Research with Indigenous peoples is fraught with complexity and misunderstandings. The complexity of negotiating historical and current issues as well as the misunderstandings about what the issues really mean for individuals and communities can cause non-Indigenous researchers to shy away from working with Indigenous groups. In conducting research for my doctoral dissertation, I was a novice researcher faced with negotiating two very different sets of social contracts: the Western Canadian university's and my Indigenous participants'. Through narrative inquiry of my experience, this article explores issues of ethics, institutional expectations, and community relationships. Guided by Kirkness and Barnhardt's "Four R's" framework of respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility, I aimed to meet the needs of both the groups, but it was not without challenges. What do you do when needs collide? This article shares my process of negotiating the research, the decisions made, and how I came to understand my role in the process as a Settler Ally. It closes with some implications for other researchers who are considering their own roles as Settler Allies.

The Periodic Table of the Elements (PTE) is arguably one of the most central topics in chemistry. This article provides a critical review of current teaching practices of the PTE to high-school students and undergraduate university students. It also provides a new teaching model, the "periodic universe", for understanding of the PTE through building on its foundational periodicity. Students learn through a guided re-creation of the PTE from simple periodic simulations and interdisciplinary processes. The periodic-universe teaching model directs students to conceptualize, rather than memorize, relationships between the elements by predicting patterns in progressively challenging simulated worlds. This mixed-method research project consists of both quantitative (n = 58) and qualitative (n = 15) responses from university undergraduate students, demonstrating the utility of inquiry-based learning of the PTE for novice chemistry students. Herein, we position the periodic-universe teaching model in the current educational literature of inquiry and interdisciplinary studies by outlining the function of the model and illustrating its effectiveness on the basis of empirical analysis with undergraduate students in a postsecondary-education setting. The results indicate that knowledge of the PTE increases after instruction with the model, and that nonchemistry-major students have increased engagement, understanding, and appreciation of the importance of periodicity to chemistry when presented with the periodic-universe teaching model.

In the winter term of 2016, Cape Breton University launched a revised version of a second year Mi’kmaw Studies course entitled Learning from the Knowledge Keepers of Mi’kmaki (MIKM 2701). This course was designed to be led by local Elders and Knowledge Keepers with facilitation support from university faculty. It was designed by course facilitators as a dual-mode course, with the opportunity for students to participate face-to-face and online, and the excitement it generated quickly went “viral.” In this paper, we describe the experiences of the participants in the course through an analysis of their own reflections on the 13 weeks of instruction. The aim of this analysis is to share course design considerations for post-secondary institutions attempting to “Indigenize the academy” at a course level, but also to evaluate the process of co-learning as it was evidenced in the course as a means to address educational complexity and decolonization efforts in the classroom.

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This paper presents the observations and reflections of four faculty members who developed experiential online learning pathways for students in diverse professional programs. In relation to programmatic expectations of Nursing, Education and Business, the challenges and opportunities for experiential online learning design are discussed. In addition, the scaffolding and development of online learning within an undergraduate degree, which ladders into professional programing, are presented. Using Kolb’s Experiential Model of learning design to structure the discussion, the faculty members reflect on the success of implementation from their various positions as leaders and instructors of programs. They seek to answer questions for themselves and their faculties in relation to the feasibility of designing experiential learning opportunities online and how this can contribute to deepening professional practice. The paper closes with implications for practice for other post-secondary educators who may be considering experiential online learning.   Notre article présente les observations et les réflexions de quatre enseignants qui ont mis au point des parcours d’apprentissage expérientiel en ligne pour des étudiants inscrits dans divers programmes professionnels. Nous discutons des difficultés et des possibilités de l’apprentissage expérientiel en ligne par rapport aux attentes des programmes de soins infirmiers, d’éducation et de commerce. De plus, nous présentons la construction et l’élaboration de l’apprentissage en ligne dans un programme de premier cycle universitaire qui conduit à l’élaboration de programmes professionnels. En utilisant le modèle expérientiel de conception de l’apprentissage de Kolb pour structurer la discussion, les enseignants réfléchissent aux réussites dans la mise en œuvre de leurs différentes fonctions de chefs de programme et d’instructeurs. Ils se posent des questions – pour leur propre compte et pour les enseignants – sur la faisabilité de la conception d’apprentissages expérientiels en ligne et se demandent comment cela peut contribuer au perfectionnement de leur pratique professionnelle. Nous nous penchons enfin sur les conséquences de notre étude pour la pratique d’autres éducateurs, au niveau postsecondaire, qui envisagent peut-être l’apprentissage expérientiel en ligne.

