For millennia, Indigenous pedagogies have situated learners as autonomous agents who chose their own learning path and goals. Teachings are offered through stories or experiential opportunities that have an open structure so learners can actively find themselves in the moment and build their own understanding. Similarly, but much more recently, Western educators have begun to champion Heutagogy as a new form of self-determined learning that fits well with and is facilitated by technology. Proponents describe heutagogical approaches as a form of ‘knowledge sharing’ that places student knowledge and understanding at the centre of the learning experience. This is different from teacher-centered, transmission-based learning experiences that encourage ‘knowledge hoarding’. Both Indigenous pedagogy and heutagogy take an agentic approach, allowing the student to become more self-aware, self-directed, and self-determined in their learning which in turn, helps to promote a deeper, more intrinsic, and meaningful understanding of the content being learned.
The presenters will explore how integrating these approaches can help learners improve their understanding and engagement with reconciliation. Beyond simply digitizing/including Indigenous content and resources in a course, their work intentionally incorporates activities that are interactive and personally reflective, allowing the learner to journey through the content while making connections to their own personal prior learning and understanding. The presentation will discuss the process of designing a course and/or learning activities that incorporate the concept of ‘double-loop’ learning. By providing opportunities for growth and personal reflection, students will be able to understand and experience reconciliation as a relevant and achievable academic goal. For educators who are looking to better understand how to move beyond teaching facts about Indigenous Peoples, this is an emerging opportunity to help people find their own personal connection with and to the Indigenous Peoples of Canada.
Moderator:
- Dr. Carmen Sicilia, Associate Professor & Director Indigenous Relations, McGill University School of Continuing Studies
Presenters:
- Dr. Stryker Calvez, Manager, Indigenous Education Initiatives, University of Saskatchewan
- Nazreen Beaulieu, Instructional Design Assistant, University of Saskatchewan
CAUCE Community of Practice: Indigenous & Decolonizing Programming
Date: February 23, 2021, 1:30 pm – 2:30 pm ET