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EDCI 532 Assignment 3: Curricular Praxis

by Joanna Lake

On July 27, 2020

In Curriculum Studies, edci532, tiegrad

My first assignment depicted curriculum as a mechanism of privilege and power, whereby “…Curricular legislation determined who benefited and who was excluded from educational discourse…an attempt to assimilate and destroy First Nations, Metis and Inuit cultures; one that forced a curriculum of European values including colonial languages and religions, and subsequently harmed the cultural identity of Indigenous Peoples…” This interpretation of curriculum was influenced by Blade’s (1997) article “Procedures of power in a curriculum discourse: conversations from home.”

Drawing from philosophers Foucault and Cherryholmes, Blade posits that “[curricular] discourse exists through rules that define what is excluded and what is valued,” (pp. 130-131) and that these rules are historically defined by people in positions of power. When I viewed curriculum as a discourse that becomes a defined set of policy or rules, I was able to see not only what is left out of our teachings, but also who is excluded from this process that determines what and how our students learn.

However, after further exploring curricular development and theory, I think my previous metaphor is limited in that it does not account for future iterations of curriculum as discourse, document, or development. My first metaphor, although accurate in its portrayal of curriculum being rooted in Eurocentric value systems, does not account for two important ideas:

Curriculum as evolving
The possibility of a decolonized curriculum that would dismantle current power and privilege structures.

To me, curriculum represents transformative reflection, as it is ever-changing and adapting to our current socio-political ideals. Although it may seem limiting as a document, or a set of guidelines to follow, curricular theory has the capacity to create more open ways of thinking and doing in education. As our discourse evolves, and new thinking emerges and challenges current perspectives, we can amend curricular documents to better reflect our current curricular development. I explore these ideas through the example of the British Columbia government’s recent (2014) decision to revise the entire K-12 curricula.

BC’s older model of curriculum was structured in a manner that placed high importance on content, prescribed learning outcomes, and the evaluation of these objectives. This curricular rationale is based on Tyler’s (1950) structuralist curriculum development model, which, although critiqued by many poststructuralist scholars, remains reflected in westernized school curriculum (Tilley & Taylor, 2013). This “curriculum-as-plan” (Aoki,1991, 2005) can be seen as an idealist and generalized perspective of the realities of the daily classroom experience. Aoki further comments on the “ tensionality that emerges, in part, from indwelling in a zone between two curriculum worlds: the worlds of curriculum-as-plan and curriculum-as-lived-experiences” (1991, 2004, p.159). When the curricular document leaves out the “lived” experiences, Educators are left to reconcile the tensions between these two worlds; as meeting the needs of our learners may or may not align with curricular content on any given day.

In their re-envisioning of the curriculum, the government of British Columbia seems to reflect upon the values of lived curriculum. Gone are the long lists of prescribed learning outcomes, and in their place, big ideas, curricular competencies, and content suggestions. The student experience is at the core of the curriculum, and the educator is more freely able to use their judgement and autonomy to plan for individual student needs. Furthermore, as part of Canada’s reconciliation efforts with Indigenous (First Nations, Metis, and Inuit) peoples, the curriculum has embedded content that attempts to highlight Indigenous culture in BC, and the rest of Canada. Although implemented with the best of intentions, this content exemplifies the tensions that exist between “curriculum-as-plan and curriculum as lived” (Aoki, 1991, 2004).

Scholars such as Donald (2009) investigate the racial tensions in the educational system, which impact what is included in curriculum, and why certain topics are excluded or avoided. Donald suggests that many settler educators believe they are not equipped to teach about cultures that are different from their own ancestry, essentially “retreat[ing] behind the comforting shelter of real or passive ignorance” (p.32). This ‘cultural disqualification’ argument exists due to the colonial narrative that has shaped our perception of history, and has led to Indigenous knowledge being viewed as “outside” the realms of westernized systems. This perception enables educators to resist engagement with Indigenous forms of knowledge, as this pedagogy is “unknowable to insiders, and incommensurate with any formal public education endeavours” (Donald, p. 36).

As a way to mitigate this problematic tension, Donald suggests the practice of “ethical relationality” (p.38) which fosters new understandings by dismantling the belief that culture should be assimilated, and instead places value on the similarities and differences between cultures. Further, this conceptualization involves Indigenous teachers and scholars “reeducating” the public in order to place importance and value on Indigenous knowledge systems. Donald stresses the importance of “respectful engagement, beginning with building relationships outside of one’s own identifiable group,” as the re-framing of Indigenousness “is the first step toward decolonization” (p.39). A decolonized curriculum has the potential to disrupt and dismantle the curricular system, and would yet again, reflect what we value, and what is important, in education.

References

Aoki, T.T. (2004). Teaching as In-dwelling Between Two Curriculum Worlds. In Irwin, R. & Pinar, W. (Eds,) Curriculum in a new key:The collected works of Ted T. Aoki (pp.159-167). Routledge. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.4324/9781410611390

Blades, D. (1997). Procedures of power in a curriculum discourse: Conversations from home. JCT, 11(4), 125-155.