Sustainable pre-service teacher education is needed to encourage academic success for under-represented populations, through both culturally responsive and alternative programming options (Carr-Stewart, Balzer, & Cottrell, 2013). In 2013, the Western Canadian University that served as the basis for this case study, implemented a blended learning pilot course in multicultural education for its existing cohort of pre-service teachers, within their Indigenous Focus Teacher Education Program (IFTEP). The aim of the blended pilot was to increase flexibility in participation for the IFTEP students, who were all employed full time as teacher assistants within a local school board. The author examined the design model through qualitative analysis of student interview data, contrasted against observations of activities on the learning management system (LMS). Five themes emerged as important in effective and culturally responsive practice for blended learning design, in this case related to: institutional challenges, student autonomy and the complexity of commitments. This research presents a critical review of the feasibility of adopting blended learning for Indigenous students. Afin de favoriser la réussite scolaire des populations sous-représentées, il est nécessaire que la formation initiale des enseignants soit durable, et ce, par l’entremise d’options de programmes à la fois culturellement sensibles et alternatives (Carr-Stewart, Balzer et Cottrell, 2013). En 2013, l’université de l’Ouest canadien qui a servi de base pour la présente étude de cas a mis en œuvre un cours pilote en apprentissage mixte portant sur l’éducation multiculturelle pour la cohorte existante d’enseignants en formation initiale au sein de son programme de formation des enseignants axé sur les Premières Nations (IFTEP). Ce pilote mixte avait pour objectif d’augmenter la flexibilité de la participation des étudiants de l’IFTEP, qui étaient tous employés à temps plein comme aides-enseignants au sein d’un conseil scolaire local. L’auteur a examiné le modèle de conception à la lumière d’une analyse quantitative des données tirées d’entrevues d’étudiants, mises en contraste avec des observations d’activités portant sur le système de gestion de l’apprentissage (SGA). Cinq thèmes sont apparus importants pour une pratique efficace et culturellement sensible de la conception en apprentissage mixte, liés aux défis de l’établissement, à l’autonomie étudiante et à la complexité des engagements. Cette étude présente un examen critique de la faisabilité d’adopter l’apprentissage mixte pour les élèves autochtones.

This paper describes our implementation of digital storytelling within a First Nations community elementary school in eastern Canada. Our aim with this project was to support community engagement in the school, while promoting literacy development, by inviting Elders to share their stories, both traditional and modern lived experiences, with children in a grade 4/5 split class. Positioned as a participatory action research project, anchored in Indigenous methodologies, the project was developed through meetings with community members to build on the strengths of the community. Reflections from students illustrate that working with Elders gave deeper meaning to the stories they heard and performed, and fostered greater engagement in literacy development.

Abstract. Access and Transitions Programing has been a focus in Canadian Educational reform for over fifty years. Though made smaller through transitions and access supports, the gap between nonIndigenous and Indigenous students" attainment in higher education, remains large. One has to ask why? Evaluation of said programs in current literature is dominated with Eurocentric approaches and bias based in institutional needs such as retention, attrition and graduation rates. However, the statistics do not tell a complete story about how Indigenous students are navigating post-secondary experiences. Through the lens of the Medicine Wheel the experiences of four women participating in a Pre-Nursing Transitions Program (PNT) at a western Canadian University will be discussed. The results of this case study which was conducted during the 2013-14 academic year identify clashes between the Eurocentric paradigm of the University and students" values. At face value, conflicts centered around prioritisation of family, types of knowledge valued and the way information was presented. However, these conflicts speak to larger issues around the construction and intention of transitions programming and this article aims respond with a word of caution for post secondary institutions however well intentioned aiming to respond to the 2015 Truth and reconciliation call for indigenization of the academy.