USA: issues of concern in Indigenous languages and computer literacy In Kaurna Higher Education Journal Issue 6 August 1997.

Steen, T (1997) What does the literature say about computer literacy and Indigenous Australians' Languages? In The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education vol.25 no.2 Sept/Oct 1997. Article can also be accessed at http://www.atsis.uq.edu.au/ajie/contents/25_2.html

Conference and Workshop:

Steen, T (2008) Students’ use of the discussion board (DB) in online learning. Paper presented at the 4th International Conference on Technology, Knowledge & Society, Northeastern University, 18-20th Jan, Boston MA.

Steen, T (2007). Questioning technology: Way forward for a more technologically informed Tongan society. Conference paper delivered at the 12th Tonga Research Conference July 11-14th, Nuku'alofa, Tonga.

Steen, T (2007). Creating an indigenous space within higher education in South Australia: What does it mean in terms of curriculum design and teaching practice? A paper presented at the 13th conference of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies, 3-7th Sept, Sarajevo.

Steen, T (2003) Digital Delivery Network (DDN) and its place in community radio. A workshop conducted in the 2003 South Australian Community Broadcasting Association's Conference, Nuriootpa, Adelaide.

Steen, T (2002) The role of women in community radio: A Tongan and newly emerging communities' perspective. A paper presented at the 2002 National Ethnic and Multicultural Broadcasting Council (NEMBC), Adelaide. Steen, T (2003) Linking communities and sports. A paper presented at the 'Sharing through Recreation - Workshop' run by the Multicultural Communities Council of SA (MCCSA), 25th Nov, 2003.

Steen, T (2002) Digital divide in Australia: An exacerbation of old inequities in the new. July, 2002. A paper presented at the Digital Divide Doctoral Conference at the School of Information, University of Michingan, Ann Arbor Campus.

Steen, T. (2000) The Indigenous Online Network (ION). Presentation of the features of the ION website at the Aboriginal and Islander Education Conference, Perth.


Expertise for Media Contact

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline: Information Technology

  • Information Technology education
  • Information Technology and Indigenous cultures
  • Multicultural and Ethnic Community Radio Broadcasting

Community Service

Organisation Name:   National Ethnic & Multicultural Broadcasters' Council
Section:   Executive Committee
Type of Organisation:   Professional organisation
Organisation URL:   http://www.nembc.org.au/
Level of involvement:   Vice President
Year from:   2007

Organisation Name:   5EBI Ethnic Broadcasters Inc.
Section:   Executive Board
Type of Organisation:   Professional organisation
Organisation URL:   http://www.5ebi.com.au/
Level of involvement:   Vice-Chairperson
Year from:   2008

Organisation Name:   Tongan Community Radio of South Australia Inc.
Type of Organisation:   Community organisation
Organisation URL:   http://www.multiwebsa.org.au/community/tcr/index.htm
Level of involvement:   Public Officer
Year from:   2001
Comments:   I was one of the four finalists in the Irene Krastev Community Award, 2003; a community award presented to women from culturally diverse background in recognition of the significant contribution that they make in building their community.


Research Degree Supervisor

My area of research is in the use of Information and Communication Technology for teaching and learning and its social and cultural impacts on Indigenous cultures.

Current supervision: Three PhD students.





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