Donald, D. (2009). The curricular problem of Indigenousness: colonial frontier logics, teacher resistances, and the acknowledgement of ethical space. In Nahachewsky, J., & Johnston, I. (Eds.), Beyond ‘presentism’: Re-imagining the historical, personal, and social places of curriculum (pp. 23-41). Sense Publishers.

Pinar, W. (2008). Curriculum theory since 1950: crisis, reconceptualization, internationalization. In Connelly, F.M, He, M.F. & Phillion, J. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of curriculum and instruction (pp. 491-513). SAGE Publications, Inc.. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412976572

Tyler, R.W (2013). Basic principles of curriculum and instruction. In Tilley, S., & Taylor, L. Understanding curriculum as lived: Teaching for social justice and equity goals, Race Ethnicity and Education, 16:3, 406-429. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2011.645565

Featured Image: Faye Cornish on Unsplash

emoji smiling face with audio, video, image, and text icons.

Critical Evaluation of Created Resource

by Joanna Lake

On July 26, 2020

In edci565, Learning Design, tiegrad

When curating resources about digital accessibility, we were careful to ensure that the resources we were recommending were of high-quality, and would be useful for educators. With this goal in mind, we evaluated all recommended resources using the CRAAP test.

When creating our own resource for educators, we knew that others may be evaluating this resource via a process similar to the CRAAP test, and consciously made an effort to ensure our resource would pass the test.

Currency

In the digital world, information and best practices can change rapidly, so it’s important to ensure that the information you are consuming and/or presenting to others is up-to-date. As our resource was just created and has a publication date of July 26, 2020, it will appear current to our audience. All recommendations within our resource are backed up by the most recent version of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).

Relevance

When deciding what our resource would be, we re-examined our original learning outcomes:

Educators will be able to consider the broader implications of using web accessible content.
Educators will be able to create/co-create and share resources that meet web accessibility standards.

It made the most sense for us to weave these outcomes together as one resource with several pieces that were specific to each outcome. By creating videos that showed what some users experience while navigating digital content, our hope is that educators will be able to understand why accessibility is integral to creating online content. Moreover, by including brief overviews of how to make various forms of content accessible, and by creating a well-organized, clear, and concise checklist, we want educators to feel confident using and finding accessibility tools when creating their own resources and assessing curated content against accessibility standards.

Authority

Knowing who has authored a resource is important in determining its credibility, so we have taken steps to ensure that anybody who accesses our resource knows who the authors are, as well as their qualifications. Not only is it clear on the website as a whole that this project has been created by M.Ed students studying at the University of Victoria, but we have also outlined our personal qualifications as M.Ed students and educators using the bio field that shows up at the bottom of the post.

Accuracy

In creating our resources, we made every effort to ensure the accuracy of our information. Particularly in this specific context, inaccurate information could result in the creation of resources with accessibility barriers.

All recommendations provided within our resource align with the most recent WCAG standards. They also align with the explanations and advice provided by WebAIM, a non-profit organization who is widely considered to be a leading accessibility resource, and with all the resources we curated as part of assignment 1.

Our resource was rigorously revised for clarity, copy edited for any errors, and classmates were provided with the opportunity to peer review the resource.

Purpose

Our purpose in creating this resource is purely education. We want to help educators build awareness and understanding of what digital accessibility means and who it impacts, and to inform and teach educators of the basic principles and techniques of creating accessible digital content. We first wanted to build empathy for people who face barriers to access, so that educators could learn and appreciate why resources need to be made with accessibility in mind. Therefore, we created videos that demonstrated various barriers to access. After each video, sections of text explained how to mitigate the barriers so that educators can create accessible resources in their own classrooms. Finally, we chose to create and include an accessibility checklist for educators to use when determining the appropriateness of their resources.

By: Joanna Lake and Nicole Crozier

Featured Image: Joanna Lake

Critical Review of Resource and Summary of Research

by Joanna Lake

On July 26, 2020

In edci565, Learning Design, tiegrad

Assignment 3a: Critical review of resource

Online learning opportunities have been growing in number since the early 1990s, and online learning is often said to increase access to education (Hashey & Stahl, 2014). However, many of the content types and technologies used for online learning come with accessibility challenges that can leave students with disabilities at the margins of online education (Burgstahler, Corrigan and McCarter, 2004; Hashey & Stahl, 2014). For our project, we wanted to create a resource that would ultimately help reduce the accessibility barriers many students face when interacting with digital content.

