Massive Open Online Course (MOOC): Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education
- This course helps participants envision how Indigenous histories, perspectives, worldviews, and approaches to learning can be made part of the work they do in classrooms, organizations, communities, and our everyday experiences in ways that are thoughtful and respectful.
- Reconciliation as a lens for the course emphasizes changing institutional structures, practices, and policies, as well as personal and professional ideologies to create environments that are committed to strengthening our relationships with Indigenous peoples.
- This MOOC is comprised of 6 units and is offered October 2017, January 2018, and October 2018. Available through edx.org.
Participant Responses to the Course:
“I chose to participate in the 6-week Reconciliation
through Indigenous Education course offered by UBC initially to educate myself on ways to indigenize our nursing curriculum, but upon reflection, I realized that my participation was a journey of personal reconciliation. As Starleigh Grass, one of the presenters in the course, argues, “The act of teaching about or learning about residential schools yourself as an educator is an act of reconciliation in and of itself.” This course is exemplary on so many levels – from the plethora of rich, authentic, and diverse resources, including multimedia and stories of indigenous knowledge keepers and educational leaders to the course design with use of creative constructivist learning strategies. Presented in a holistic manner, the course helped me to look at the world through an indigenous lens and come to better understand the importance of history, worldviews, ways of knowing, stories, relationship to land and place, and positive relationships with indigenous learners, their families and the communities in which they live.” Denise Nelson (Instruction Designer, Faculty of Nursing, University of Regina)
“I recently took your MOOC Course, Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education,” and it changed my practice and lit a fire under me.” Kirsten (Early Childhood Educator)
Aboriginal Family and Community Literacy Curriculum
- I am Principal Investigator of this grant for which I received $283K to develop an Aboriginal Family and Community Literacy Curriculum (AFCLC) consisting on 8 learning units that builds literacy knowledge and skills of Aboriginal staff, parents and educators who are engaged in designing, implementing, and evaluating family literacy programs that support Aboriginal children, youth and families.
- It is project that was developed in partnership with the Aboriginal Head Start Association of BC (AHSBC).
- We have delivered the curriculum to over 40 Aboriginal Head Start sites across Canada.
- Current research extending from the project examines the role of literacy in Aboriginal families and potential of early intervention programs to support early and family literacy experiences.
Aboriginal Early Learning Immersion Certificate Program
- This certificate program will provide training in Aboriginal language immersion education to language speakers working in early childhood education (ECE) contexts. The certificate program is made up of five 3.0 credit courses that have been designed for mixed mode delivery.
- Developed in consultation with BC Aboriginal Child Care Society and UBC second language educators.
- As Principal Investigator, the project received $98K from Ministry of Advanced Training in Education (Aboriginal Special Projects), organizing consultations, hiring and meeting with curriculum writers, organizing course reviews and promoting the certificate in ECE communities.
EDUC 440: Aboriginal Education in Canada and Teaching Learning Enhancement Fund Online Learning Resource (currently under revision)
- Developed the newly required teacher education course in the Faculty of Education at UBC.
- Course development based on broad faculty consultation.
- This website is a digital learning resource aimed at supporting the teaching and professional development of educators in Aboriginal/Indigenous education. This online learning tool is intended to promote the place of Indigenous knowledges, knowledge holders, and pedagogies in schools and communities that will enrich classroom experiences for all learners. Educators are encouraged to utilize the broad range of resources that are organized according to eight topics relevant to current issues in Indigenous education. Unique to this online website is the focus on Indigenous perspectives, curricular resources (e.g. links, texts, children’s literature), multimedia, and literature that link theory to practice.