UBC Vancouver is rich in Indigenous history and presence, but for many students, faculty, staff, and visitors, this history and presence is invisible.
Knowing the Land Beneath Our Feet (KLBF) is a new initiative led by UBC Centre for Teaching and Learning Graduate Assistant Sarah Ling, and alumnus Spencer Lindsay from the School of Community and Regional Planning that provides a digital walking tour highlighting the artworks, buildings and places that tell of the deep histories and continued presence of Indigenous people on the land now known as UBC’s Point Grey Campus.
Supported by an initial grant from the Equity Enhancement Fund, the project is in the pilot phase, testing out new curriculum models and a web-based tour platform in 12 classes across 6 disciplines. A team of instructors, advisors and staff are working to turn the walking tour into a robust learning tool that can eventually be adapted to a variety of classroom and public uses.
David Gaertner, member of the KLBF development team and postdoctoral fellow in FNSP, is excited to see the impact of the project when put in the hands of UBC students, instructors and community members. Gaertner says the tour “employs a unique instance of augmented reality, layering Indigenous history and stories onto physical locations, and in doing so, it makes the land our text – the campus our classroom.” As an instructor, he sees KLBF “as a means to investigate the ways in which technology can respectfully deepen student engagement with land, history and Indigenous peoples.”
The organizers are planning a public launch in September 2015. The project is a partnership between the First Nations Studies Program (FNSP), Aboriginal Initiatives at the Centre for Teaching Learning and Technology (CTLT), the Coordinated Arts Program (CAP) and Digital Media Technologies.
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This article was adapted from a story published in The Talon and on the UBC Equity and Inclusion Office website.