When looking at accessibility and digital content in education, there seems to be two major problems: First, many educators are not aware of the accessibility issues that digital content might present, and don’t understand how many students with disabilities may access and navigate content (Hashey & Stahl, 2014). Second, educators are unfamiliar with digital accessibility guidelines and practices, and therefore do not take the simple steps needed to increase the accessibility of their content (Hashey & Stahl, 2014). Additionally, many educators still view individual accommodations as the main method for ensuring content is accessible to students with disabilities. In reality, creating accessible digital content both ensures that students with disabilities are included, and also makes content more accessible for all students (Cifuentes et al., 2016).

As a first step in our project, we wanted to increase awareness of the accessibility issues that digital content might present. We wanted to force educators to think beyond how they experienced and navigated digital content themselves, and to understand the experiences of others. To do this, we created a series of videos that demonstrated what most able-bodied educators would expect that experience of interacting with a piece of content to be, and then also demonstrated a variety of other experiences students may be having while interacting with that content. We chose to do this through a video series so that educators could be immersed in the experience, rather than simply reading about it. This approach will enhance an educator’s awareness and remembering of the issue, and increase their level of empathy (Levett-Jones et al., 2017).

As a second step in this project, we wanted to inform educators of basic digital accessibility guidelines and practices. Audio, video, text and images have been identified as the most common formats for presenting content in digital learning environments, and so were the areas in which we focused (Hashey & Stahl, 2014). These formats also aligned with our review of the web content accessibility guidelines (WCAG) and the research on accessibility barriers that students often face. Common accessibility issues cited in the research include: difficulty navigating content, videos without captions, audio without transcripts, and images without alt-text, among others (Burgstahler et al., 2004; Cifuentes et al., 2016; Hashey & Stahl, 2014).

The role of an educator is multi-faceted, and ensuring that resources and content are accessible is only a small, albeit very important, part of their overall role. For this reason, we wanted to make our resource as simple and straightforward as possible, and ensure our content contained language that was easily understood, and did not rely heavily on technical language. While many digital accessibility resources exist already, few are created with the educator in mind. With the goal of creating an educator-specific checklist, we made a blog post with clearly laid out categories and sections, each with its own bullet-pointed recommendations and guidelines. Separating the blog post into the four categories outlined above allows an educator to quickly identify the content type they wish to learn about, without having to wade through information that may not be relevant to their current project. We chose to convey recommendations and guidelines via bullet point to be as direct as possible about the steps educators would take to create accessible content. Where relevant, we also included information about the impact that our recommendations would have, both for students with disabilities and for all learners.

There is an overwhelming amount of information available regarding creating accessible content. An educator may have the best of intentions when viewing our video series and reading our blog post resource, but will likely not remember all the accessibility practices they should implement the next time they create a resource, perhaps several weeks or even months later. For this reason, we also compiled a quick accessibility checklist for educators. This checklist outlines the accessibility recommendations, broken down by content type, quickly and succinctly, with no further information, and is intended to be used by educators to double-check the accessibility of digital content before disseminating to students.

Assignment 3b: Summary of research findings

The research on accessibility in education addresses why accessibility needs to be implemented in digital learning environments, and how to ensure accessibility standards and practices are followed when creating course content.

Why

Research suggests that although online instruction can be a new site of rich learning experiences, many online resources are inaccessible to a wide range of learners (Cifuentes, et al., 2016; Gronseth, 2018; Hashey & Stahl, 2014). This creates a barrier to learning for many students with disabilities, as well as for other learners that benefit from accessible resources.

The research recognizes that many institutions have inadequate supports in place to meet the need for accessibility (Cifuentes, et al., 2016). Educators are often not given the tools or knowledge to create accessible content, leaving them with the belief that making resources accessible can be time intensive, and requiring them to research guidelines and protocol surrounding accessibility on their own. These barriers can lead to an unwillingness to create accessible course content (Cifuentes, et al., 2016). However, the literature indicates that accessibility should always be viewed as fundamental to course design (Gronseth, 2018). As a possible solution, many researchers suggest that when instructors are designing digital learning environments, applying the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), along with the tenants of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) will have a positive impact on learner experience (Cifuentes, et al., 2016; Gronseth, 2018)..

How

It is widely advocated that in order to create accessible digital content, content should conform to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (Cifuentes, et al., 2016; Gronseth, 2018; Hashey and Stahl, 2014). Furthermore, the use of online accessibility checklists and “checkers” is encouraged when analyzing both created and curated resources (Cifuentes, et al., 2016; Hashey and Stahl, 2014). An example of this is using WebAIM’s online colour contrast checker, which will quickly assess if content meets the required contrast ratio to be considered accessible, or using the built in accessibility checkers in Microsoft Office or Google Docs (Gronseth, 2018; Hashey and Stahl, 2014). These checklists offer thorough and evaluative criteria of resources.

Gaps

The majority of research focused on online learning with regards to the higher education experience. Furthermore, the literature tended to focus on online tools, legislation, and recommendations for how educators could increase the accessibility of content. Research was lacking in the exploration of why educators are unfamiliar with accessibility concepts and effective strategies to teach about accessibility. Additionally, little research explores the implications that inaccessible content has on students with disabilities or delves into their personal learning experience.

