Abstract
This paper emerges from our work at a Canadian university where local and global imperatives have resulted in Indigenization and internationalization being identified as leading institutional priorities. We explore the potential for greater collaboration between these disciplinary and programmatic imperatives for mutual benefit, which the shift to virtual learning during the global pandemic enabled. In particular, we seek to consider how virtual study abroad can prepare educators with the tools necessary for intercultural knowledge to better respond to students’ heterogeneity and complexity, from a pedagogical and curricular perspective, as a means of promoting social justice and multicultural understanding within Higher Education. Emerging from our collaborative efforts as an Indigenous instructional designer and a non-Indigenous faculty member, we share our work to design with distance, open, and critical digital pedagogies as a foundation for inclusive student engagement while focusing on educational systems in Ireland, Jamaica, and New Zealand. Study Abroad is often inaccessible for many students, especially those from marginalized backgrounds, leaving invaluable learning and international perspectives unexplored. Virtual Study Abroad offers students immersive experiences and learning equity, during the pandemic and beyond. We document our efforts to synthesize Indigenous and Western pedagogies to conceive innovative curriculum consistent with the negotiation of epistemological third spaces. Our efforts to decolonize assessment practices by combining a traditional academic rubric, with a self-administered Intercultural Competence Framework, and an assessment framework based on an Indigenous Medicine Wheel model, is also discussed. Ultimately our study highlights strategies which promote equity, diversity and inclusion within higher education.
Presenters
Kristine Dreaver CharlesInstructional Designer, Distance Education Unit, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan, Canada Michael Cottrell
Associate Professor, Educational Administration, University of Saskatchewan
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Learner Diversity and Identities
KEYWORDS
Indigenization, Internationalization, Virtual study abroad, Inclusive student engagement, Equity
