Developing a Decolonial Mindset for Indigenising Computing Education (CE)

2025-09-22

AI Summary

Indigenous peoples remain chronically underrepresented in computing education due to colonial structures embedded in curricula, pedagogies, and digital infrastructure. Method: This study proposes a seven-layer Decolonial Mindset Framework (DMS), grounded in an evolving logic of “acknowledgement–reflection–reconstruction–revitalization,” conceptualizing decolonization as an ongoing ethical practice centered on relational accountability and Indigenous sovereignty. Integrating Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy with Indigenous methodologies, the DMS is guided by three relational ontologies—“about me,” “between us,” and “by us”—to inform design and implementation. Contribution/Results: The DMS offers educators a theoretically robust, actionable tool while reframing marginalization in computing education not as individual deficit but as systemic exclusion. It advances transformative justice toward Indigenous-led co-creation and structural change in computing education ecosystems.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Other Foundations of Human Computation & AI
• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Web for democratic and emancipatory futures
• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Incentives in network design for Web infrastructures and ecosystems
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

The underrepresentation of First Peoples in computing education reflects colonial legacies embedded in curricula, pedagogies, and digital infrastructures. This paper introduces the extbf{Decolonial Mindset Stack (DMS)}, a seven-layer framework for educator transformation: extbf{Recognition, Reflection, Reframing, Reembedding, Reciprocity, Reclamation}, and extbf{Resurgence}. Grounded in Freirean critical pedagogy and Indigenous methodologies, the DMS aligns with relational lenses of ``About Me,'' ``Between Us,'' and ``By Us.'' It fosters self-reflexivity, relational accountability, and Indigenous sovereignty in computing education, reframing underrepresentation as systemic exclusion. The DMS provides both theoretical grounding and pathways for practice, positioning indigenisation not as an endpoint but as a sustained ethical commitment to transformative justice and the co-creation of computing education with First Peoples.

Problem

• Addressing First Peoples underrepresentation in computing education due to colonial legacies
• Developing a framework to transform curricula and pedagogies through decolonial approaches
• Reframing underrepresentation as systemic exclusion requiring ethical commitment to justice

Innovation

• Decolonial Mindset Stack seven-layer framework for educator transformation
• Grounded in Freirean critical pedagogy and Indigenous methodologies
• Fosters self-reflexivity relational accountability and Indigenous sovereignty