This month, our guest editors are members of the CTLT Indigenous Initiatives team. They provide an overview of the many resources the team developed for the UBC community, and share guidance on how to get started on your decolonization learning journey.
Have you heard about the latest trend taking over social media? People are taking lifelong learning into their own hands and creating bespoke personal learning curriculums. Dedicated to battling “brain rot” (online slang referring to the overconsumption of mindless content), creating a personal curriculum is an empowering accountability tool for continuous learning.
In the teaching and learning community, curriculums are an essential aspect of our careers, but rarely do we personalize them. According to the 2023 Teaching Practices Survey, respondents indicated they participate in self-guided professional development on Indigenous topics. Self-guided learning in tandem with group learning creates a holistic learning experience but knowing where to start is a barrier. Don’t worry though, the CTLT Indigenous Initiatives (CTLT II) is here to help you out!
A little bit about us: CTLT Indigenous Initiatives is a service unit nestled in the CTLT. We develop and offer programming, resources, and consultations focused on Indigenous engagement in curriculum, pedagogy, classroom climate, and professional development. Our work is done in partnership with the Anti-Racist Teaching and Learning team and supported by the CTLT Teaching, Learning, and Professional Development team.
Getting familiar with Indigenous Initiatives’ resources
Together, we’re going to create our own personal learning curriculum based on Indigenous Initiatives’ resources with supplemental material to round out each lesson. But first, let’s take a tour of CTLT II resources:
- Indigenous Learning Pathways (ILP): Created in partnership with central UBC HR, the ILP is a self-directed, multi-course suite of training that supports new staff to UBC meaningfully and respectfully engage with Indigenous histories, knowledges, perspectives.
- What I Learned in Class Today: Indigenous Issues in the Classroom (WILICT): Originally stewarded in 2007 and updated in 2017, WILICT explores the difficult conversations Indigenous students and faculty navigate in the classroom. Oral histories shared by Indigenous students through filmed interviews guide the heart of WILICT.
- Indigenous Foundations: Held between First Nations and Indigenous Studies and CTLT Indigenous Initiatives, Indigenous Foundations was created in 2009 by Karmen Crey and Erin Hanson with support from Linc Kesler and a team of student researchers, faculty, and staff. Indigenous Foundations is a key resource on Indigenous histories, contexts, and politics.
- in/relation: Supporting New Learners to Indigenous Topics: Originally designed to support international student learners, we recognized that this material is deeply beneficial for instructors who are new to Indigenous topics and contexts who wish to learn alongside their students. in/relation provides learning modules, a facilitator toolbox, video interviews with early faculty adopters of the resource, and a supplemental podcast illuminating the transformational work of our project community.
This list is not the full expanse of our resources. We are always looking to collaborate. If you have something in mind, fill out our consultation form and ask for Sam!
Building your personal curriculum
It’s important to be realistic about our capacities. It’s exciting to learn new things and build plans, but this is only part of the equation. Let’s pause, and build a container by reflecting on the following questions:
- Realistically, what time can I commit to my learning?
- What is my learning style? Do I enjoy learning by reading, visual media, or lectures?
- How will I keep myself accountable? How will I know I have achieved my goal(s)?
- What are my rituals that will open and close my sessions? Do I make myself a cup of tea and light a candle? Designate a space in my house or go to a coffee shop or library for my “class” time?
This is for you, by you; there’s no right or wrong way to create your own learning space. Carving out 10 minutes a day is just as important and valid as carving out 90 minutes.
*Tip: Find an accountability buddy! Maybe a fellow colleague or friend who is willing to remind you of your goals!
Setting goals
Like building out learning objectives for a course or a workshop, it’s important to reflect on your personal learning goals. Reflect on the following questions:
- What are my motivations for wanting to explore this topic? We often remind II Design Series program participants to action their motivations.
- What is your context? Our positionality in learning is just as integral as our motivation.
Mapping it out
We’ve reflected on our intentions, set the scene, and ruminated on what we want to learn. Let’s build a personal learning curriculum together.
Indigenous 101: Starting my decolonization learning journey
Time commitment: 30-45 minutes/day for one month
Learning goals: At the end of the month, I will be able to deliver a meaningful and respectful land acknowledgement based on my own understanding of my context, relationship, responsibilities to the land and the Host Nations of these lands.
Week #1: The land we’re on
Resources
- Explore the websites of the Host Nations:
- If you are unsure of whose land you’re on, use www.native-land.ca.
- Do Module 1 of Indigenous Learning Pathways.
- Watch Elder Larry Grant’s Welcome Message
- Read UBC’s Indigenous Peoples: Language Guidelines (PDF)
Optional:
- Watch: c̓əsnaʔəm: the city before the city (2017)
- Visit: Museum of Anthropology
Accountability check
- Tell one person in your life one new thing you have learned.
Reflection
- In what ways has learning more about the Host Nations shifted your understanding of Vancouver and surrounding areas?
Week #2: Understanding my context
Resources
- Explore the UBC-Aboriginal Timeline.
- Do Module 2 of Indigenous Learning Pathways.
- Do Module 1, Groundwork Activity Map Your Relationship to Place of the in/relation Project.
Please note that some of the language in older resources use outdated terminology.
Optional:
- Watch: Trick or Treaty (2014)
Accountability check
- Show a loved one your Relationship to Place Map and share the activity with them. Reflect on the reflection questions in the activity together.
Reflection
- How has this work shifted your understanding of yourself in relation to these lands?
Week #3: What is my responsibility?
Resources
- Do Module 3 of Indigenous Learning Pathways.
- Read Acknowledging the Affect: Tending to the Emotional Side of the Classroom from What I Learned in Class Today.
- Watch What I Learned in Class Today: Student Perspectives Film (14 mins).
Optional:
- Read: Cash Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper
- Watch: Nechako: It Will Be a Big River Again (2025)
- Explore: X̱wi7x̱wa Research Guides
Accountability check
- Make one action in your day-to-day life that honours the lands you’re on. This could look like rebalancing your budget to include some funds set aside to support Indigenous resistance efforts or volunteering your time at community events, for mutual aid, or another community space.
Reflection
- How do you envision your responsibility to the lands you are on? How do you action this responsibility and in what ways do you dream of actioning your responsibilities beyond acknowledging the land?
Week #4: Conclusion
Resources
- Do Module 4 of Indigenous Learning Pathways.
- Explore the Squamish Atlas, paying attention to the places on the map you have visited or visit often.
- Write your land acknowledgement down, reflecting on all the tools and information you have learned over the last 4 weeks. Write your land acknowledgement down, reflecting on all the tools and information you have learned over the last 4 weeks.
Optional:
- Watch Hi-Hi Mistahey! (2013)
Accountability check
- Share your land acknowledgement with a trusted person, talk through what you have written, and why you have shared it.
- Use this land acknowledgement to open up your next meeting, class, or workshop. Ask for feedback and be open to change.
Reflection
- How has working through this content for the last four weeks shifted your perspective on land acknowledgements as a whole?
- What commitments are you making to continue your learning into the future?
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