EADM 892: Colonization, Decolonization and Education in Global Contexts
I have been working with Dr. Michael Cottrell for about 6 years on his study abroad classes. I had signed up for his study abroad class in Ireland in 2018 and it would be my last PhD course requirement. We have been collaborating ever since. In 2020, we went to Jamaica with a group of students for a study abroad class. I had done some instructional design work for the class, creating course content in WordPress. We made it home just prior to the shutdown of the world during the global pandemic.
In 2021, Michael wanted to offer a virtual study abroad class. So again we collaborated and worked on the course content, this time to be hosted in Canvas. We did not follow a formal asynchronous course design. We worked on, what I would call, a rapid synchronous course design. I had done one other course design like this where the subject matter expert did not want to spend 8 months designing an asynchronous course. I proposed a 2 week project timeline instead.
These courses would be more of a guide for the students and the professor who would meet in synchronous online classes. The Learning Material content, that was usually 20 pages per module in an asynchronous course, was not needed. The vast list of module content items in an asynchronous course was shortened to 3 or 4 in this rapid synchronous course design.
In study abroad we talk a lot about transformative learning and experiential learning. So I asked Michael to come in to the DEU to make some short Panopto videos. Like many faculty he is doing his best to keep up with technology, but he frequently reminds me that he appreciates me and my computer skills.
We also had students contribute to a shared class blog for their reflective writing assignments. The writings were tagged and sorted based on Indigenous perspectives on learning.
A central part of this virtual study abroad class was the Indigenous Assessment Framework that I designed for Michael to use. In visiting with Michael he told me about the challenge of assessing the intercultural growth of students in study abroad. So the Indigenous Assessment Framework was designed as a way to decolonize assessment and focus on student self-assessment through a medicine wheel foundation that has space for the university grade descriptors. This assessment framework is part of my PhD work and we have presented this work nationally and internationally.
In 2022 I was invited to contribute to an untextbook chapter with a group from Thompson Rivers University. This open textbook titled Rethink Learning Design focused on open and critical approaches to learning and instructional design. Our chapter is titled Decolonizing and Opening the Academy via Study Abroad.
I realize we do not always have more than a few months to spend with subject matter experts designing a course. But if we are to look at instructional design through an Indigenous lens, the relationships we build are essential. To Indigenize and decolonize a course takes time and it requires a good relationship. This was and is my approach for designing with Michael. Usually when we present, Michael will tell the audience that it is 99% Kristine Dreaver-Charles that did all this work. But at the end I point out that there was a day when I showed up for coffee and presented him a very rough design of a medicine wheel that we could use for assessing his students and he didn’t say no.
We recently returned from New Zealand, still working together on study abroad, spending time with Indigenous masters students, as well as meeting with scholars to share our perspectives and experiences.