References

Burgstahler, S., Corrigan, B., & McCarter, J. (2004). Making distance learning courses accessible to students and instructors with disabilities: A case study. The Internet and Higher Educuation, 7(3), 233-346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2004.06.004

Cifuentes, L., Janney, A., Guerra, L., & Weir, J. (2016). A working model for complying with accessibility guidelines for online learning. Techtrends, 60(6), 557-564. doi:10.1007/s11528-016-0086-8

Gronseth, S. (2018). Inclusive design for online and blended Courses. Educational Renaissance, 7(1), 14-22. https://doi.org/10.33499/edren.v7i1.114

Hashey, A. I., & Stahl, S. (2014). Making online learning accessible for students with disabilities. Teaching Exceptional Children, 46(5), 70-78. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1177/0040059914528329

Levett-Jones, T., Lapkin, S., Govind, N., Pich, J., Hoffman, K., Yeun-Sim Jeong, S., Norton, C.A., Noble, D., Maclellan, L., Robinson-Reilly, M., & Everson, N. (2017). Measuring the impact of a ‘point of view’ disability simulation on nursing students’ empathy using the Comprehensive State Empathy Scale. Nurse Education Today, 59, 75-81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2017.09.007

By Joanna Lake and Nicole Crozier

Featured Image: Joanna Lake

Creating Accessible Content: A Resource!

by Joanna Lake

On July 26, 2020

In edci532, edci565, Learning Design, tiegrad

We did a thing!

Creating our own resource was a challenge. Simply deciding on what we were going to create and how we were going present the resource took much longer than expected. But, working with Nicole (who always provided snacks) and creating this resource was a definite highlight for me.

Despite the fact that we all spend a lot of time living in a digital world, we’re taught rather little about digital accessibility. As a result, some digital content (websites, blogs, PDFs, Word documents, videos, etc.) is inaccessible.

This blog post contains videos that allow able-bodied educators to experience various barriers to accessibility, accessibility guidelines to mitigate each barrier, and a downloadable “Accessibility Checklist” for educators.

>> Download our Accessibility Checklist for Educators (PDF) <<

Accessible Images

Images can add a lot of value to digital content. Not only can they add visual interest, but they can also convey information and enhance comprehension for students. However, it’s important to ensure that all students can gain value from the images you choose to use. The following video (1:26) demonstrates how inaccessible images may appear to some students.

Alt-Text

If your digital content includes images, make sure you have written alt-text for all images displayed. On the internet, adding alt-text is almost always an option you are presented with when uploading a photo (and this includes on social media!).

Avoid starting your alt-text with “a picture of,” as the audience will already be aware that it’s a picture being described.
Your alt-text should describe the image in a way that helps your audience understand the purpose of the image. For example, your alt-text for a photo of a panda bear eating bamboo, may differ depending on context.

“Panda bear” may be appropriate alt-text if the image accompanies a short description of pandas on a website about animals native to Asia.

“Panda bear eating bamboo shoots” may be more appropriate alt-text if the image accompanies a description of what pandas eat.

Image Quality

Ensure that you are using high-quality images. Test your images before including in your resource to ensure they will not become pixelated when enlarged.

GIFs

GIFs have exploded in popularity over the past few years, and can add some fun and flair to digital content. However, if not implemented with care, GIFs can cause seizures and other responses for photosensitive individuals, such as those with epilepsy.

Set GIFs to stop or pause after five seconds. This allows students to experience the GIF, but eliminates constantly changing imagery. This helps photosensitive individuals, but also eliminates ongoing distractions for everyone!
Include alt-text with all GIFs, following the alt-text guidelines outlined above.
Avoid GIFs with lots of blinking and/or flashing lights and colours.

Accessible Multimedia

As multimedia, such as video and audio podcasts, become more popular in the classroom, it’s important that we ensure steps are being taken to make media accessible to all.

Video

As video has both visual and auditory elements, it can present a number of accessibility barriers for students. The following video (1:37) demonstrates how videos may appear to some students.

If you are creating a video, make sure your video has captions. If you are showing a video (in a class, for example), make sure you turn on the captions for the people watching.

If you’re hosting your video on YouTube, the platform will automatically caption your video (which is super convenient). However, they don’t input punctuation, and they’re not always 100% accurate, so you will need to go in and make edits.
Make sure your captions line up with the timing of the audio. It can be very confusing and jarring if the captions and audio are out of sync.
Make sure you caption all audio, not just dialogue. Other sounds that are relevant to the video should be noted in the caption as well (e.g. clapping, a ringing phone).
Don’t set video to auto-play. People who use screen readers navigate content by listening, and sound playing while the page loads will interfere with the user experience. Autoplay can also be problematic for people interacting with your content in public spaces.

