I have been looking into the curriculum resources for Alberta teachers and students.  According to Alberta Education’s web site, they are “leading the infusion of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit perspectives” in Alberta curriculum.  At the high school level, a clear curriculum has been developed for Aboriginal Studies and approved resources to support Aboriginal language and culture are available.  There are also supporting documents for the Social Studies program.

http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/fnmi.aspx

In regards to addressing how technology relates to supporting Aboriginal language and culture, Alberta Education provides a link to their technology conference, which occurred in August (in Banff).

http://www.destinationinnovation2012.ca/

Alberta Education outlines several projects and initiatives intended to support First Nations, Metis, and Inuit students.  Just some of the projects outlined are:

• MOU for First Nations Education
• FNMI Education Partnership Council
• Parent and Community Engagement
• Learning Together for Success Conference
• Successful Transitions for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Youth Workbook

This early in the course, I find it difficult to state concretely where I would like to focus my research interests.  I believe that my uncertainty in stating a set path right now also lies in two contrasting areas of interest.  I am a Language Arts teacher and I would like to find an area of research that directly impacts my teaching practice.  I am excited to delve deeper into the responsibility and challenge associated with effectively representing indigenous people, stories, and materials in my classroom.  Specifically, I would like to focus on how indigenous people and traditions are represented in the Alberta Language Arts curriculum, the supporting resources such as the Guide to Implementation, and suggested novels.  I would like to research how Alberta’s Language Arts curriculum, resources, and supporting technologies impact indigenous people of Alberta, and how educators can make an impact within their own classrooms and schools. 

However, having completed the readings for Module 1, I am finding myself personally drawn towards to the challenges presented in trying to find a balance between environmentalism and indigeneity.  This was an area of study that I had not really considered prior to starting the course readings, and now I am struggling to find an understanding.  The ideas presented are logical and I can understand them from a theoretical perspective, but from a personal perspective I am still struggling.  I understand the need for cultural traditions to remain intact despite rapid advancements in technology and an ever-shrinking world (where it seems that cultures blend, often getting lost as we race on).  But, as a defender of animal rights, I struggle with the idea of whale hunting being encouraged and supported.  I question how I would respond if I was mandated to teach the value of a practice that I am personally opposed to.  This conflict between my brain and my heart leads me to think this is an area that I should dive into.  Through further research, I would hope to find a theoretical and practical place of balance.  Furthermore, I would research these issues in a landlocked Albertan educational system.  What environmental issues are the indigenous people of Alberta facing?    

Statement Connecting Research Interests and Weblog:

Indigenous People’s Collective Memories in Cyberspace

I had not thought about ‘Westerners’ owning history and power because they are the ones in control of media productions, whether it be documentary, film, photography etc. I am interested in exploring Media on Indigenous People’s terms, where the hierarchy of values attached to Western culture is replaced by indigenous expression to diffuse collective memories. I will explore how Cyberspace is used to diffuse these memories. Investigate and outline the pitfalls. Examine the role media plays, whether unconsciously or not, as a means of cultural preservation.

I am particularly interested in discovering if and how this form of media representation provides a bridge for young people and encourages them to get back in touch with their culture. Because Indigenous people incorporate vast populations all over the world, I have decided to concentrate my research on Indigenous people in North America (Canada), comparing how various Native groups use media to recuperate and diffuse collective memories.

At this early stage of my research, I will explore web sites and documentation that provide information about Indigenous peoples diffusing their collective memories in Cyberspace.  Then I will analyze and compare how media provides a space for collective memories, outlining benefits and challenges. I hope this research will help me arrive at some form of understanding and appreciation concerning the diffusion of Indigenous Peoples’ collective memories in Cyberspace.

UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education developed a policy brief in 2011 ICTs and Indigenous People.

It outlines the importance of Indigenous knowledge, and acknowledges that ICTs can be viewed as a “double-edged sword” with the potential to accelerate erosion of indigenous culture and knowledge but also the ability to empower and support resources and environments for indigenous children.

The paper describes some examples of how ICTs can be used positively by indigenous people to strengthen and reinforce indigenous cultures and knowledge. Here are three of these:

The Four Directions Project (USA) which includes:

• Restructure of curriculum in schools – art, mathematics, science, fine arts etc
• School-home and school-community focus
• Networked virtual communities of indigenous teachers and students
• Network database of culturally appropriate teaching resources

Teacher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa (TESSA)
The aim of this project is to research and development network is to improve the quality of, and extend access to, teacher education in Sub-Saharan Africa. It has an open education resources to support culturally-based teacher education adn training. 120 African countries are involved, 700 teachers have participated and the resources are available in 4 languages on the TESSA website.

