The methodological approach used in the Skilling Up project needed to be appropriate for the investigation of complex problems in real settings. Because of its adaptable and strongly consultative focus, design-based research (DBR) was considered to be an ideal research approach, in particular because of its capacity to align with overall Indigenous research theories and protocols. The project focuses on digital tasks and activities using new technologies (iPads), where Aboriginal Education Workers (AEWs) create stories and products appropriate to their own learning contexts in classroom, school and community. In so doing, their technology skills are enhanced so that they are enabled within their teaching, guiding, and administrative roles. DBR aligns with these goals because its emphasis focuses on broad-based, complex problems critical to education, and on intensive collaboration among researchers and people in the schools and communities. The DBR approach typically involves four i...
