1. As far as I understood Issa and Isaias (2015), usability determines the value of technology and shows its ability to do the task it has been developed for quickly and with minimum efforts. Woolgar (1990) added a “versatility” to this description, and I would amount “reinvention” because of recuring nature of teaching English to international students and fast-changing technology. I will illustrate it with the YouTube video which primarily aim was English speaking; however, I successfully used its content to review Simple tenses and non-action verbs, i.e., grammar, as well as vocabulary (Learn English with Rebecca – engVid, 2014).
2. Issa and Isaias (2015) treat technology as a business product that a designer first gives to the supposed users for testing. It is a seller-buyer relationship for the writers, and it is not like that in school, even in online classes. The teacher can be a designer, or they can use a technological product created by someone else (a movie, an application, an electronic dictionary etc.). Whether education is student-centred or participatory, the teacher is always a user who constantly experiments and decides what works with certain students. Educational usability therefore, is a characteristic of an educational tool, its ability to suit the evolving learning needs of a teacher and students. For the classroom, the teacher decides what is currently usable and what can be usable in the future, not a product designer or student.
3. The aim of the final experiment described by Woolgar (1990) was to evaluate the documentation accompanying the product by setting the participants to read and follow those manuals’ instructions. I believe “configuring users” meant turning this quasi-experiment into less controlled product-testing by providing assistance that participants were not supposed to get in their natural environment. I liked how quickly a complicated diagram was redrew after getting informal feedback (p. 76), or how Woolgar himself was hesitant to buy the product because he knew its strengths and weaknesses all too well (p. 78). The innovators seemed to do their best, and I kept remembering a “Halt and Catch Fire” TV series while reading the resource. I have been teaching English and creating exercises since mid-90s, and I am quite confident in my ability to set and reach the academic goals. I look at usability from the educator’s point of view, and a computer is a tool for me, “a thing that gets us to the thing” (Cantwell & Rogers, 2014-2017). I am also very interested in students’ position on effective educational tools.
4. Two citations in general are about different stages of a product creation. In particular, the first one describes its trial or “usability evaluation stage” (Issa & Isaias, 2015, p. 29) of the software development. It focuses more on the product. I can relate to this stage of the development process in this way: when the ESL students and I are using the new educational technique that I created, I can see if it is effective and efficient, whether it helps me reach our short-term and long-term goals, and what can be done to make it better (to shorten the text, add a visual, change the mode of the activity or order of exercises etc.). I also keep in mind that with other students this same set of exercises might have a different outcome, so numerous trials will bring more trustworthy results. The second citation is about earlier stages of development, its planning and pre-production. As Issa and Isaias (2015) put it, a designer should consider “future users’ needs, values, and supportable tasks” (p. 21), so it centres less on a product and more on its target audience. In the educational context, it is also applicable to the content of an academic program. Educators “arrange” both students and the program (with its methods of delivery) at the beginning of the semester, applying the diagnostic tests, discussing their results with the students and reaching a consensus with them regarding future studies. If students can be divided into groups based on their level of proficiency, it will be even better. Those Woolgar’s constraints turn into an educational range then – who will study what and how. In a way, I configure students every day, for example, when I forbid them using non-action verbs in Progressive or their smartphones during a test. Outside the classroom, students can do whatever they want with their English and gadgets, but during the lessons we follow the rules. 

 References

Cantwell, Ch., & Rogers, Ch. (Producers). (2014-2017). Halt and Catch Fire [Television series]. AMC. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2543312/

Issa, T. & Isaias, P. (2015). Sustainable design: Hci, usability and environmental concerns. Springer. https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/978-1-4471-6753-2.pdf

Learn English with Rebecca – engVid. (2014, Feb. 3). Speaking English – 8 ways to be positive & encourage others. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xz7C7TRRbo&t=76s

Woolgar, S. (1990). Configuring the user: The case of usability trials. The Sociological Review, 38(1_suppl), 58-99. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-954X.1990.tb03349.x

My introduction to Indigenous culture was probably unconventional – across the ocean and through ideology and literature. I grew up in Eastern Europe, and the earliest acquaintance with First Nations was made through transformative art – relatives telling me fascinating stories about freedom-loving Indians that they knew from the books and movies of the Soviet Union era. Later, I took up reading and discovered the translated books about a war between the French and the British forces in North America, in particular, at the Great Lakes area.

Therefore, the most applicable Ontario educational history-related resources that unite the past and present for me in the most comfortable way will be the Leatherstoking Tales by J. F. Cooper as well as any truthful readings on internationalism and socialism. I would say that Wikipedia entries will do to refresh the memories and systematize everything anew.

So, back in the day, James Fenimore Cooper, an American writer hugely popular in the Soviet Union, told me the stories about First Nations of 18^th century: their way of life, places they traveled, their friends and enemies, their morale, their love for life, courage, perseverance, children and Ontario.

I realize that Cooper’s books, so called historical romances, were fictional works as opposed to impartial chronicles. But I consider the author’s style quite objective because he described Indigenous people the way any nation can be described – with decent and rotten folks mixed together, the same man being good and bad at the different stages of his life or while interacting with different people etc.

I am glad to know that Wikipedia similarly points out that James Fenimore Cooper “published numerous social, political, and historical works of fiction and non-fiction with the objective of countering European prejudices and nurturing an original American art and culture” (“James Fenimore Cooper,” 2022).

I also understand that everyone who was poor and socially oppressed through their own history was hailed a hero in the Soviet Union, and because of that only books favourable to First Nations would be published there. Accordingly, I was raised pro-Indian, internationalist, with vivid pictures of rich Ontario nature and deep respect for minorities and the underrepresented in general. Now I hold a PhD and Post-PhD in Education with my research focusing on modern Ukrainian higher education and West European universities.

This European and Soviet Union background and the fact that I currently live in Canada bring me to an interesting question about immigrants to the Western world and “white guilt”.  For example, I am a first-generation immigrant to Canada. I come from predominantly white Ukraine that had neither colonies, nor Aboriginal people on its territory. I am aware that I have nothing to apologize for, and I feel great dealing with people of all races and walks of life here in Canada. As a human being, I am terrified that so many young and innocent lives were lost in those residential schools of the past.

But after I live in Canada longer and feel more Canadian than Ukrainian, will I start experiencing this fathom guilt too? And if I have kids here, will they bear this collective responsibility because their mother is white? If yes, where does this guilty feeling come from? Is it territorial, to be inherited together with the place of birth or living? Does it mean that any land has this mystical connection with people dwelling on it, or is it just an economical tool to explore?

It is mind-blowing how everything is intertwined on this planet – history, literature, ideology, ethics, religion, sociology, biology, pedagogy, psychology etc. I will be happy to read the responses on land acknowledgement from other Ontarians too, especially from the immigrants. Will there be an option for the group members to exchange their Indigenous experiences?

Regarding the terminology, I used the terms “Indian”, “Aboriginal” and “Native” in my native languages. The words “Indigenous” and “First Nations” were less common in Ukraine.

As for this course and my aims in it, I tried to start my UBC studies with ETEC 511 because it is logical to begin with the foundations. Unfortunately, registration for this course proved to be tricky, but I am here finally and look forward to learning theory and practice of everything digital. Another aim, not any less important, is to improve my English. Writing is considered the most difficult of basic language skills, and I will be happy to practice it as much as possible.

References

James Fenimore Cooper (2022, May 9). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_Fenimore_Cooper&action=history