Te Kete o Karaitiana Taiuru (Blog)

This article is for Whānau, Māori: students, teachers and academics. The same principles can be applied to working remotely online.

I have recently heard it stated that online learning is not tika, it is not right and that it is not our tikanga as our tikanga is kanohi ki kanohi, face to face. This article dispels the confusion and states that online learning is acceptable and there is no tikanga to state otherwise.

We have to remember the basis of Te Ao Māori covers three realms: spiritual, physical and cognitive.

Māori have always been innovative and adapters to new technology if it empowers the whānau, hapū and Iwi. Captain Cook noted how quickly Māori adapted to new technologies introduced to them. Iwi wars quickly begun using muskets in addition to traditional weapons and warfare practices. Māori agriculture quickly adapted to the introduced tools and a mixture of introduced and traditional practices. Online learning is no different.

Kanohi ki kanohi, face to face is a tikanga being used by some to argue against online learning. Kanohi ki te kanohi, is an important Māori tikanga, literally meaning face to face. It implies that if correct contact must be made then people should meet face to face, one on one, so that no misunderstandings, misconstruing, misinterpretations, misapprehensions, misconstructions can occur. It implies that by taking the time and energy to arrange and travel to meet somebody you are showing the respect and homage that this person is worthy of your efforts (Keegan, 2000). There may be exceptional circumstances that face to face may be applicable for learning, but there is nothing that a video chat would not address.

Pre colonial settlement, students of the Whare Wānanga would reach a certain point in their training and were sent by themselves into the forest to learn new things. Learning was conducted in isolation.

Tohunga would be in isolation from the village and would learn new knowledge by himself. This would be though a spiritual, cognitive and natural environments. All of the natural environments are used today for Internet.

Sacred knowledge was traditionally only taught to selected individuals after tests and trials. No such knowledge is taught at legally recognised education facilities. Whakapapa and other sacred knowledge that is learnt in today’s society is sacred but should not be taught at education facilities anyway. This reinforces again why online learning is acceptable.

We also need to consider mōteatea, whakatauāki, pēpeha, art, carvings etc are all inter-generational learning tools that do not require learning kanohi ki kanohi.

The influenza of 1918 in New Zealand severely impacted Māori at higher rates than non Maori. Te Puea was a leader in changing tikanga Māori to ensure the safety of Māori. Nationwide, tangi protocols were also changed. The Covid-19 is the same issue. But in 2020, online learning is the new way to combat and prevent higher mortality rates.

Tikanga considerations around the home.

1. Your computer and devices should not be treated any differently at home than at your learning institute or work place.
2. Do not to work and keep your devices and learn at the table you eat your kai.
3. Be aware of what information is on your computer if you are working and learning around photo’s of the dead.
4. Karakia considerations to the Internet environment such as Rangi, Papa, Tangaroa, Tawhirimatea who your information is travelling through.
5. Do you need to karakia the room you are working in?
6. Is a recording required, or can it be live?
7. When using video, be aware of what is in the background: taonga and images may not be suitable in some instances.

Tikanga can evolve and the well being of our whānau, hapū and communities has always been a tikanga. Online learning and remote access for work is essential.