Honey Bee Network – India
This project has multi media/multi lingual database of primary educational resources in native languages and supports exchange of ideas and innovations around horticulture, biodiversity and herbal medicine. They have public access “kiosks” in remote villages so that geographically disadvantaged people can share across the country and also globally.

The document outlines a number of policy recommendations which include:

• Provide a policy framework that enables indigenous communities to have control of their schools
• Encourage and fund research in use of ICTs to support culturally based education Develop educator professional development programmes designed to help non-indigenous educators to understand and support the culture of the indigenous community and the ways that ICTs may support access to indigenous content, expertise, and cultural resources
• Develop online educator development programmes to prepare indigenous peoples to become teachers
• Develop policies to use ICTs to provide continuous and adult education, retraining, life-long learning, and distance learning

The Indigenous Position Paper for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was the draft version submitted for the World Summit on the information Society (WSIS). This was a two summit UN conference and the WSIS is now in its implementation phase. It has now been followed up by the Internet Governance Forum.

The Indigenous position paper is interesting to read and consists of a number of statements and recommendations about being part of the global Information Society that focus on Indigenous Rights in the Information Society in the specific fields of:

• Traditional Knowledge
• Information and Communication Technology (ICT) applications
• Education and Language
• Health
• Youth
• Environment
• E-business
• Media

I have copied the general principles here as I think they underline the importance of technology for indigenous people as we have begun to read in module 1.

1. We, the Indigenous Peoples, affirm our right to be part of the global Information Society on our own terms.
2. We note that the Information Society, as it is currently evolving, has become another instrument for colonizing, assimilating and marginalizing Indigenous Peoples in a new and subtle way.
3. We therefore emphasize that our participation in building and implementing the Information Society must be based on our right to self-determination and the recognition of our cultural diversity and distinctiveness as Indigenous Peoples.
4. Moreover, our full and effective participation in the evolution of the Information Society must take place in equal partnership with its non-Indigenous actors.
5. We therefore demand to be represented with our own visions, philosophies and concepts in the conceptual framework of the Information Society and its action plan for implementation.
6. Furthermore, we strongly request the worth of our cultures and the value of our traditional knowledge to be fully acknowledged for past, present and future positive contributions to global human progress and sustainable development.  We particularly call for recognition of our historic contributions to human development.
7. We stress that the Information Society and its core elements – knowledge, information, communication and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) – are cultural concepts and expressions. We therefore demand that our own culturally defined approaches, protocols, proceedings and obligations are respected by non-Indigenous actors when implementing the Information Society.
8. We recall that our peoples, no matter where they live, are affected by the digital divide. We assert our right of access to ICT applications and strongly call for recognition of our right to bridge the digital divide on our own terms.

This cyber-traveller is starting in  her own backyard.

Site #1. The Cowichan Tribes are a strong presence in the Cowichan Valley but through sheer laziness, I do not know much about their culture.  The opportunity is there but until now, I never investigated. It pays to snoop around. Their website is well laid out with general information about their history, tribe, government, and education, last updated 2010. There seems to be a couple of  scholarships for medical education. http://www.cowichantribes.com.

Site#2. The Province newspaper featured an article by Suzanne Fournier on May 24, 2012. She featured Dayna Briemon, one of the twelve First Nations physicians graduating from the UBC Medical Program this year, the “largest number of First Nation graduates in the history of the UBC faculty, and possible in all of Canada”. It is a light article, serving as introduction to the topic.  http://www.theprovince.com/business/First+Nations+doctors+going+rural/6670603/story/html.

Site#3. There is an Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (http://www.ipac-amic.org/). On their site, a section on becoming a doctor, very general, very vague.

Site 4. The IPAC did, however, host the Pacific Region Indigenous Doctors’ Congress (Pridoc) at Whistler, B.C. in 2010.  Their entire proceedings are available online: http://www.pridoc.org/2010presentation1.aspx. Since one day’s presentation concentrated on the education of indigenous medical students, I felt it was a goldmine of information. I will return!

Site 5. There is an Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, founded in 1975. Sadly, their 2012 National forum was cancelled due to budget cuts. In 2007, only 8 schools had aboriginal specific access/bridge way/transition program to encouragement enrollment in nursing. Nevertheless, the number of Aboriginal nursing students in Canada increased from 237 to 737 within the past five years (posted 2006). http://www.anac.on.ca/

As a math teacher, I am continually aware of the under-representation of aboriginal students in more academic math courses and the over-representation of aboriginal students in lower level math courses.  This is an issue because mathematics is a key entry requirement into many programs at the post-secondary level. Low success rates in mathematics, particularly in the academic math courses, restricts choices for aboriginal students and has a direct impact on the number of aboriginal students in health related careers, business and science.

