Category Archives: MODULE 3

Module 3, Entry 5

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Wisdom of the Elders is a radio program offered through The Archaeology Channel and is a series of oral history and storytelling recordings from Indigenous Elders. Topics include health and healing, traditional and contemporary music, and grandmother’s culture. The use of audio and podcasts for digital storytelling is a great example of how Indigenous communities are using technologies to preserve Indigenous stories and knowledge, as well as how technologies can help to continue the traditions and practices of oral storytelling.

Here’s the link to their entire series: https://www.archaeologychannel.org/audio-guide/wisdom-of-the-elders

Module 3, Entry 4

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

imagineNATIVE is an organization committed to spreading and promoting a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through digital media art – including film, video, and audio. The organization hosts a media arts festival showcasing contemporary Indigenous media art, and is the largest annual Indigenous media arts event in the world! This is a great way to showcase and promote Indigenous media artists as well as to spread awareness and a greater understanding of Indigenous cultures and peoples, and artistic expressions.

The next festival is October 19-24, 2021.

Here’s a link to their site: https://imaginenative.org/

Module 3, Entry 3

First Nations Pedagogy is an online resource which provides information on First Nations storytelling, as well as videos of First Nations storytellers sharing traditional stories. The site also provides free learning resources for all ages including childhood, secondary, post-secondary, and general adult learners. The lessons and videos provide great examples which introduce learners to the art of First Nations storytelling which involves the expert use of vocal and body expression, verbal imagery, facial animation, plot and character development, and careful pacing to engage learners.

Click on the link below to view their free resources:

http://firstnationspedagogy.ca/storytelling.html

Module 3, Entry 2

I came across a wonderful resource from The National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education,  hosted by the First Nations University of Canada. The resource is a lesson plan for educators for an Elder Digital Storytelling Project. In the lesson, students work together with Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers in their community to explore the concept of culture, and how cultures are transmitted from generation to generation. Students create a video or slide presentation with Elders and Knowledge Keepers and present their digital storytelling projects to the class and invited guests from the community as a final activity to celebrate their work.

Click on the link below to view the lesson plan:

https://www.nccie.ca/lessonplan/elder-digital-storytelling-project/

I realize that the last thing you want to do right now is to read a 129 page paper: Amanda Almond’s (2021) We Are All Related:(Re) Storying With Augmented Reality to Build Indigenous-Settler Relations (Master’s thesis). Rather, this paper is useful, and informative if you are researching ways Indigenous communities would share stories through augmented reality (AR). Therefore, if you’re still interested I’ll briefly let you know why I find this paper particularly valuable as a blog post.

First, the paper reaffirms how Indigenous peoples have used many forms of media in ways that acknowledge cultural protocols, including AR, and how Indigenous stories are evolving with the modern world, and are not stuck in the past (Almond, 2021). Almond (2021) also looks into how to protect the information that Indigenous groups share through AR platforms. In doing so, Almond (2021) pursues various AR platforms that offer different options for its user. Further, the paper discusses the loss of information due to obsolescence, a problem with online storage (Almond, 2021).

Although my interest is not necessarily in building Indigenous/Settler relations, the focus of this paper’s research, and instead I am curious about how Indigenous communities can create a digital space to preserve their language and culture, this paper offers much insight into how AR would work to accommodate Indigenous ways of place-based learning and understanding.

Reference

Almond, A. (2021). We Are All Related:(Re) Storying With Augmented Reality to Build Indigenous-Settler Relations (Master’s thesis). Retrieved from https://era.library.ualberta.ca/items/4a4675d1-cdb5-4b15-8a6f-c708b0c948c1/view/990435ed-0a71-43d1-908a-fd9f45af05bb/Almond_Amanda_202103_MA.pdf 

Selena Mills of CBC provides a link for 15 Indigenous comic books and videogames that could be introduced to kids. The commonality between all the titles in her list was that all of them “aim to eliminate negative stereotypes of Indigenous peoples as seen throughout pop culture.” (Mills, 2018). All the titles were either created and developed by Indigenous peoples or they were consulted during the creation process. Seeing these titles shows that Indigenous peoples are finding a harmony between their traditions and technology as they are able and willing to tell their stories through modern mediums such as comic books and videogames. As my research question relates to how we can bring Indigenous education into our classrooms in a way that is relevant yet authentic to our students, I found that these were perfect examples of how to accomplish that task.

Here’s the link to the list: https://www.cbc.ca/parents/learning/view/how-the-comic-book-and-gaming-community-is-reclaiming-indigenous-perspectiv

References:

Mills, S. (2018, January 9). 15 Beautiful Indigenous Comic Books and Video Games for Kids. CBC. https://www.cbc.ca/parents/learning/view/how-the-comic-book-and-gaming-community-is-reclaiming-indigenous-perspectiv

Never Alone is a videogame based on Inuit folklore and was developed in collaboration with nearly 40 Alaskan Native elders, storytellers, and community members. The game is narrated by an Inuit master storyteller which adds to the authenticity of the game. You can either play on your own, or in a cooperative mode with a partner. The game is produced by Upper One games which is the first Indigenous-owned commercial gaming company in the United States. Teachers have already been using the game as a teaching resource so I look forward to trying it out in my classroom as well since, as a gamer myself, I will take any opportunity to introduce videogames into my classroom!

Here is the link to the game’s official website: http://neveralonegame.com/

References

Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna). [Video Game]. (2014). Upper One Games.