Category Archives: General

My Final Project

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For my final project I decided to look at how Modern Metis communities are using technology for Self-representation and Self-Determination.  I provided a brief history of the Metis and their struggles as well as a current snap shop of the progress that the Metis have made and continue to make.

My Presentation is a Prezi titled: The Metis Looking Back, Moving Forward and it is viewable here: http://prezi.com/j0zgljcejwdb/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy

Direct Link Here: The Metis Looking Back, Moving Forward

Thanks everyone, this course has been a wonderful experience.

Final Project – Gaming as a Strategy for Revitalization of Culture

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For my final project I wanted to capture the struggles of the indigenous peoples of Fort McKay, Alberta while shining a light on one strategy often overlooked at engaging youth: videogames.

I believe that while there have been positive changes made to curriculum to become more culturally sensitive, there is still a long way to go. The environment of schooling needs to change, and one strategy which engages many youth, while immersing them in a different virtual landscapes, is gaming.

As First Nations people fight to retain their culture and traditions, we can’t ignore the impacts of white culture upon youth. Embracing technology, videogames could be one method to help draw in youth who struggle to be successful in western approaches to education. Dovetailing videogames with curricula focused on traditional and contemporary indigenous practices could help ensure that the next generation is sensitive to the challenges and pressures that dominant culture puts upon minority groups.

I hope you enjoy my documentary style movie. Due to it’s length (22 minutes) it is captured in two parts. Be sure to set the quality to high resolution to get the maximum experience from this viewing.

To view the full transcript of my movie, with complete set of references, click here.
Mel Burgess.

Keith Greenhalf – Final Project

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Hi Everyone,

I wanted to challenge myself to do something creative for the final project. I wanted to create a project that dealt with fostering Aboriginal student success. When I started researching and looking into how I could tie it to technology I realized that technology itself had little to do with student success. It was the philosophy behind tying the student, community, and school together that leads to a positive environment for aboriginal students. My project begins with a statement exploring closing the digital divide for aboriginal students. I then created a video along with a presentation and a brochure with the idea that it could be something a school could learn from to create a change in approach toward helping Aboriginal students.

I collaborated the project in a website.

https://sites.google.com/site/aboriginalstudentsuccess/

Enjoy the Holidays!

Keith Greenhalf

Module 4 Post 5

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This is a link to the Canadian gov’t page for Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada. Though the site has a lot of information that does not pertain to residential schools in Canada, there is a fair amount of information here that does pertain to the history and progress being made currently (if we can yet call it progress). A number of links can be found on this site which are beneficial with further researching this topic.

The link goes directly to the page(s) dealing with residential schools.

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100015576/1100100015577

Module 4 Post 4

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At the Edge of Canada: Indigenous Research is a blog that aims to promote a better understanding of indigenous peoples and the issues they face. This is a 30 minute independent radio documentary on the ‘cultural genocide’ of the residential school system in Canada. The author of the site is a professor at the University of Manitoba.

http://www.attheedgeofcanada.com/2013/11/canadian-indian-residential-schools-as.html

Module 4.5. First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning

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The First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning Model “represents the link between First Nations lifelong learning and community well-being, and can be used as a framework for measuring success in lifelong learning.”

A living tree is the symbol that represents the process of holistic lifelong learning. The tree encompasses the different cycles and elements upon which individual learning experiences are based. The well-being of the community depends on these individual learning experiences.

According to the model, holistic learning occurs through a circular activity where everything is interconnected (as opposed to the classic “linear” theory of learning based on cause-effect dynamics): Learning is formed through language, tradition, nature, family, elders, ancestors, community, etc. All these elements are interdependent and the absence of one element would destabilize the whole learning process.

The trunk of the tree represents the linking segment that connects Indigenous knowledge with Western knowledge. The core of the trunk is made of a series of rings that symbolize individual development: spiritual, emotional, physical and mental. The rings symbolize the continuity of learning that starts at birth and continues throughout life.

Source: http://www.ccl-cca.ca/CCL/Reports/RedefiningSuccessInAboriginalLearning/index.html

 

 

 

 

Module 4. Post 4 – “Werde! and Ya minyah.”

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This week we read Faye Ginsburg’s “Rethinking the Digital Age”. Within this article was a detailed description of a website called “US Mob“. The site appeared to be loaded with good material for my final project – I was immediately interested in finding out more about it’s interactive nature, how it represents Aboriginee culture in Australia, what affordances it presents to its audience, how it allows the user to move through it’s game-like interactivity and bring about increased knowledge of the indigenous peoples of Australia…

Alas, my hopes have been dashed.

This site, while still active, leads to many dead end links. In fact, I have clicked every single link on their homepage and none work. I get….”Oops! Google Chrome could not connect to www.usmob.com.au”

This experience is a powerful one when reflecting upon Ginsburg’s article. We often describe the internet as a place to represent knowledge and perhaps influence culture, yet, the sites which hold information can be removed without warning and poof! – knowledge, representation, revitalization efforts, are all gone.

It makes me wonder if this move to break all the links from this site was…
1. Purposeful? Was the site just not attracting enough attention?
2. Driven by corporate interests? Was funding pulled to maintain and improve upon the site?
3. Temporary? Is my experience due to maintenance on the site with all links to be re-established in a moment?
4. Software driven? Is my device too new? Too old? Not supportive of the media necessary to run the interactivites of the site?

This experience also makes me reflect on the idea of “permanence” on the internet. Some believe that what is posted online lasts forever. Perhaps this example is just one of many that what is posted online is subject to change just like the rest of our natural world.

In an effort to find the truth, I have emailed the contact reported on the site. I hope for news, but expect none – another pre-determined conclusion from past experiences of attempts to get in touch with “contacts” reported on websites….

Only to find my communication has been put into the proverbial “e-bottle” and cast out into the cyber-abyss.

Mel Burgess.

Module #4 – Post #4: Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace

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With a focus on storytelling and indigenous culture and values, AbTeC is a unique hub that provides academics, artists and technologists with a network in which to share ideas, developments in technology and digital art, as well as applications of technology for educational purposes. The projects supported by AbTeC are largely geared towards empowering indigenous youth to celebrate and enrich their cultural traditions through new media technologies that allow students to create their own video games and interactive web pages.

The website also provides a lengthy biography of artists, scholars and technicians who have worked with communities, schools and universities to assist in the development of new media projects and curricula, in addition to links to AbTeC related research and case studies that examine the impact of technology on education and Aboriginal youth.

Module 3/Posting 5

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One of the most interesting sources that I have come across is the following one:

http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/canada/decolonizing-co-management-northern-canada

In spite of the fact that it is not dealing with the education issue but it does with a lot of important issues that are related directly to the aboriginal people in Nunavut. The interesting thing about this study is that it offers instant solutions of the decolonizing process. Also what makes this study ( article) unique is the fact that it deals with the co-management of the Northern Territories and how that is resisted or rejected by the aboriginal people. A lot of ideas can be learned from this article. These ideas can explain why the aboriginal resist the co-management in their society.