TI 0918 - Conceptualizing an Ethical Space of Engagement in the Classroom as a Decolonizing Strategy
Course Description
Course Description
Utilizing Cree scholar Willie Ermine’s vision of an ethical space of engagement, this 3-hour course aims to introduce learners to foundational concepts and approaches in Indigenous pedagogy that will assist in the creation of a relationally safe learning environment wherein all learners can feel secure to express themselves in respectful and transformative ways. Indigenous pedagogies are transformative and set the stage for lifelong learning, fostering humility and compassion, respectful relationship building, personal autonomy and empowerment. By conceptualizing a framework that delineates relational learning agreements, learners in this workshop will be provided with another way of understanding the reverberating effects of colonial disruptions in Indigenous pedagogies and explore pathways for cultivating relational capacity in the university classroom.
Course learning outcomes
By the end of the course, students should be able to:
- Explore the disruption of culturally embodied ethics from an Indigenous perspective
- Identify cultural frames and paradigms in the university classroom
- Reflect on a framework for cultivating an ethical classroom learning space
Assessments
Individual self-reflection on one’s own cultural positioning and how this shapes personal understandings of learning and the structure of classroom space.
Activities
- Instructor models ethical engagement in the classroom
- Small and large group dialogue around relationship to colonial classroom structures and the power in the classroom