My weblogs will be focussed around finding ways to support aboriginal students in mathematics, as well as how technology might fit into this support.  Finding ways to authentically use and promote aboriginal mathematics in the classroom will be one area of research.  Researching ways that First Nations peoples have traditionally taught and learned and how our classrooms might be adapted to support these styles of learning will be a second area of research.  At this point for my final project, I am looking at creating a compilation of resources, research and links that can act as a resource for classroom teachers, with the ultimate goal of supporting our aboriginal and First Nations students in mathematics.

Janet Barker

Statement Connecting Research Interests and Weblog

A cursory search of the internet reveals low numbers of indigenous people involved in medicine. In an effort to invite more to the study of medicine, colleges have offered scholarships and entry programs with some success but the question remains, what else can be done to increase interest in a vital discipline? How best to retain the students actually enrolled? And how best to reflect native traditions within a curriculum that must teach what it must teach?

The healing arts would seem to offer groundedness and a sense of community for the indigenous but maybe their tradition of healing takes a different path than the Western tradition. Can the paths exist side by side, learning from each other, or must the streams be separate in a yet unthought version.

So far, my search of health care providers reveals indigenous nurses and doctors but veterinarians and veterinary technicians are less represented. My research will focus on the former with an eye out for the latter. I have worked as a veterinary technician for 37 years and can see a place for indigenous workmates. It is worth a look.

In the following post, I would like to start by reviewing three chapters found in the SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction which look at issues of Indigenous education as they refer to past and present educational reforms.  These articles represent the studies of various researchers that deal with the issues of universalization or globalization of education and curriculum and its effect and alienation of indigenous youth leading to increased drop-out rates and disengagement.  All three chapters can be found in The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction at http://knowledge.sagepub.com/view/hdbk_curriculum/SAGE.xml.  Note, you need to be connected to the VPN in order for the links to work.

Following these three articles, I will look specifically at a successful model of Indigenous schools referred to in Farrell’s article and, finally, I have included a link to a 2009 declaration of rights by Canada’s First Nation people, referring specifically to the section on education.

Resource One:

In Deyhle, Swisher Stevens and Galvan’s article, on “Indigenous resistance and renewal: From colonizing practices to self-determination”, focusses on the effects of colonization of Indigenous peoples and the importance of self-determination in their struggle to decolonize.  The chapter quotes the words of Colonel Pratt on the education of Natives as “the end to be gained….is the Indian to lose his identity” (p.331).  The authors describe the struggle of Indigenous people to regain the right to self-determination of Indigenous education through their own schools in which their values, culture, tradition and languages are taught and respected within their communities.  This is in direct contradiction to the current public system that they believe has continued to colonize their youth through assimilation and marginalization.  The authors suggest that local language, in conjunction with local knowledge, would improve students understanding and connection with their culture and propel them beyond what could be accomplished through the introduction of fragmented cultural knowledge within a decontextualized environment. Although a challenging endeavor, the reclaiming of authentic Indigenous knowledge among the youth has led to improvements in pride, tribal relations and communication, and learning.

Reference:

Deyhle, D., Swisher, K., Stevens, T., & Galván, R. (2008). Indigenous resistance and renewal: From colonizing practices to self-determination. In F. Connelly, M. He, & J. Phillion (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction. (pp. 329-349). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412976572.n16

Resource Two:

Increasingly, the world has become a global village in which time and place have accelerated and blurred.  Power struggles over dominant perspective have led to a westernization of pedagogy and curricular content across the globe.  Other cultures become marginalized by the vast flow of western ideas; and, whether consciously or unconsciously, curriculum across the globe becomes universalized.  Anderson-Levitt, in her article, asks a question that places the responsibility back in the hands of educators, “How have we come to teach what we teach and to teach as we do?” (p.349). Ultimately, this article provides insight into the Indigenous struggle for self-determination, and in truth, a reality that all students are facing in this cultural crisis.  This is a global concern that, as Deyhle et al. describe in the previous resource, creates disengagement and disconnection between the curriculum and the students.

Reference:

Anderson-Levitt, K. (2008). Globalization and curriculum. In F. Connelly, M. He, & J. Phillion (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction. (pp. 349-369). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412976572.n17

Resource Three:

Farrell in “Community education in developing countries: The quiet revolution in schooling”, notes that,

similar to the findings of Deyhle et al., a focus on local knowledge results in greater curricular learning.  Upon the analysis of over 200 alternative programs in community education, standardized curriculum scored the lowest in terms of learning, whereas, localized curriculum improved learning, self-confidence and self-esteem.  Successful examples that were given were Escuela Nueva in Columbia and Guatemala, The Community Schools Program in Egypt, and the Non-Formal Primary Program in Bangladesh.  Farrell points to the aspects of these models that appear to increase success including a varied and student-centered approach focussing on context, local relevance, and community involvement that enables student’s to identify with the curriculum.   This speaks to the idea that colonization and globalization may be counterproductive to engagement and learning.  Essentially, Anderson-Levitt’s article describes the current model as an undemocratic processes in which individual and cultural meaning are displaced by more dominant and powerful perspectives.  These three articles lead me to believe that the democratic self-determination and involvement in youth education by tribal communities has a far greater potential to succeed than the present educational model.

