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http://www.tribalcollegejournal.org/themag/backissues/spring99/spring99ee.html

This site focuses on the importance of educating native students.  The author reflects on how tribal colleges and universities have approached and designed distance education programmes which are normally in a factory-style education, and are centered around the teacher as lecturer and propose ways to design programmes to include Native People.  The article proposes models for reaching Native students at distance using Internet-based learning and interactive video in an attempt to build bridges between cultures.

I am focusing on the use of technology to document and preserve traditional knowledge and develop curriculum resources. Most of my posts are related to media in supporting an indigenous re-framing of identity and different ways media are being used to share and document traditional knowledge and deal with ownership issues. How different communities and groups have done this, and their successes and issues will be important feedback for any efforts we make up north.

Native Science

A website on Traditional Knowledge with links to other sites developed in Alaska with TK resources dealing with language, culture and the land.  The projects are aimed at documenting and preserving TK and developing curriculum resources for the state as well. There is a very good set of guidelines developed by a large number of stakeholders: GUIDELINES FOR RESPECTING CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE.

http://www.nativescience.org/html/traditional_knowledge.html

Alaskan Native Knowledge Network

Articles and resources dealing with traditional knowledge, culture and language  including curriculum and resources from all the language groups found in Alaska.

http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/curriculum/Articles/BarnhardtKawagley/Indigenous_Knowledge.html

Indigenous Knowledge: Foundations for First Nations

A detailed article on the place of traditional knowledge in current identity, ecology and development issues from the University of Saskatchewan.

www.win-hec.org/docs/pdfs/Journal/Marie%20Battiste%20copy.pdf

David Bouchard – Portrait of a Metis Writer

Video interview with David Bouchard, a well-known and much respected Metis writer and speaker. We have had David visit out school several times and he is a real champion for strong FN identity – not just Metis. His work is multimedia – writing, partnerships with artists, music – he is very inspiring to youth. Story as the vehicle of traditional knowledge.

http://youtu.be/BdPtMZbgEBY

Nokum is my Teacher

Most of his books are on line in some form. This book is about the Metis culture  and the importance of being open to sharing understanding and change.

http://youtu.be/17QYnw5xzWE

Brenda Parlee Website:

Collects her research re traditional knowledge mainly in Alberta and the NWT as it impacts resource development, wildlife management and ecological issues. Some of her research has dealt with traditional knowledge issues in our community of Lutsel K’e, and issues of control in communication  and development.

http://www.ualberta.ca/~bparlee/parlee_ongoing.htm

Indian Country Today Media Network

Both US and Canadian sites with videos, blogs and news feeds on international issues from health to politics. The site speaks to solidarity among many ethnic and tribal identities on similar issues.

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/canada/

The First Peoples’ Project
(http://www.iearn.org.au/fp/)

(click on above image to be redirected to a video on the edutopia.com website explaining a project completed by the Choctaw Tribal School)

Description:
The First Peoples’ Project uses computer technology (and the web) to connect Indigenous youth from around the world. It is a way to encourage and engage students to participate in a form of education that is meaningful, personally relevant and valued. All submissions and stories must be made with the authorization from community leaders and elders therefore nothing is posted without consent which adds to the credibility and authenticity of the project. Unfortunately it appears as though it only ran for 10 years – 2007 being the last year of the project (although I hope I am wrong on this point). I feel as though this is an excellent example of technology being used to bring Indigenous cultures together.

~ Ryan

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have a keen interest in the aboriginal support system employed by my school district. Continuous within my district is the cultural vs academic support debate. There are those who would see aboriginal support workers provide mostly academic support with only the occasional opportunity for students to engage in cultural activities. On the other side of the spectrum some education community members believe that cultural enhancement is key to academic success and must be maintained and developed further. Who is correct? Is the best chance for success a more equal opportunity to both academic and cultural support? What does the research indicate?

If research and inquiry does provide some insight to the above questions, what next? And . . . how might technology benefit and/or hinder support? As with all of our posts and responses to date in ETEC 521, question after question presents itself.

As I embark upon this study, I can’t help but be grateful for the relationships that are developing within this cohort and within my own educational community that will help guide me. This week I am completing the Inquiry Grant Application provided by the BCTF (BC Teachers’ Federation). The purpose of securing the grant would be to involve others in an inquiry based learning opportunity similar to that outlined above.

As a teacher with a high population of Urban Aboriginal youth, it is clear that we are far from providing an authentic learning situation for our First Nations students. My project/paper will take a critical look at whether a constructivist approach that incorporates technology could possibly bring more success in a public school setting. Providing the possibility for the youth to be elevated from the dominant Eurocentric paradigm of educational pedagogy and practice while fostering connections with elders, community, and other youth. I will also be investigating the goals of Educational enhancement agreements in British Columbia to see if they are reflective of this idea.