Audio

Students who are deaf or hard of hearing, or students who are English language learners, may find audio content, such as podcasts, inaccessible to them. The following video (1:15) demonstrates how audio may present itself to some students.

If you’re creating content in an audio format, such as recording a podcast, it’s important to keep the following accessibility considerations in mind:

Include a transcript along with the audio. This will allow students who are deaf or hard of hearing to enjoy your content, and will also allow all students to skim the content, or use the search function, if they want to revisit a certain part of the podcast.
Audio should be clear, set at a consistent volume, with minimal to no unnecessary background noise
Audio should never be set to autoplay, as users using screenreaders navigate content by listening, and sound playing while a page loads will interfere with their experience.

Accessible Text

Text is a common way that information is conveyed to students, whether it’s through worksheets, notes on a subject, web pages or blog posts. The following video (1:50) demonstrates how some students might experience text-based content.

Headings

First and foremost, use headings to break up your text. This helps everybody. Headings allow people to quickly skim your content. They also allow people using screen readers to easily navigate your content.

Headings are not created by making text bold, capitalized, or underlined. You need to use the text styles and tags. In any word processing software, the text styles are generally found in the top ribbon. When creating content on websites and blogs, the text styles can generally be found in the top ribbon of the editor as well.
Heading 1 is generally used only once in a document/post, and that’s for the title.
Don’t skip heading levels. If your section header is heading two, then your sub-section should use heading three, and so on.

Hyperlinks

Hyperlinks are abundant in the digital world, and quite frankly, they’re super helpful when done in a way that is accessible.

The text of your hyperlink should be written in a way so that you can read only the hyperlinked text, and still understand what you’ll find behind the link. Hyperlinking phrases like “click here” or “learn more” should be avoided.
In general, don’t hyperlink a full URL. Typically, they aren’t fun to read and don’t always provide a good indication of what you’ll find. There are times when hyperlinking a full URL is valid, but use it sparingly.
In general, don’t set your hyperlinks to open in a new window or tab. They should be set to open in the window/tab you are currently in for several reasons:
- Novice web users may not realize that a new tab has been opened, or might have difficulties switching between multiple open tabs. This difficulty is often enhanced when using a mobile phone.
- For those who rely on assistive technologies like screen readers, links that open in new tabs can be disorienting and break up navigational flow for the user.
For hyperlinks that link to non-HTML content, such as a link to a PDF, Word document, or PowerPoint presentation, indicate the content type within the hyperlink text.

Colour & Accessibility

We all like colour, because it makes things pretty. However, colour doesn’t always make content accessible.

When using colour, make sure the colour-contrast between the foreground and the background is high (i.e. between the text and the background). This doesn’t just mean make sure you can easily read the text; use a colour-contrast checker to double-check that everyone will be able to easily read the text.
Colour can be very stimulating for those with sensory needs. While colour can certainly add value to content, be careful about overusing colour, or using too many different colours within the same piece of content.
When using colour for interactive elements, make sure you include alternative indicators such as underlining or asterisks. Don’t rely solely on the colour to indicate it’s an interactive element.
Avoid using red-on-green and green-on-red when creating content, as the two colours will be indistinguishable for those with red/green colourblindness.

Additional Resources

Featured image, accessibility checklist and all videos were created by Nicole Crozier and Joanna Lake

Assignment 2: Reflections on the single story

by Joanna Lake

On July 24, 2020

In Curriculum Studies, edci532, tiegrad

“There is danger in a single story. The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story” (Adichie, 2009, 13:05).

The single story

I grew up in a small village on Vancouver Island. My parents were educators, and my dad drove all of us to our respective schools each morning. From my car window, I would watch students from the Nuu-Chah-Nulth nation reserve walk or bike 4 km to school. The older students often piggy-backing their younger siblings, or waiting patiently while the smaller children investigated nature. My friend D. was never on time for school. He always crept in after dropping off his younger sister, silently hopeful our teacher would allow for a discreet entrance, instead of the usual public shaming:

(She notices him entering our room)

SIGHS.

“If you can’t get to school on time, how can you expect to learn anything?”

F. would come to school periodically, sometimes arriving in the middle of the day, gliding to the back of class so she could sit, eyes closed, feeling the cool of the metal on her face.

“You need to be an active participant in this class. Stop being lazy and sit up straight.”

I graduated, and I moved to Victoria, BC. After completing my first degree, I decided to become a teacher. The post degree professional program (PDPP) at the University of Victoria required all students to take an Indigenous Education course:

“Why do we have to learn this?”

“It was in the past, we need to move on…”

“Some schools don’t even have native students, so why do I need to teach this?”

I completed my final practicum at what was known as a “rough” middle school. Most staff members were always professional, however; conversations sometimes led to:

“They’re so lazy-”

“Dirty clothes and smelly-”

“Well, look at the parents-”

“He’s going to drop out anyways-”

This is Canada’s historical narrative. This is an educational system built on Eurocentric values intended for the success of white settlers. This is a single story. Uncomfortable, isn’t it?