Reference:

Farrell, J. (2008). Community education in developing countries: The quiet revolution in schooling. In F. Connelly, M. He, & J. Phillion (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction. (pp. 369-391). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc. doi: 10.4135/9781412976572.n18

Resource Four:

Rachel Kline, in “A Model for Improving Rural Schools: Escuela Nueva in Columbia and Guatemala”, describes the Escuela Nueva (EN) school reform model for rural and Indigenous students.  In the article she provides the context, components and potential for expansion to other contexts of the EN model. In particular, the Guatemala Project was directed towards the Mayan-speaking Indigenous people with the plan to improve rural education.  In these one-teacher rural schools, teachers implemented a program consisting of “active pedagogy, flexible promotion, student government and community involvement” (p 176).  One of the reasons that the author believes that this model was successful, where other reform initiatives failed, is because of the involvement of teachers and administrators.  In this reform model, educators developed the curriculum, workbooks, and teacher guides from the grassroots level.  Of particular concern was the static or “fixed” nature of the previous model derived in the Escuela Nueva project that was thought to contribute to its diminishing success. This was considered in the Guatemala project by enabling the curriculum to be flexible, relevant and current.  To further increase the effectiveness and relevance of the curriculum, Guatemalan educators also created bilingual materials. These models, along with others, may serve to demonstrate to educators and policy makers how they can better educate those that are marginalized by our society.

Reference:

Kline, R. (2002).  A model for improving rural schools: Escuela Nueva in Colombia and Guatemala. Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE), 2(2), 170-181. Retrieved from             http://www.tc.columbia.edu/CICE

Resource Five:

In the Assembly of First Nations document, “First nation control of first nation education: It’s our vision, it’s our time”, the Assembly provides a blueprint for self-determination of the First Nation’s educational program across Canada.  In it, they request the right to control a diverse and holistic program of education in which their community members are taught local knowledge and curriculum that is based on their beliefs, values and traditions in their native language.

This desire to study their local knowledge, beliefs, values and traditions in their native language is significant.   As Deyhle et al. mentioned previously, it is through a people’s native language that their culture is given context, a “sort of filter” through which they can better connect to their world and understand their community (p. 338).

Reference:

Assembly of First Nations. (December, 2009). First Nation control of First Nation education: It’s our vision, it’s our time. Retrieved from http://64.26.129.156/calltoaction/Documents/FNCFNE.pdf

 In conclusion, these articles, models, and calls for self-determination by the Indigenous Nations indicates the need for Indigenous education to be specific to local communities and consist of the involvement of the community and their cultural artifacts to pick up where books and teacher’s knowledge leaves off.  In Farrell’s and Kline’s articles, they provide real situations that indicate how to counter globalized education and further colonization, and create improved learning for Indigenous students.

Cheers, Steve MacKenzie

The focus of my weblogs will be on Indigenous loss of access and connection to their histories, culture and language within the educational system and how technology and educational reform can play a role in decolonizing, democratizing and reforming their educational experiences. In today’s global educational culture of standardized curriculum and educational practices including transmissive and rote styles, learning is often irrelevant and disconnected from local cultures, knowledge, or everyday activities.  Because of this, students become disconnected, alienated and further colonized by the system.  This disconnection is not only seen in Indigenous students, but also presents a problem among all students.  When any knowledge is removed from context, it becomes fragmented and disconnected from the student’s knowledge of the world.  This leaves them with limited ability to integrate the curricular knowledge into their existing experiences, knowledge patterns and previous understandings thereby resulting in the failure to participate and create meaningful learning.  However, for the purposes of this course, I will be focussing on this disconnect among Indigenous youth and the ways that schools might minimize these problems using techniques and technology.

Realistically, we live in the 21^st century of globalization through immigration, internet, multiculturalism, and political power structures.  Because these aspects of our society have made isolation and sheltered communities almost impossible, as educators, we need to look for solutions that exist in a post-colonization world in which we can encourage individual’s open and critical thinking about their own identities, cultural knowledge and understanding of the world. One of the ways that provides promise is the new initiative called constructivist learning in which individuals guide their own learning process and find their own meaning.  With the use of the internet, resources offered by their local communities and a sensitive and integrated educational system, Indigenous students may have a chance to self-determine their own post-colonization cultural identities.

Cheers, Steve MacKenzie