Audrey Watter’s begins her latest post with this insight: “Much of what I wrote about with regards to education applies to this sector [health and wellness] as well, in no small part because everything for Silicon Valley (1) is an engineering problem: a matter of optimization, individualization, and gadgeteering (that’s B. F. Skinner’s word, not mine).”

In a similar fashion, in his 2023 chapter The future of the Field is not Design Jason McDonald notes that in pursuing the mission of transforming learning and teaching, the field of Learning and Instructional Design Technology has ” become too fixated on being designers and applying the methods of design thinking. As valuable as design has been for our field, it’s ultimately too narrow an approach to help us have the impact we desire because it overemphasizes the importance of the products and services we create. To be more influential, we need approaches that focus our efforts on nurturing people’s “intrinsic talents and capacities” that are ultimately outside of our ability to manage and control.”

I am nodding along with this, and I am also reminded that both silicon valley edtech efforts as well as LIDT efforts overwhelmingly focus on the individual student and the individual teacher,  and much less on the environments, systems, policies, and structural issues that surround our efforts (or in Berliner’s 2002 work, the contexts that surround us).

Much of the work around generative AI happening in higher education to date focuses on individuals, centering on policies, workshops, exploration of  how individual faculty and students can/should/ought to use generative AI in teaching, learning, and research. Explorations at the system level are rarer, which is why SNHU’s efforts to explore what higher education looks like with AI as a feature rather than an add-on is unique. We need such explorations because a higher education system that serves its citizens well and addresses the kinds of complex societal challenges that we face today requires experimenting with different approaches, questions solutionism, and engages with the possibility that education futures aren’t prescribed.

I’m interested to see the results of this effort. SNHU is generally considered to be successful in answering the question “what does a university built for the digital age look like” while others have treated the digital as an add-on to operations they considered central. This is not to say that every institution should try to be a SHNU, in the same way that not every institution should try to be an Ivy. But we can all learn from a case study like this.

It’s a new year, and I thought I’d try something new: posting a beginning-of-the-month broad and incomplete “to do” list, and revisiting it at the end of the month.

I expect this month to be one where I am going to be trying to find my new rhythms since it’s going to be my first full month at the Learning Technologies program at the University of Minnesota: https://lt.umn.edu/. This month, I plan to

• Finalize the class I will be teaching (Foundations of Distance Education)
• Start teaching.
• Establish a tentative work from office/home pattern.
• Establish a (3 x week) exercise pattern that works
• Finalize my parts of “paper 3” which is a survey of the education futures that youth find hopeful (with Shandell)
• Co-develop a survey instrument around education futures (with Shandell)
• Finalize my parts of the ER paper, which is an analysis of the degree to which research is publicly available (with Josh).
• Continue work on the special issue colleagues and I are co-editing
• Begin work on a new online learning project (more on this soon)
• Keep on top of all the things that need to happen during this month (webinars, trainings, admissions decisions, setting up my home and work office, connecting with people, figuring out how new workplace systems work, etc etc). I suspect that this will take up a lot of time.

Supported by D2L and the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association, I wrote a report on the state of Generative AI in Canadian post-secondary education. This was released yesterday and you can find it here: https://www.d2l.com/resources/assets/cdlra-2023-ai-report/ D2L shared the report with colleagues in the US who noted  similar trends in the US context: https://www.d2l.com/blog/how-generative-ai-being-received-in-higher-education/

What is the report about?

The Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey conducted by the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association in Spring 2023 received responses from 438 administrators and faculty members, located at 126 unique institutions across Canada. This report examines faculty member and administrator perspectives on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Findings indicate that:

1. The development of policies, regulations, and guidelines relating to Artificial Intelligence at Canadian institutions of higher education is at an early stage.
2. Faculty members and administrators express varying levels of optimism, concern, and uncertainty about AI.
3. Use of AI appears to be ad hoc, uneven, unequal, experimental, and largely guided by individual faculty, while supported by some institution-wide initiatives such as workshops and working groups.
4. Faculty members and administrators
   1. anticipate AI becoming a normal and common part of higher education.
   2. emphasize that its value depends on numerous factors.
   3. anticipate that it may lead to further questions around the cost of education.
   4. are concerned about the biases and limitations of AI, including the potential dystopic futures that it makes possible.