I sat in discomfort.

Holding my silence accountable.

Realizing that I perpetuated my own stereotype, that of the “good white woman.” Remaining neutral.

I decided I wanted some company to guide and clarify my understanding. I invited Indigenous scholars Marie Batiste, Dwayne Donald, and Mi’kmaw Elder Albert Marshall to join me and we sat together.

So why, as settler-educators, do we reinforce colonial stereotypes and resist changing the story?

I turned to Batiste: “we’ve been marinated in Eurocentrism…embedded within a place of dominant thinking…where there is an inside…and an outside…so basically we’ve got a system of Eurocentrism that is embedded today in all of our educational systems, there is a notion of superiority…and we need to rethink what those superiorities are and to rethink how we have come to know who we are and how we begin to judge others by those standards that were given to us at some point in our lives” (2016, Video: 40:59-42:54).

Exactly! Exclaimed Donald, and “the social-spatial separation of Canadian (insiders) and Aboriginal (outsiders)…has been passed down generation by generation in the form of an authoritative national historical narrative…” (2009, p. 23).

Perpetuating stereotypes.

Canadian curriculum has been telling a single story, and in this narrative, students are taught what is important and of value based on colonial methodologies and pedagogy. This historical rendering has led to Indigenous knowledge as lesser compared to Westernized forms of pedagogy. (They all nod). Due to colonial ideologies, Indigenous education is therefore viewed as…Donald jumped in: an “anachronistic study…as a possibility…only if there is time…and a troubling form of civilizational separation is maintained” (2009, p. 24).

I recognize that in my own teaching practice I chose to value Western curricula ahead of Indigenous pedagogical practices: instead of embedding First Peoples Principles into our daily classroom experience, I would separate this learning, usually in the form of traditional cultural activities.

So as a settler, and as an educator who is afforded white privileges, I need to-

Batiste replied: “You must unlearn your biases in order to challenge this ‘notion of superiority.’ You must acknowledge the importance of place-based knowledge and Indigenous pedagogy. You will then be able to respect this knowledge and value its importance without appropriation” (2010, p.17).

At this point, I decided I needed to know how educators can begin this complex process.

Decolonize

There is a definite tension that exists between Indigenous methodologies (IM) and Western theory, but, embedded within the tension, there is a supportive space that offers us the opportunity to reconcile our differences. “Yes,” replied Elder Albert Marshall, “this is Two-Eyed Seeing/Etuaptmumk: to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing, and to see from the other eye with the strengths of Western ways of knowing, and to use both of these eyes together” (Bartlett, Marshall, and Marshall, 2012, p.335). This methodology allows for multiple perspectives to emerge, affording the opportunity to ‘weave’ between and blend Indigenous Methodologies with Western methods. This opening of both eyes encourages co-learning, and…Elder Albert Marshall became animated: “…use[s] all our understandings so we can leave the world a better place and not compromise the opportunities for our youth by our own inaction” (Bartlett, Marshall, and Marshall, 2012, p.336).

The sun was setting on our time together. I thanked my guests for spending their time guiding and supporting me.

And when we (educators) are able to overcome feelings of guilt, resistance, and disengagement,

And when we (educators) are able to confront and reconcile conflicting personal and professional identities,

And when we (educators) are able to move from experts to facilitators and learners,

And when we (educators) are able to see with two eyes,

Then we will begin teaching and learning a decolonized curriculum.

My final assignment will explore decolonized curriculum through a lens of ethical relationality and culturally responsive pedagogy.

References

Adichie, C.M. (October 7th, 2009).The danger of a single story [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg

Bartlett, C., Marshall, M. & Marshall, A. (2020). Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing. Journal of Environmental Studies Science 2, 331–340. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.uvic.ca/10.1007/s13412-012-0086-8

Batiste, M. (August 29th, 2016). Decolonizing education [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHmbbhACgd4

Batiste, M. (2010). Nourishing the learning spirit. Education Canada, 50(1), 14-18. Retrieved July 21st, 2020 from: https://www.edcan.ca/wp-content/uploads/EdCan-2010-v50-n1-Battiste.pdf

Featured Image: Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash

CoVid-19 Restart Plan

by Joanna Lake

On July 21, 2020

In Curriculum Studies, edci532, tiegrad

England’s plan for a return to school in autumn:

7 key points are highlighted below:

Mandatory return for all levels of school
Students expected to follow social distancing protocol and maintain good hygiene.
Home testing CoVid kits will be given to nurseries and schools. Staff will hand out to students who develop Co-Vid 19 symptoms if families are unable to get to a testing center.
Exams will be reinstated for summer 2021
Tutoring program and infusion of money into schools to help support students who have fallen behind.
Parents who keep children home could be faced with fines.
Students with underlying health conditions will attend school, unless there is a “local issue”

First, I find it concerning that a return to face-to-face teaching and learning will be a mandatory requirement, with the potential of fines for parents who do not comply. Second, if classes are returning to full capacity, how will students be able to maintain adequate distance and how are educators supposed to maintain distance in order to minimize risk of potential exposure? There seems to be large gaps in the actual planning and organization of what schools will look like, and hopefully this will be addressed in the future. The education minister did note that to mitigate some families’ lack of access to devices and/or internet, the government gave out 200,000 laptops and will be setting up tutoring programs and starting up new services in September that will benefit vulnerable learners.

