Understanding Indigenous Perspectives
This set of learning modules has been created to support and inspire educators and future teachers to gain a deeper understanding of Indigenous perspectives and an appreciation of how Indigenous knowledge and worldviews can assist all learners in their educational journey. The goal of the modules is to provide an introductory grounding to key issues affecting Indigenous people in Canada as a foundation for further and deeper learning. The modules are meant to work well independent of one another (they are not sequential) but they are also complementary. Please feel free to share these resources and use them in your own work. You can assign them as required or supplementary material supporting your course that students review on their own or you can use them in the classroom. The modules include suggested activities for further application of the concepts. Everything is free and open source. Have fun!
Videos
Why is it important to understand Indigenous perspectives?
There are many reasons to embrace Indigenous perspectives and this video introduces some of them.
Why the Muskrat?
Throughout the modules you will see the image of a muskrat. In this video Jean-Paul Restoule explains why the muskrat was chosen to guide instructors through the modules.
Credits
Jean-Paul Restoule is Anishinaabe and a member of the Dokis First Nation. He is an associate professor of Aboriginal Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.
Dr. Patricia Gaviria is a researcher and consultant in International Development and Post- Secondary Education. She has over fifteen years of experience working with governments in the Americas, Africa, and Middle East to develop and implement policy and programs that enhance access and equity in education for traditionally underserved children and youth. Working with local teams, Patricia supports the development of relevant methodologies to gain perspective on the everyday life of schools towards creating evidence-based practice-policy interfaces.
In the past seven years, Patricia has focused on the ways in which Indigenous peoples rights and aspirations are taken up by education institutions. She is the author of several articles on Inuit self-determination and post-secondary education in Nunavut and Greenland. As a research associate at University of Toronto – Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, she has collaboratively supported the development Indigenous education programs that highlight the unique aspirations and needs of First Nations peoples.
Patricia Gaviria has a PhD in Higher Education from the University of Toronto and a M.A. in Political Science from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Ecuador.
Dr. Jennifer Wemigwans is from Wikwemikong First Nation and is currently a Sessional Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education at York University and President of Invert Media Inc. She is new media producer, writer and scholar specializing in the convergence between education, Indigenous knowledge and new technologies.
Dr. Wemigwans takes pride in working to invert the conventional use of media by revealing the potential for Indigenous cultural expression and Indigenous knowledge through new technologies, education and the arts. She is excited by the prospects of teaching and is committed to community empowerment from an Indigenous perspective. Her work in academia and in the private sector puts her in a unique position to tap the pulse of innovation in indigenous education and media.
- Derek Hunt is an online and digital instructional technology analyst at the Education Commons at OISE.
- Robert Huang is an interactive media developer at the Education Commons at OISE.
- The office of Online Learning Strategies, University of Toronto.
Funding for this project was received form the Government of Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities through the Shared Online Course Fund.
Indigenous Education Resources by Jean-Paul Restoule is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