Recommendations include the following:

1. At the institutional level, leaders should further publicize the institutional stance, guidance, and/or policies to faculty members and administrators. Such guidance would be most useful if it supported faculty, staff, and administrators in learning about and experimenting with the technology, rather than controlling and penalizing its use.
2. At the institutional level, leaders should develop plans and initiatives around AI that account for institutional and disciplinary contexts, including ways in which the institution will support effective, creative, equitable, and responsible use/nonuse.
3. At the disciplinary, institutional, provincial, and pan-Canadian level, continue engaging in conversations around the limitations and biases of AI, and seek ways to engage with AI designers and developers in order to pro-actively impact the future of this technology.
4. At the disciplinary, departmental, and institutional level, continue engaging in conversations that address the question “What does ethical AI practice look like?”
5. At the institutional, provincial, and pan-Canadian level, continue engaging in conversations that center the question “What do preferable education futures look like?” that account for the emergence of AI, as well as the myriad of other challenges that higher education is facing.
6. At the pan-Canadian level, develop a database of institutional regulations, policies, and guidelines pertaining to AI.

The newsletter below is from UBC’s Edubytes which highlights emerging trends and innovations in teaching and learning in higher education. Today’s newsletter focuses on orange shirt day 2023, and I thought it might be helpful to others, so I’m posting it below in its entirety. [If you are reading this post on LinkedIn, click on the URL above to see the links – for some reason, my cross-posting to LinkedIn eliminates all the links]

Orange Shirt Day 2023

September 30 marks Orange Shirt Day and the annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. This day brings us together to observe the legacy of Canada’s Indian residential school system and commemorate those who survived, and those who were lost.

This edition of Edubytes shares the history of the residential school system and context for understanding the ongoing impacts. We want to honour Survivors and their families, and celebrate our communities’ strength and resilience.

This edition has been curated and written in collaboration with the CTLT Indigenous Initiatives team, with contributions from:

• Janelle Kasperski, Educational Consultant
• Kyle Shaughnessy, Educational Consultant, Staff Training
• Carissa Block, Educational Resources Developer
• Samantha Nock, Educational Consultant, Campus and Classroom Climate

CONTENT NOTE: This editorial contains information on the residential school system, missing children, and Survivor testimony. Furthermore, resources will address Missing and Murdered Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit Kin, the Child Welfare System, and other ongoing impacts of the residential school system.

If you need support during this challenging time, please reach out to:

The Indian Residential School Emergency Crisis Line is available 24/7 for those that may need counselling and support: 1-800-721-0066. Alternatively, the 24-hour National Crisis Line is also available: 1-866-925-4419.

The Hope for Wellness Help Line is open to all Indigenous Peoples across Canada, and offers 24-hour mental health counselling, via phone 1-855-242-3310 or chat line.

Call 310-6789 (no area code needed) toll-free anywhere in BC to access emotional support, information and resources specific to mental health and substance use issues. Available 24 hours a day.

The KUU-US Crisis Line Society operates a 24-hour provincial Aboriginal Crisis line for adults, elders, and youth. See more below:

• Adult/Elder Crisis Line: 250-723-4050
• Child/Youth Crisis Line: 250-723-2040
• BC Wide Toll Free: 1-800-588-8717
• Métis Crisis Line BC Toll Free: 1-833-638-4722

For Indigenous Kin: Colleagues and Community

September is a long and complex month for all of us. Please know that whatever you are feeling, you are valid; make decisions that are the best for you and your kin in how you want to participate. Does that mean taking time to step back from public gatherings or showing up to public gatherings? What would fill your heart and help you feel held, seen, and supported? You are loved through the time and space of this grief and healing.

ORANGE SHIRT DAY AT UBC

A note on navigating this newsletter for Indigenous Kin:
This communication contains many educational links and resources for non-Indigenous people to continue their learning, along with links to local events. Please take care while clicking through links, as many of them can be activating. One way this newsletter could be useful for you is by sharing it with non-Indigenous colleagues, family, and friends.

