I found that Open Universities Australia was good because you were able to find the courses that you wanted, that weren't available at other universities, in a state that you lived in.
My name is Miriam. I'm studying Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Studies at the University of South Australia. I'm an Aboriginal teaching assistant so I have over 140
kids that are boarding. A couple of the boys called me mum and education for them would empower them to read contracts for land rights and Native Title issues and then they can advise their parents the elders so they're not going to get ripped off. They’re future leaders in their communities.
I went looking for a degree that would inform me more on the history and the impact that settlement made on the Aboriginal people. Having been an Aboriginal person and living in a white community, I wasn't classified as a white person and I wasn't allowed to be an Aboriginal person. I just wanted to see where I fit in to this world. I thought well maybe if I'm going to make a difference and I need to know what I'm talking about and funnily enough a lot of what I was saying is backed up with what I'm learning now studying online with the University of South Australia.
It's user friendly and when I did have problems, I would just email the lecturer on these forums and blogs. I've never known what a blog is until I started studying. As an undergraduate, you don't need to have an ATAR score, you don't need to have TAFE certificates, it allows you to study just for who you are, not for how clever your piece of paper says you are.