Tag Archives: onlinelearning

M4P5: AlbertaEd – Walking Together & Talking Together

Alberta Education created a very comprehensive and interactive guide called Walking Together that provides educators with the necessary resources needed to incorporate FNMI perspectives into the curriculum.

One of my goals in my final project is to create a teacher self-reflection tool to determine which Indigenous perspectives are addressed in a particular lesson. The self-reflection tool would be a circle, similar to the front page of Walking Together, with the perspectives around the outside divided into pie pieces and then specific keywords underneath each perspective, to help guide the teacher in really analyzing their lessons.

I think this resource could also be used as a student activity, perhaps with the student reflecting on how the participation in the activity aligned with Indigenous perspectives. The student version would have student friendly language and offer sentence starter prompts for each perspective/keyword.

However, before introducing this self-reflection tool, students and teachers would both need to have an awareness of Indigenous knowledge and these various perspectives before the tool would be used meaningfully. I plan on creating an interactive multimodal game where these perspectives will be explored as a part of my final project.

M3P1: Where are we starting?

To be a BC teacher that embeds indigenous knowledge and creates a culturally responsive classroom requires that I be aware of my own biases, privileges, and sources of knowledge. The questionnaire put out by the Alberta Civil Liberties Association asked me poignant questions that helped me understand myself better at this moment in time. I can easily see this being a tool I use before the start of each new school year. Further, the spirit of the questions could easily be adapted for in-class use, though the wording is likely too advanced for most young learners. It returns to the theme of what do we know and how do we know it; two central questions that are recurring themes in decolonizing the classroom.

Alberta Civil Liberties Association self-assessment: https://www.aclrc.com/self-assessment

M2P4: Indigenous Learning Preferences and Interactive Technologies

A research study conducted in BC that studied the impact of interactive technologies on math achievement of Indigenous students in Grades 4-7.

Kitchenham, A. (2017). Indigenous Learning Preferences and Interactive Technologies. The Australian Journal of Indigenous Education, 46(1), 71-79. doi:10.1017/jie.2016.12

Module 2 – Post 4 Decolonize Technology

While not focused specifically on Indigeneity, this blog by Beatrice Martini offers some hard truths and a well-developed reading list on how to decolonize technology use. I particularly appreciate the introduction to the term “borderless colonial phenomenon” as a result of digital technology. Understanding how technology continues to impart colonial values throughout the world can only help enhance my understanding of its use within Canada and my classroom.

Module 2 – Post 3 Personal Reading Recommendation

Pulling Together: A Guide for Teachers and Instructors

This professional learning series has four sections beginning with locating yourself within history and indigenous practice through to building an indigenized practice. It offers the reader opportunities to pause, reflect, and reread before placing the information within an educational context. I found Chapter 6, Knowing yourself in relation to Indigenous People particularly interesting as a teacher. Chapter 7, Holding Space for Humility and Other Ways of Knowing and Being, had some great starting questions for considering, especially as I move to decolonize my technology use.

 

Module 1 Post 3

The Path of the Elders provides an opportunity for deepening knowledge of First Nation studies in the classroom through guided activities. It includes teacher programs for grades 4 to 10 as well as an introduction to language considerations. I appreciate that this is geared towards the students themselves and gives them an opportunity to engage with the content either on their own or as steered by the teacher. I appreciate both the breadth of knowledge and the way in which it is presented. From a technology perspective, it is fun and engaging, with good graphics and few glitches. From an education perspective, it offered an authentic voice, games with clear rules, and lots of information for students of all ages.

https://www.pathoftheelders.com/

Module 1, Post #2 – e-Learning for Aboriginal Students

Given the current situation within the education system amid the pandemic, many districts have opt to carry on online learning for the next school year. Is this a benefit or problem for students who live in remote areas? How about the effectiveness of e-learning for aboriginal students? As I continue to search into my inquiry question of how e-Learning could support Indigenous students in rural communities, here is an article to share:

https://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/26386/19568

table 1

This article explores perspectives of e-Learning for Indigenous students in remote communities in Labrador. It discusses the opportunities and challenges that students in rural communities face with distant learning, and the learning needs of Indigenous students and their achievement issues that characterize aboriginal populations.

Reference:

Philpott, D., Sharpe, D., & Neville, R. (2010). The effectiveness of web-delivered learning with aboriginal students: Findings from a study in coastal Labrador. Canadian Journal Of Learning And Technology / La Revue Canadienne De L’Apprentissage Et De La Technologie, 35(3). Retrieved from https://www.cjlt.ca/index.php/cjlt/article/view/26386/19568

M1. P1.

In this first module, a guiding question we had was, “How might Indigenous education and use of technology have different goals than “mainstream” educational goals and purposes?” Keeping this in mind, I began my dive into the web looking for current opportunities for Indigenous Youth when it comes to technology and what the impact of mainstream education on those opportunities looks like.

I first came across a site created by June Kaminski and Sylvia Currie who at the time were from Kwantlen Polytechnic and the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology. The site is called First Nations Pedagogy Online which you can access HERE. The purpose of the site is to provide “best practices and support for online learning initiatives that are intended for Indigenous students, Elders, educators, curriculum developers, and educational leaders.” This particular resource is extremely beneficial for developing an understanding of First Nations Pedagogy and all that it encompasses, including culture.

Ultimately, to the indigenous peoples of this planet, culture is living, growing, and ever evolving.

I created a screencast of the website focussing on how mainstream culture has impacted Indigenous Education and Peoples as well as a brief explanation of all the opportunities for learning within the site.

– Sasha Passaglia