Meanwhile, in British Columbia…

via GIPHY

Featured Image: Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash

Critical evaluation of resources

by Joanna Lake

On July 21, 2020

In edci565, Learning Design, tiegrad

Digital accessibility is important because it can be the difference between a student having access to content and a student being left out. When curating resources to help educators learn about digital accessibility, it was important for us to collect high-quality resources.

To evaluate the resources we curated on accessibility and accessible content, we applied the CRAAP test, examining the currency, relevance, author, accuracy and purpose of the information. This critical evaluation checker was created by librarians at California State University in 2010. Although it is a decade old, it is well-organized, detailed, and still relevant as it includes specific web-based criteria.

Currency

When it comes to the digital world, currency of information often plays a large role in its accuracy. With platforms and features constantly changing and updating, it’s important that information about accessibility pertains to the most recent standards and versions of products.

All resources on our lists were checked to ensure they referred to the most accurate versions of products. This was most important when talking about accessibility with respect to social media and authoring tools such as Microsoft Office and Google Drive. Most resources provided on our list were created in the last three to four years and are found on websites that are actively maintained and updated today. The few resources that were published five or more years ago, such as WebAIM’s guide to constructing a POUR website, are authored by organizations who provide web accessibility expertise and can be trusted to maintain and update their accessibility guides as needed.

Relevance

There are lots of resources related to digital accessibility available on the internet, targeted to many different audiences. For the resources we curated, we wanted to ensure that they addressed situations that our audience, educators, might encounter. This meant, for example, that we did not include resources related to accessible website menus or button hover states, but instead curated resources about accessibility features that would be within an educators control, such as creating accessible images, hyperlinks and videos.

We looked at multiple different resources related to each sub-topic we were trying to cover before selecting those we chose to share. We selected resources that were structured in a way that made it easy to find the desired information, were written in plain language, and that were clear and concise.

Authority

Knowing who has authored a resource is important in determining the credibility of the resource. The authors of the resources we have curated fall into a few different categories.

Major web accessibility organizations

Several of the resources we curated were authored by web accessibility organizations who play a major role in the field, including the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and WebAIM. These organizations are widely reputed to be the go-to source of information when it comes to web accessibility. They help to create standards, guides and resources for web accessibility, and do so through well-developed processes that include consultation with the disability community.

Higher education organizations

A number of the resources we curated were authored by different higher education institutions who were creating resources with the intent to help their faculty and staff create accessible content. As these institutions are required by law to provide accessible content to students, it’s important that they information they provide to faculty and staff is accurate.

Technology companies

In cases where we were providing resources related to accessibility features of certain platforms or digital tools, some of these resources were authored by the technology company themselves, as they have the best ability to provide detailed information about product features.

Creators from the disability community

Some resources were created by members of the disability community themselves. Many of the resources we chose that shared personal experiences of disability were created by disabled creators, as they are best able to accurately portray their experiences. A few resources explaining techniques for accessible content were also authored by disabled creators. For these resources, we chose materials from creators who produced content regularly and had generated a fairly large audience. These indicators provided reassurance that their information was accurate and useful to the target audience.

Businesses who focus on web accessibility

Several resources were created by smaller consulting agencies who provide web accessibility audits and advice, or who specialize in creating accessible websites. These businesses maintained blogs as a content marketing tactic, where they provided resources and advice on web accessibility. As these resources and their accuracy are directly related to the livelihood of the creators, we felt like they could be trusted. Despite the fact that these resources were created by businesses, they were not promotional in nature.

Accuracy

The accuracy of a resource is critical; if a resource is providing inaccurate information about accessibility, additional resources will likely be created with accessibility barriers.

Many of our resources were taken directly from the original source: we chose media created by, and featuring, people with disabilities when sharing stories of disability; standards and guidelines were shared directly from the original authors at the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI); policy and legislation came directly from the government source; and tutorials for navigating accessibility features of different tools and platforms were from the companies who created those platforms.

When resources were not directly from an original source, we used a few different factors to evaluate accuracy. First, as detailed above, we relied on the reputation and trustworthiness of the authors. Second, we checked to see if an original source was referenced. This was particularly relevant in instances where we chose resources that summarized and presented legislation, policy and standards in a more accessible way than the original documents; in these instances, we ensured that the resource provided reference to the original source of information in some way. Finally, we relied on the consistency of information between the multiple resources we reviewed. If numerous resources were providing the same information and advice, we were much more confident that the information was accurate.