 

Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Orange Shirt Day started in 2013 as a grassroots commemoration event that took place in Williams Lake, BC. Together, families of former students of St. Joseph Mission Residential School from the Secwepemc, Tsilhqot’in, St’at’imc and Southern Dakelh Nations gathered to honour and remember the legacy of St. Joseph Mission. Based on Phyllis (Jack) Webstad’s story of her first day at St. Joseph Mission, the orange shirt has become a symbol in memory of those who attended residential schools, those who never returned home, and the continued remembrance of this ongoing legacy. September 30 marks Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to reflect the time of year when children were stolen from their homes and placed in the residential school system.

Resources

To learn more about the history and contemporary impacts of the residential school system, please check out these resources:

• Indigenous Foundations – The Residential School System
• Xwi7xwa Library Guide on the Indian Residential School System in Canada
• Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre – Indian Residential Schools
• IRSHDC Teaching and Learning Resources
  • Indian Hospitals in Canada
  • Indian Day Schools
  • Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre Collections
• “We Were So Far Away: The Inuit Experience of Residential Schools” Legacy of Hope Foundation
• Canada’s Residential Schools: The Métis Experience (PDF)
• Phyllis’s Orange Shirt by Phyllis Webstad
• Beyond the Orange Shirt by Phyllis Webstad

What’s the difference between Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation?

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a recent federally recognized statutory holiday, created as one of the steps the federal government has taken in recognizing Canada’s role and history in the Indian Residential School System. Coinciding with Orange Shirt Day, September 30 is a day of commemoration for Survivors, Intergenerational Survivors, and relatives that did not come home. While Orange Shirt Day is a grassroots initiative started within Indigenous community that is representative of many years of remembrance and resistance, it is not a federally recognized day of observance.

After the confirmation of unmarked graves on Residential School grounds across the country, there was a renewed call for accountability from the Canadian Government, beyond the original 2008 apology by then Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Learn more: Canadian Residential Schools: A Timeline of Apologies

The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation was born out of the timeless labour and activism of Survivors and their families, fulfilling #80 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada’s Calls to Action (PDF):
“We call upon the federal government, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, to establish, as a statutory holiday, a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation to honour Survivors, their families, and communities, and ensure that public commemoration of the history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process.”

September 30 now marks a federally recognized statutory holiday to ensure public commemoration of the legacy of the Indian Residential School System, though not unanimously recognized as a provincial holiday.

Indigenous perspectives vary widely on the implementation of this day. You can read the different responses below:

• Global News: 1^st National Day for Truth and Reconciliation draws mixed feelings from Indigenous community
• CBC Unreserved: Why the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation isn’t just another stat holiday

So… What Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action Have Been Widely Implemented?

The Yellowhead Institute, an Indigenous-led research and education centre based in the Faculty of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University, has created an annual accountability check on the TRC Calls to Action that the federal government has implemented over the last seven years. As of 2022, these are their findings:

You can learn more about Yellowhead Institute’s methodology and further analysis by checking out: Calls to Action Accountability: A 2022 Status Update on Reconciliation (PDF).

Observing Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a non-Indigenous Person

It is integral to remember that the statutory “holiday” on September 30 is not a “free” day off, but a federally instituted day of remembrance. There is a misconception that the historical and contemporary legacy of Indian Residential Schools are an “Indigenous peoples’” responsibility when, in actuality, it is a Canadian responsibility.

“There was kind of a renewed sense of not just carrying on with the work of reconciliation and addressing calls to action, but an important and key reminder about truth and about what truths […] maybe weren’t heard loud enough.”
Dr. Tricia Logan, interim academic director, Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre on recent changes in the national conversation regarding Indian Residential Schools and reconciliation.

Learn more: ‘A different place’: How the missing children of a former B.C. residential school changed Canada

Take this day to educate yourself, attend local commemorative events, and have difficult conversations with your family and friends. Take time to personally reflect and process emotions that are coming up and, through self-research, answer some of those uncomfortable questions that are coming up.

