Hello!

I felt that the last two posts were very academic…so this one is more about a great Indigenous Resource – http://indspire.ca/

“Over 280 educators, parents, and sponsors participated in our first annual National Gathering for Indigenous Education in Calgary, AB on March 15th and 16th, 2013. Twelve Guiding the Journey: Indigenous Educator Awards were presented by Indspire Patron His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada.”

At the National Gathering the Indspire (Blending the words Indigenous and Inspire), the website was “unveiled”.

Part of the website is dedicated to educators and anyone who learns with Indigenous youth.

To get the the resources and educators network:

Click on:

Institute

For Educators

Sign up for an Account

and you are in…

Good luck! Verena 🙂

This is a recent post I received a bout a free webinar TOMORROW:

Institute Moderator posted a school update to Indspire Institute.

“May 28, 2013 12-2pm EST
A conversation with Sakoieta Widrick
http://indspire.adobeconnect.com/r5tj61m58x9/

Join us tomorrow for our first webinar! We will have a conversation with Sakoieta Widrick, Indigenous Studies and Mohawk Language Instructor, Brock University, Tecumseh Centre for Aboriginal Research and Education. I hope you are able to join for a portion or all of the webinar. If you questions please contact Ali Darnay, Online Moderator,institute@indspire.ca or post here.”

Module 1- Blog #2  Parsons/Taylor

This article was a literature review about the current research on student engagement. It did not mention anything about Indigenous or FNMI students in the summary. As a result, I will look through all of the references to see if there are any examples that relate to this course and if not, that’s my next step- looking for specific research on student engagement FNMI youth.

Summary and Notes of the Parsons and Taylor article on Improving Student Engagement.

The article opens by emphasizing that there does not seem to be a clear consensus in any of the research on student engagement really means. There were examples that encouraged technology, there was emphasis on the differences between youth today and their parents and some examples of researchers who found evidence that society was coddling and “dumbing down” a generation.

The Common Elements within the research focused on:

1) Interaction

The development of relationships with people. Interaction with people and in the virtual world.

Connections, communication, dialogue, discussions, collaboration.

No social engagement category, included in interaction. Social engagement includes interaction.

2) Exploration

Classroom practices are predominantly inquiry based, problem-based and exploratory

Students want to figure out things for themselves

Want more hands-on, Do-it -yourself (think of youtube how-to videos as example)

Learning happens in action (not passive)

3) Relevancy

Application to real life, authentic application and not theoretical and text based

Communities issues

Working towards solving a problem

Making learning contextual

4) Multimedia & Technology

“Technology brings learners accessible and relevant subject matter and experts and is a tool for engaged learning” (Parsons and Taylor, 2010, p. 14)

Access and opportunity to integrate tools/ideas/media  into their own learning

5) Engaging and Challenging Instruction

Need to change “how” we teach and “what” we teach

Moving from didactic to constructive pedagogy (Teaching “to” learners as opposed to Everyone learning together)

Constructivism: Click HERE

Creating “safe” environments

6) Authentic Assessment

1) Creating thoughtful,intentional designs for learning

2) making learning meaningful

3) building relationships

4)improving teacher practice in the presence of peer teachers

5) using assessment to improve learning and guide teaching

Co-creation of assessment will increase student engagement – because they are part of the process.

Assessment for Learning: (10 Guiding Principles)

AFL should be part of effective planning of teaching and learning

AFL should focus on how student’s learn

AFL should be recognized as central to classroom practice

AFL should be regarded as key professional skill for teachers

AFL should be sensitive and constructive because any assessment has an emotional impact

AFL should take into account the importance of (and foster) learner motivation

AFL should promote commitment to learning goals and a shared understanding of the criteria from which they are assessed

AFL develops learner capacity for self assessment so that they can become reflective and self-managing

AFL should recognize a full range of achievements for all learners

Learners should receive constructive feedback on how to improve

(Barrett, 2005, p.17)

Overall – I think that this article can give me a great framework of what to consider in my learning design for my online course delivery and possible final project.

Barrett, H. (2005) http://www.taskstream.com/reflect/whitepaper.pdf

Taylor, L and Parsons, J. ( 2011) http://www.taskstream.com/reflect/whitepaper.pdf

Module 1 Post #2

Last week 3 of my first nation students who I teach in computers and PE came up to me with field trip forms for them to attend a day kayaking and Canoeing with Takaya tours. The students told me that the tour would be lead by Coast Salish first nations and they would be learning about Coast Salish culture, singing traditional songs and learning about where old village sites once existed,

Today the students were back in class and were sharing with their classmates what a wonderful experience the tour was. So at lunch I checked out the website http://www.takayatours.com/about.html and it seems like an excellent resources and a really interesting tour where one would learn alot about Coast Salish Culture. There are some great youtube videos on the site that are worth checking out.

Cheers,

Greg Campbell

Hi everyone,

I was speaking to my mother this week and she was asking about the course I’m studying right now, so I was sharing a bit about our start in ETEC 521. She started talking about this site: Cultural Survival, and I find it to be very useful as an informational base about on-going work done to try to advocate for environmental protection and protection of rights. For those interested in language, there is a tab for ‘Endangered Languages’ under the ‘Programs’ tab. There is also a tab for ‘News & Articles’ which provides an interesting look at how issues around indigenous populations are current in the media.

Here is a portion from the site’s history:

‘We publicize Indigenous Peoples’ issues through our award-winning publications; we mount letter-writing campaigns and other advocacy efforts to stop environmental destruction and abuses of Native Peoples’ rights; and we work on the ground in Indigenous communities, always at their invitation.’

Hi everyone,

For my second post in our weblog, I wanted to share the CAT site mentioned in ‘Coyote and Raven put in ‘Digital’ in Technology – Hands Up and Down to Earth’ by Peter Cole and Pat O’Riley. The site is mentioned on p29 of the article, and I found myself interested in the phrase ‘appropriate technology’ so I searched the site. It is very interesting to read the philosophy behind the site, particularly in the context of trying to understand how technology ‘fits’ within values core to indigenous populations. There are resources and information available on this site related to how technology can be used in a sustainable way in parts of Australia. Here is the philosophy behind the site:

Our actions and initiatives are valued by Indigenous people

• We appreciate what people have and do before we act
• We see appropriate technology as a means to an end
• We advance self-reliance and economic independence
• Our independence is the basis for creative collaborations
• We grow evidence and influence through our connectedness
• We evolve and thrive through complexity and change

http://www.icat.org.au/

Module 1 Post #1

After the first two weeks readings and thinking about Discussion question #2. I wanted to look into what first nation youths thought about 21^st century technology in their communities. I did some searching and found an interesting article that presents information from Denise Williams a youth initiative officer for the First Nations Education Steering Committee. William’s “believes strongly that broadband Internet access can help First Nations in British Columbia broaden the opportunities available on their often rural or remote reserves. The 27-year-old member of the Cowichan Tribes likens high-speed pipes to the roads that connect a community to the rest of the world.”

The article is an interesting read and presents information on how broadband technology would allow first nation students to remain in their communities where they could learn traditional ways of life but also receive first class education in subjects such as math and science via remote online communications such as video, online chat or skype.

 http://www.straight.com/life/first-nations-students-need-internet-technology-advocates-say

From the article you can also link to the First Nations Technology Council’s website http://www.fnbc.info/fntc . Where they state that their mandate is to facilitate the ongoing development and utilization of technology in First Nation communities in BC. This site also looks very interesting and I plan on reviewing it later this week.

Cheers,

Greg Campbell