Category Archives: MODULE 4

The Alberta government released a companion resource in 2012 on collaborative frameworks and building relationships, called “Successful practices in First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education” (FNMI). It includes a model for supporting and enhancing FNMI student achievement and success which is centred around the “whole child,” where in education and learning we have to consider that the mind, emotions, body and spirit are connected, and are not separate.

This 128-page report includes facilitator guides and workshop reports, lesson plans, information on cultivating collaborative partnerships, culturally responsive education practices, and frameworks. They also really emphasize the role of families, parents, and communities in helping a student be successful. I’m most interested in reviewing the Instructional Practices, and the Curriculum and Content sections to analyze their instructional design around guidance for its educational audience.

Link: http://www.vch.ca/your-care/indigenous-health/indigenous-self-identification

This last post hits close to home as we are implementing a new electronic health record in Vancouver’s biggest hospital. The addition of CST Cerner in Vancouver General and over 50 clinics is transforming health care delivery through the use of an electronic health record. A major milestone in this transformational delivery is the ability for Indigenous self-identification. As a patient comes into the hospital to access care, a part of the registration process is to ask if a patient self-identifies as Indigenous. The answers are private and confidential, and is not requiring of proof. If a patient does self-identify as Indigenous, they get immediate access to the Indigenous Patient Experience Team and other resources and services that will help their inpatient stay. Being able to do this will allow health care workers to better deliver culturally safe care from a multidisciplinary approach, and with partnership with the Indigenous Patient Experience Team. In addition, this will allow practitioners to include traditional practices in the health care plan.

The University of Alberta’s Faculty of Native Studies hosted a webinar in March 2018 on the Indigenous Canada MOOC Course they designed. Though the presentation is a high-level overview, I found the following sections most helpful when looking for elements of consideration for the instructional design of this type of online course:  “Elements of Indigenous Knowledge” (11:51), and “The work we did” (21:14).

I’ve screen-captured the Indigenous means of sharing knowledge they used to guide the design of their course: positionality, traditional environment knowledge, storytelling, and knowledge keepers. They also touch on pluralism and pan-Indigeneity.

One aspect of their process to build out content I found interesting was a goal to break from the conventional history of Indigenous peoples in Canada and purposely reframe it with significant contrast.

Additional Link:https://umanitoba.ca/ongomiizwin/sites/ongomiizwin/files/2022-07/Indigenous%20health%20care%20quality%20framework.pdf

This video is an introduction to the Indigenous Healthcare Quality Framework. The framework is patient-centered and calls for the achievable, sustainable improvements in health care delivery for Indigenous communities that is rooted in high quality, culturally safe care. Its premise is rooted in ensuring health care delivery is anti-racist – a commitment to actively resist, disrupt and challenge existing systemic policies attitudes and practices that promote racial inequality. It also shines light on understanding historical relationships between health care providers and Indigenous patients. It also includes actionable goals and requirements of health care that includes: compassion, nonjudgmental delivery, ethical, culturally safe and others.

Link: http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/courses/csafety/mod3/

This is a third of 3 interactive modules that includes readings and activities that allow reflection of the Indigenous peoples’ experiences of colonzation and racism as it relates to health and health care. There are some readings, audio and video files embedded within, but also some reflective questions that guide the learner.

Some key reflections as a learner goes through this module:

• understand the Indigenous peoples’ experiences with health, health care and healing
• understand current policies and practices in health care and education
• how to support inclusive healing practices for all people
• understand your own professional and personal responsibilities to build strength and capacity in health care settings and beyond
• using lens of cultural safety

Link: https://www.albertahealthservices.ca/assets/info/ihp/if-ihp-indigenous-health-commitments.pdf

I thought the Indigenous Health Commitments outlined above was a practical, well thought-out document highlighting recommendations for policy makers, processes and organizations. The recommendations are grounded in honesty through listening, understanding, acting and being. There are also actionable items that commit to optimizing people, processes, wise practices and outcomes.

Western and Indigenous Worldviews

This website discusses worldviews of Indigenous peoples and Westerners. One comparison, is the view on truth. The Indigenous view on truth is that there can be many as one’s personal experiences can dictate what is true. While the western view is that there can only be one truth. Not surprisingly, one of these worldviews is dominant in the education system. As I read through the comparisons, I get the sense that many non-Indigenous peoples would agree with the Indigenous worldviews yet they probably don’t give much thought to accepting the western belief.

Link: https://www.afn.ca/uploads/files/fnhta_final.pdf

In this module, I wanted to delve deeper into the latter part of my paper and that is what changes we can make at the policy level to bridge the gap in health care for the Indigenous communities. I would also like to dig deeper into how educational technology can help transform and bridge this gap in policy and health care delivery.

This First Nations Health Transformation Agenda speaks from the voices of Indigenous elders and leaders to provide recommendations to achieve health and wellness outcomes. This focuses on 3 aspects:

1. Getting the relationship right: focusing on relationships within health care and with the Indigenous communities to achieve rights to self-determination
2. Meaningful Investments in First Nations Health
3. Support First Nations Capacity First

This is British Columbia’s Ministry of Education’s facilitator guide for educators on how to bring Indigenous knowledge, content, and perspectives into classrooms and schools.

For my project context, it serves as an example of instructional design to address Indigenous content, though I’m also looking at it from a critical lens.

The document lists a robust development team, including the First Nation Steering Committees, an Indigenous Education Network, and the Metis Nation of British Columbia. However, from an Instructional Design perspective, guidance for the teachers is not also embedded in the First People’s Principles for Learning (which others have already listed in their blogs).

I want to look over this guide in more detail to see if the principles are within the facilitator materials in a subtle way, or if the instructional design does not in fact reflect Indigenous pedagogy and a more direct perspective from the development team.