ORANGE SHIRT DAY AT UBC: COMMUNITY EVENTS

Consider attending Indigenous-led and organized gatherings, such as the annual Intergenerational March to Commemorate Orange Shirt Day led by the Faculties of Applied Science and Land and Food Systems. If you’re unable to be on the UBC Vancouver campus, consider these local gatherings:

• Semiahmoo First Nation’s 3rd Annual Walk for Truth & Reconciliation
• Nisga’a Ts’amiks Vancouver Society National Day for Truth and Reconciliation at Trout Lake
• Hastings-Sunrise Templeton Indigenous Welcome Garden Orange Shirt Day
• National Day for Truth and Reconciliation Teaching Pow Wow: Voices of our Children
• Commemorating Truth and Reconciliation Day at the Museum & Archives of North Vancouver
• All My Relations: National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Reconciliation does not begin and end on September 30; it is a lifetime and intergenerational responsibility. Consider the ways in which you are working to uphold reconciliation and decolonization in your everyday life. Learn more:

• Weaving Relations: Applying Indigenous Design and Engagement to Your Work
• CTLT Indigenous Initiatives Events

An important part of this work is holding difficult conversations with family, friends, and colleagues. A troubling rise in Residential School denialism has emerged over the last few years and is continuously gaining traction. Deeply rooted in anti-Indigenous racism and violent colonialism, these sentiments are becoming insidious talking points in mainstream narratives.“Indigenous people put up memorials to honour their children, not to make settlers feel bad. And it’s the emotions of these settlers, not those of Indigenous people, that are clouding the issue and obscuring the truth. It makes them eager and willing to reorient the national conversation away from its acknowledgement of Indigenous realities and toward a soothing, redemptive alternate history.”  
Michelle Cyca, The Dangerous Allure of Residential School Denialism

Challenge denialism when you see it, be an active participant in reconciliation.

Learn more: Residential School Denialism Is on the Rise. What to Know: And how to confront it. Because without the truth, there can be no reconciliation

Respectful Engagement with Indigenous Programming and Supports: Understanding Capacity

Increased truth-telling and awareness on Indigenous histories, lived experiences, and current events have led to a greater investment by non-Indigenous scholars, programs, and employees in exploring their own role in reconciliation. People truly want to do better and work towards decolonizing and indigenizing their work in meaningful ways. This positive move forward has also led to increased requests coming in for consultation and support for Indigenous-focused programs and staff.

Here are some ideas for how you can engage mindfully when requesting learning support.

Plan ahead

When you anticipate an upcoming need, get in touch with Indigenous programming early. Given the high volume of requests that come in for consultation, support, collaboration and information, it may take a bit of time before a program or staff is able to meet with you about your request. It is a best practice to provide plenty of space to ensure there is time to meet or check-in. Two months is recommended when requests focus around annual events such as Orange Shirt Day.

Spread Out Your Engagement

Prioritize decolonizing work in your programming throughout the year- not just during specific events, such as the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation, Indigenous History Month, Red Dress Day, etc.

Consider Timing

Be mindful of current events relevant to Indigenous communities: days of commemoration, community tragedies, acts of injustice, and difficult truths coming to light, such as the confirmation of residential school burials. These can often be times where many Indigenous staff and faculty are also experiencing personal loss or are needing to dedicate increased resources to personal and community care. Ensure you are being considerate in the timing if your request for consultation or information is related to a recent loss or injustice.

Reconciliation, decolonization, and indigenization work is important work that we are all invested in. When we can give it the space and attention it needs, lasting and meaningful change can truly happen.

UBC INDIGENOUS LEARNING PATHWAYS

 

A reminder that our call for papers focused on Higher Education Futures at the intersection of justice, hope, and educational technology is open, and will be closing on Oct 31, 2023. If you have a paper that you feel may fit the aims of this call, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me or one of my co-editors.

Do you work at a post-secondary institution in Canada? Please participate in the 2023 Pan-Canadian Digital Learning Survey available at: https://bayviewanalytics.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7Wm2869o4hREb8W 

The purpose of the Fall 2023 survey is to explore critical issues in digital learning and to assess the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on digital learning at publicly funded post-secondary institutions in Canada. The survey asks you to share your personal perspective and will take approximately 10 minutes to complete. The primary objective of the research is to provide institutional leaders and key interest groups in Canadian higher education with valuable information as they develop institutional strategies.