Designing
Reflecting on the potential for M-Learning in Rural Indigenous Communities I wrote this paper while in the course Indigeneity, Technology, and Education (ETEC 521). This was one of the most important classes I took during my MET journey, as it really opened my eyes to the injustice that Indigenous people face in obtaining an education in Canada while also maintaining a connection to their land and cultures. I thought that it was important that I included this paper under the designing section of my ePortfolio because while it could easily fit under the other two categories, particularly analyzing. However, design is not always visual, design can be anything innovative, including learning solutions. Designs can be in many varying mediums, including the written word. I wrote this paper about the potential M-learning has in rural Indigenous communities in the hope of preserving community values through constructivist practice. Many Canadians are unaware that many Indigenous people have limited access to quality education on their own land.
In Alberta, and particularly Calgary (where I am located), Indigenous reserves are close to main cities. Tsuu T'ina Nation is practically in my backyard, so until this course I was unaware of the struggles certain Indigenous people face, such as in provinces like Ontario, because in Calgary the people of Tsuu T'ina have easy access to public education. In many rural Northern Ontario Indigenous communities, youth are unable to attend High School and remain living at home. At 15 years old, many of them have to move to Thunder Bay and live with strangers in order to finish High School. Not only does this leave students at risk without parental care, but it separates them from their culture and sense of identity - which is closely connected to land (CBC The National, 2017). As Hare (2011) explained, “...indigenous knowledge is intimately connected to land.” This paper helped me to brainstorm potential tools and solutions that could assist Indigenous people in being able to access education while remaining in their communities. I focused on Mobile Learning (M-Learning) as a potential solution in helping with access to education and in preserving Indigenous culture and identity. Some aspects of M-Learning that I discussed were:
Overall this paper showed me that there is potential to apply what I have learned in MET (tools, strategies, etc.) to create possible solutions and designs for challenging situations such as rural Indigenous education in Canada. However, it is important to remember that, ultimately, for these strategies and designs to have the chance at success, the communities in which we design for must be brought into the discussion. If my ideas from this paper went beyond the design stage into implementation, I would have to bring my ideas forward to the Indigenous communities. I would need to involve elders into the discussion, as they offer knowledge that I, as an outsider, will never possess - and this knowledge is critical for accomplishing educational improvement. Otherwise, we risk Indigenous perspectives being pushed into the margins, and we risk continuing the cycle of colonialism (Marker, 2006).
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DesigningDesigning is about creativity and about thinking outside of the box to create innovative tools and solutions for intended learners. Design is an important aspect of TPCK as "...design experiments narrow the gap between research and practice, between theory and application" (Mishra & Koehler, 2006, p. 1019). As well, as Mishra and Koehler (2006) discussed, when "...given opportunities to thoughtfully engage in the design of educational technology, teachers showed tremendous growth in their sensitivity to the complex interactions among content, pedagogy, and technology, thus developing their TPCK" (p. 1046). Designing is critical to understanding the connection between learners, teaching strategies, information, and technological tools.
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