Purpose

Our goal with this project, and therefore our resource curation, is to help educators build awareness and understanding of what digital accessibility means and the impact it can have, and to teach educators the basic principles and techniques of creating accessible digital content. The resources we chose to share all had a similar purpose: to raise awareness of accessibility issues, and to educate and inform on solutions.

The majority of resources we curated provided factual information in an impartial and unbiased way. Even with resources whose authors represented for-profit companies, the goal of the content was to educate and to provide valuable information about accessibility principles and techniques, or about product accessibility features, not to sell the product or service the business was based on.

Several of the resources we shared could be said to be presenting opinion, or to be biased. However, these resources were presenting the personal stories of students with disabilities, which we felt was important for raising awareness and creating empathy. In these cases, the opinions presented and emotions conveyed were a part of the overall goal of both the resource and our project.

Feature Image: Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash

The danger of a single story

by Joanna Lake

On July 15, 2020

In Curriculum Studies, edci532, edci565, Learning Design, tiegrad

“…That is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become” (Adichie, 2009).

Reference

Adichie, C. (2009). The danger of a single story [TED talk]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

What is curriculum?

by Joanna Lake

On July 13, 2020

In Curriculum Studies, edci532, tiegrad

At first, I was going to discuss curriculum as a garden: structured, requires planning and thought, and can be adapted or modified by the educator to better suit the needs of the student. However, as I was writing this metaphor, I realized that the “garden” of curriculum that I was creating was one that served the needs of those with privilege: the soil was fertile, conditions ensured optimal growth, and no pests to create obstacles. I began rethinking my original metaphor, and decided to combine my own place of privileged thinking with that of the oppressed; specifically focusing on a Canadian perspective.

To me, curriculum is privilege and power.

The Canadian educational system was designed to uphold Eurocentric power systems and act as an institutionalized form of gatekeeping. Curricular legislation determined who benefited and who was excluded from educational discourse. Furthermore, curriculum reinforced racism; one example from history is the advent of residential schools. This ‘education’ was, in reality, an attempt to assimilate and destroy First Nations, Metis and Inuit cultures; one that forced a curriculum of European values including colonial languages and religions, and subsequently harmed the cultural identity of Indigenous Peoples.

Curriculum exerts control over educators and students; and serves to guide learning with specific outcomes intended to benefit a specific type of learner. This learning is dictated by those with a seat at the table: various experts who hold positions of privilege and power, including government agents, are given executive leather chairs with swivel mechanisms and lumbar support. Educators who have been specifically summoned by the provincial government may take a seat on a refurbished chair. Invited community members are asked to stand and are told to “speak up” but are never heard. Students remain outside closed doors- silenced.

For most stakeholders, the current curriculum is a fertile garden that has been expertly planned to ensure the success of a single flower varietal. These plants, all requiring the same needs for optimal growth, are flourishing planted in nutrient-dense soil, and having received plenty of attention as seedlings, none are suffering from disease or rot. However, from the perspective of the excluded groups, the oppressed; the current state of curriculum does not offer the required support in order to thrive: although the gardener provides an adequate amount of soil, there is inadequate consideration given to soil needs of different plants. Unlike their seedling peers who received the required water and light while seeds, these young plants were under-watered, and became stunted in their development. Finally, the flowers that continue to grow, although resilient, tend to be more susceptible to disease due to their weakened state.

Together, we must re envision this garden by dismantling the colonial power structures that have led to educational inequity. It is time to redistribute this power to cultivate a garden in which each plant is given equitable conditions and supports required for growth.

Curriculum is privilege and power.

Week 7: Communication and Collaboration

by Joanna Lake

On April 19, 2020

In Uncategorised

For the past month or so, Nicole and I have been taking a Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) called “Learning to Learn Online” alongside our EDCI 572 course. Why are we taking this course? We wanted to understand how current educators are facilitating online learning experiences, and if the course design is in line with the digital literacy elements that every learner should now be aware of, and be able to have as a skill-set.

Our final project is going to be an open-source e-book that can hopefully be used as a resource. It will detail the 7 elements of digital literacy, our personal experience while taking the MOOC, student profiles, and applying the community of inquiry model to the MOOC. The e-book will also include suggestions and additional resources in order to meet the needs of all learners.

How does this connect to community and collaboration? In many, many ways:

Finally, I have also been working on a mindfulness slide deck. I realized last year how beneficial daily was for not only myself, but also for the majority of the students I worked with. I am posting a link to the slide deck-it is a “work in progress,” or WIP as the youth say, but I would love feedback and suggestions. I am including this resource in this week’s post because I believe that this type of practice encourages connection to ourselves, and then to others.

Mindful Moments Slide deck

Featured Image photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash

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