One of the key foundations for constructivism is authentic learning; authentic not just to the needs of the community but also to the young person and their future. The original hegemony of Indigenous education was strongly experiential. I will be examining how an incorporation of technology could revitalize experiential learning in the classroom. Encouraging more success during the troubled Grade 10-12 years where dropout rates climb. The argument for attention to these years is strong. If a successful transition to post-secondary can be established Statistics have shown that First Peoples in Canada have identical if not higher success rates then their non-Aboriginal counterparts (Statistics Canada 2001)

The resources that I will be examining and sharing will provide the background information required to determine the validity of a constructivist approach that embraces technology within First Nations education.

References:
Census Aboriginal Population Profiles. (2001) Retrieved September 23,2011 from
http://www12.statcan.ca/english/profil01/AP01/Index.cfm?Lang=E

It is my hope to investigate research that provides insight into the benefits of cultural and/or academic support for our indigenous students (with a technological connection). To limit my search field, I am looking to the Western Canadian Governments

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/documents.htm – BC Ministry of Education

http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/fnmi.aspx – Alberta Ministry of Education

http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/AERN – Saskatchewan Aboriginal Education Research Network(AERN)

There are many links contained within the above sites that link to research.

I apologize for the clumping of my posts but it was not till last night (at the hockey game after a conversation with a local principal) that I decided upon a possible area of focus for investigation and perhaps research. Will academic or cultural support for our aboriginal students best increase their chances for success? And of course the next question is “What is the definition of success?”

Week 2 of Module 1 had the cohort question ” . . .based on the readings, how are Indigenous communities different from other ethnic or mainstream communities with regard to values about progress, tradition, and technology? ” Does the definition of success differ between Indigenous and Mainstream culture?

The CMEC Summit on Aboriginal Education spoke of success as “eliminating the gaps between the educational achievement of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students in Canada.” Within the document was reference to the socioeconomic factors and cultural needs that need to be addressed within the context of furthering academic achievement.

Interestingly, I am having more success finding cited/peer reviewed research on this topic from an Australian indigenous perspective. (I find the same in the area of mathematics.) It was finally in an Ontario, What Works, Research into Practice, publication where I found not necessarily answers but the beginnings of a web of research.

Cmec summit on aboriginal education:strengthening aboriginal success. (2009, February). Retrieved fromhttp://www.cmec.ca/Publications/Lists/Publications/Attachments/221/aboriginal_summit_report.pdf

Integrating aboriginal teaching and values in the classrroom. (2008, March). What Works? Research into Practice in , (11), Retrieved from http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/literacynumeracy/inspire/research/Toulouse.pdf

Is my district similar to others? My school district encompasses land that has no reserve, no band school, and for that matter no “officially” recognized nation. I live and work in the Kootenay Columbia (Kutenai) area of British Columbia. Slightly to the north of us, the Ktunaxa Nation is recognized but here, just north of the border, the people of the Sinixit continue to struggle for recognition.

Ten percent of our student population (four hundred) are of aboriginal ancestry. One percent of our teaching population are of aboriginal ancestry (two). The numbers of aboriginal students who are successful in our school communities is unacceptably low. To that end, targeted aboriginal education funds help provide our aboriginal students access to aboriginal support workers (all of whom, I believe, are of aboriginal ancestry).

It is here that the problems begin. With what should the workers be supporting our students? Cultural support? Academic support? In the  past clear beliefs have been identified between cultural and aboriginal but lately I see a blurring of the line.

As I first began to investigate cultural vs academic support for our students, my first findings took me to websites where support for both culture and academics is provided for university students. UNBC (University of Northern British Columbia) website was an excellent location for my first visit. It did not answer the question academic vs culture, it provide a unique perspective re supporting both and access to further research.

IsumaTV is the world’s first NORTHERN INTERNET DISTRIBUTOR for Inuit and Aboriginal films, TV and new media. IsumaTV currently streams free over 2000 films in 41 languages… I was looking for some of the Inuit and Indigenous films mentioned in the readings. This site has incredible archives of Canadian and International videos, films and interviews in many, many aboriginal languages…on many different topics:

http://www.isuma.tv/hi/en

sheila

Is Technology Culturally Neutral?

The general consensus in the reading is that it is not – it is described as a “dangerous technology”, Howe (1998) calls it an exceedingly deceptive technology” (p. 27) with a hidden agenda of the conceptual models and values of the dominant culture. Hence the critique of the western dominated – especially American – monoculture. This technology he feels is intrinsically hostile to the aboriginal worldview, the language and culture of the elders, and to the relationship of land and culture in aboriginal communities.

I came across a video of Andrew Feenberg in the context of another course I am doing. I really like his analysis of the active co-construction or co-creation of the world by the interactions of technology and social and cultural factors – including political and economic forces. His analysis has helped my clarify in what ways technology is not neutral though his analysis of the 10 Paradoxes of Technology:

on Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HzJ_Jkqa2Q