Christina Andrews

Digitally immersive, land-centred space at OISE to support Indigenous research

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 05 Aug 2022 17:13:35 +0000

Digitally immersive, land-centred space at OISE to support Indigenous research

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 08/05/2022 - 13:13

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From left to right: Elder Clayton Shirt, Interim Dean Normand Labrie, Professor Clare Brett and Professor Sandra Styres sit in the new land-centred learning environment at OISE (photo by Christina Andrews)

Christina Andrews

Topic

Our Community

Education

Indigenous

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Truth and Reconciliation

A new digitally immersive, land-centred learning environment at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education will provide a key space for Indigenous-specific research – a place where Indigenous faculty and students can access Indigenous resources, collaborate on research projects, and engage in critical conversations about their work in a sacred space.

Part of OISE’s Indigenous Educational Research Centre, the land-centred learning environment was recently revealed by Associate Professor Sandra Styres, her research team and Elder Clayton Shirt alongside the Deepening Knowledge Project (DKP) and Indigenous Educational Research lab.

“I feel honoured to be here on the very first day of the launch of DKP,” said Normand Labrie, OISE’s interim dean, said in late June. “It is a great addition to OISE and an incredible space for our researchers and educators to collaborate, lead and connect on Indigenous research and excellence,

The Deepening Knowledge Project: Indigenous Knowledge Resurgence and Education seeks to infuse Indigenous Peoples’ histories, knowledges and pedagogies into all levels of education in Canada. It was created by OISE’s Indigenous Educational Research Centre and is connected to OISE’s department of curriculum, teaching and learning (CTL).

The digitally immersive, land-centred floor space, meanwhile, combines Indigenous traditional knowledge with a 360-degree immersive learning experience.

“With the national spotlight still on the reconciliation project and with education seen as a critical site for reconciliatory efforts, there's a significant attention to the importance of addressing Indigenous rights in national and global conversations about Indigenous education,” said Styres, a Canada Research Chair in Iethi’nihstnha Ohwentsia’kkha (Land), Resurgence, Reconciliation, and the Politics of Education.

“Some examples of these are found in the ways we occupy the space to make it placeful, the ways we enter the space, the furniture placement open to the East and West directions, the use of sacred fire with tobacco and 360 imaging in the room around you.”

Led by a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty, students and staff, DKP is a hub that provides access to resources about the history and perspectives of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples along with other Indigenous cultures. It also provides curricula for teachers to incorporate into their teaching practices and content areas related to issues of pressing concern to Indigenous Peoples and their communities.

“I realized today, listening to the ceremony and sitting in the room with community, that going through the pandemic has somehow raised the importance and the reality of the potential that this project has,” said Associate Professor Clare Brett, chair of the department of curriculum, teaching and learning. “I see it now as being a real fulfilment of some of the promise of what we saw during COVID-19 – this movement towards a more hybrid world. And now we have this centre, which is a wonderful embodiment of that.”

The digitally immersive, land-centred space, DKP website and Centre for Indigenous Educational Research computer lab provide a forum for Indigenous students, faculty and staff to share their own stories, build connections with one another and activate understandings on what it means to be in good relationships with Land that has and continues to exist first and foremost in relationship to Indigenous Peoples.

Ryan Neepin, the project co-ordinator of the Deepening Knowledge Project who oversaw the development of the website, invites all teachers across Canada to infuse and integrate Indigenous knowledge, content and perspectives into their classrooms. DKP also features Indigenous authored content and resources for all school grades and materials for educators that have been vetted by Indigenous faculty and staff on the team.

“It is the knowledge we want you to know, and we are asking you to walk into a relationship to learn,” said Neepin. “So, we talk about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission before we move into reconciliation. Reconciliation – or as Dr. Styres called it, reconcili-action – requires that we do the hard work of truthtelling first, and that’s what this website allows us to do together.”

With access to research and language software, the centre’s computer lab will provide resources for students to use fonts and keyboard layouts that will allow them to type in several Indigenous languages.

“It is a doorway,” said Brett. “And you can think about how we can use this best as we move forward to really empower the next generation of Indigenous students.”

OISE's Sustainability and Climate Action Network reviews progress made towards sustainability

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 18:59:29 +0000

OISE's Sustainability and Climate Action Network reviews progress made towards sustainability

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 01/31/2022 - 13:59

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(Photo courtesy of OISE)

Christina Andrews

Topic

Our Community

Climate Change

Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Sustainability

The ��Ƶ's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education held a webinar on Monday to discuss progress on OISE's Sustainability and Climate Action Plan, the latest example of the institute working towards a more sustainable future by acting on climate change.

The Sustainability and Climate Action Network (previously the Environmental and Sustainability Education Initiative) convened a webinar to review the progress made under OISE's climate action plan, established after the global climate strikes of 2019.

SCAN will continue to provide the OISE community, Toronto District School Board teachers and other professionals with educational tools to address the climate crisis. The network will facilitate programming, research and advocacy to support environmental and sustainability education efforts in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.

The webinar, hosted by OISE's Climate Action Advisory Committee, featured a variety of voices from community members engaged in environmental and sustainability education. At the virtual gathering, staff, faculty, and students had the opportunity to identify actionable steps and share ideas on how to embed sustainability within OISE.

Hilary Inwood, a lecturer in the department of curriculum, teaching and learning (CTL) who leads SCAN, says sustainability affects all facets of human activity.

“The climate crisis threatens every aspect of how we live and work, and reinforces environmental racism and inequities for marginalized peoples,” Inwood said. "We all need to contribute to addressing this crisis if we want to ensure the health and wellbeing of all moving forward.”

Inspired by OISE’s first Climate Action Summit, in the fall of 2020, the action plan was created in consultation with more than 100 community members.

Although the pandemic continues to make it hard to meet in person, many OISE students are eager to support climate action. Alysse Kennedy, a CTL doctoral student and Climate Action Advisory Committee member, says educators have a big role to play in promoting sustainability.

“The best part about the plan is that it connects to so many different facets of our lives – both the triumphs and the struggles that post-secondary students face,” Kennedy says. “The greatest strength of the plan is that it gives students an accessible way into sustainability and climate action.”

Normand Labrie, OISE's interim dean and a professor in the CTL department, says: “OISE’s initiative to address climate change builds on the key priorities of OISE’s academic plan, and our goal as a community is to minimize OISE’s carbon footprint and maximize impact across Canada and around the world through education.”

OISE can serve as a model for other faculties of education in Canada and beyond, Inwood said. As climate change continues to be an existential threat to the planet, she says everyone must come together and advance climate justice and sustainability projects.

“The climate crisis is the most pressing problem facing humanity today. OISE’s plan acknowledges this by embedding sustainability and climate action into all aspects of its work and operations,” says Inwood. “This plan recognizes that education is central to the cultural shifts needed for more sustainable forms of living, and models how OISE can support and mobilize the education sector in addressing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.”

David Montemurro, associate director of the master of teaching program and a Climate Action Advisory committee member, has been involved in eco-justice educational issues since the early 1990s and recognizes the significance of an institution-wide effort.

“I have a strong attachment to wild spaces, and I’m routinely compelled by global injustice that calls on all of us to prioritize intersectional approaches to sustainability and climate action,” Montemurro says.

While OISE aims for an organization-wide shift towards sustainability, it also recognizes the importance of individual efforts to make a positive change. With 24 actions and 60-plus strategies, OISE’s plan encourages all members of the community to integrate sustainability and climate action in their work and ways of living.