How to Use this Resource
Reconciliation+design is a set of adaptable resources developed to enable Engineering faculty to include Indigenous reconciliation in engineering courses. These resources consist of lecture slides, sample assignments, and rubrics, primarily centered around decolonization. Your role will be to teach the decolonization curriculum from your perspective.
Indigenous voices are added via the reconciliation+design dialogues that you and your students are invited to. You may attend the annual cycle of events as they occur, or use the recordings. The advantage of these large-scale events is that they amplify Indigenous voices across many audiences without putting undue burden on Indigenous community members.
Instructor Trainings
This resource begins with five trainings for instructors:
- Decolonization
- Ways of Knowing
- Systems Thinking
- Facilitating Difficult Discussions
- Land and Title Rights
These trainings are intended for instructors to complete before implementing the learning modules into the classroom. The trainings include videos, readings, additional resources, among other content, to provide a foundational knowledge base on some of the key concepts that are covered in the learning modules.
Learning Modules
The content provided in our decolonization curriculum is broken into three modules. These modules include lecture slides, lesson plans, assignments, and corresponding rubrics. Slides and rubrics may be modified as needed to be tailored to your specific teaching style.
The module competencies are:
- Module 1 – Dialogue and Engagement, Including Listening
- Module 2 – Recognizing Social Context (Understanding Indigenous Values, Ways of Conducting Business, and Governance Styles)
- Module 3 – Designing for Communities
These resources were developed for use in combination with coaching support. Coaches are not included in this open educational resource due to funding constraints, but the materials have been modified to be self-navigating. We gift you these resources and ask that you contact us at pamwolf@civil.ubc.ca to continue research measurement.
Wireframe for the Decolonization Curriculum
Attached below is the wireframe for the decolonization curriculum, which shows the learning objectives for each module.
| Decolonization the Engineering Curriculum - Wireframe | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Module | Core Topic | Corresponding Assignment | |
| 1 | Starting Dialogue and Systems Thinking | Starting Dialogue with K’omoks Nation - Insulating glass project | |
| 2 | Addressing and Synthesizing different “Ways of Knowing” | Synthesizing Ways of Knowing - Wet’suwet’en Pipeline case study | |
| 3 | Guiding Engineering Work with Social Context | Developing Stakeholder/Rightsholder Engagement Plan | |
| Module | Learning Outcomes - After the completion of the assignment, students will be able to: | ||
| Cognitive (Knowledge) | Psychomotor (Skills) | Affective (Attitudes) | |
| 1 | -Describe the characteristics of simple and complex systems -Express the complexity of intercultural partnerships through the generation of a systems map |
-Locate mutually beneficial, sustainable partnership objectives among a list -Select an appropriate community contact on a First Nation's website -Re-create a collaboration systems map based on a relevant example |
-Acknowledge the importance mapping communication channels -Formulate a personal understanding of respectful email communication |
| 2 | -Define “way of knowing” -Appraise the strengths and limitations of the empirical way of knowing -Synthesize two cross-cultural perspectives to create a shared strategy with polarity mapping -Differentiate normative claims from prescriptive claims |
-Construct a polarity map based on a general recipe -Demonstrate cross-cultural analysis by compiling the guiding principles of two ways of knowing |
Express interest in uncovering personal and group biases -Reconcile and reframe apparent unresolvable, opposing problems by using a polarity map |
| 3 | -Critique personal, local and professional enforcement of colonial priorities across cultural boundaries -Recognize Indigenous legal and social authority in the consultation process -Produce a strategy to champion Indigenous values and knowledge in an engineering project (purpose, preparations, research and knowledge gaps) |
-Use the The Aboriginal and Treaty Rights Information System (ATRIS) system to access local consultation considerations. -Articulate the connection between personal, communal and professional values -Identify intercultural knowledge gaps |
-Relate engineering practice to it's local context through the practice of recognizing & synthesizing various ways of knowing -Act transparently when outlining the purpose and knowledge gaps when creating a knowledge strategy document |
Indigenous Foundations
Indigenous Foundations is a cohort learning activity led by Jannik Eikenaar at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, where you will learn about:
- Decolonization, Reconciliation, and Indigenization in Canada.
- Indigenous histories and contexts: how to become a well-informed ally to Indigenous Peoples.
- Language, terminology, and tools for respectfully acknowledging Indigenous Peoples and their lands
- How to practice cultural safety in your daily work and life. We highly recommend contacting Dr. Eikenaar at Jannik.Eikenaar@ubc.ca to join one of the cohorts. His Foundations program provides an excellent education in the, well, foundational historical knowledge of Indigenous experiences in Canada.
