Post-Secondary Distance Education:Experiences of Elsipogtog First Nation Community Members

Susan O’DonnellKevin Burton (Jesse Simon, Emily Lockhart)

ANTEC (Atlantic Native Teachers Education Conference)

May17, 2012Cape Breton, NS

Research History and Partners The VideoCom research project ongoing since 2006: http://

videocom.firstnation.ca

Since 2010, collaborative research on broadband networks and ICT in rural and remote First Nations

Atlantic Canada's First Nation Help Desk (Kevin Burton, Coordinator)

Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO) in Ontario (Brian Beaton, KO/K-Net Coordinator; Brian Walmark, KORI Research Director)

First Nations Education Council (FNEC) in Quebec (Tim Whiteduck, Director of Technology)

University of New Brunswick (Susan O’Donnell, Researcher and Adjunct Professor, Sociology)

Collaborating Communities and Studies Fort Severn First Nation, Ontario Community cell phone service; community perspectives on telemental health;

history of information sharing and technology development; the First Mile approach to service delivery

Mishkeegogamang First Nation, Ontario How community members are using ICT and broadband applications; community

perspectives on telemental health

Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation, Quebec Networks and ICT for education services; household ICT use; broadband-enabled

services

Elsipogtog First Nation, New Brunswick Post-secondary distance education; technology and creativity

Acknowledgements Thanks to the Elsipogtog community leadership and

community members for participating in this research

Thanks to other members of the research team and community liaison

All the partner organizations contribute in-kind resources to this project

Our work has been supported since 2006 by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council – thank-you SSHRC!

Study Introduction Post-secondary distance

education an option in many Atlantic First Nations

Course delivery through videoconferencing or web for individuals and for groups in community classrooms

Our paper explores some of these opportunities and challenges in the Elsipogtog community

Research on First Nations Students and Post-Sec Distance Education A lot of interest but little previous

research

Studying in the same community where you live has many advantages over leaving to study elsewhere

Many political, organizational, social, cultural, technical challenges for distance education…

Current study focused on the experiences of Elsipogtog community members

Study Methodology The paper highlights the

significant capacity and interest in Elsipogtog for post-secondary education

In collaboration with the community, interviews with community members

Shared their experiences with distance education

ANTEC paper exploratory, focused on different modes of distance education delivery

Recent Use of Post-sec Distance Education Students taking distance ed

from Fredericton – St. Thomas and University of New Brunswick

Courses from Halifax – Dalhousie and Mount Saint Vincent University

Social work, education and nursing the most popular

Also GED high school by distance

Web-based Post-sec Course Delivery

Currently the primary method of course delivery

Students with computer at home (sometimes in computer lab together)

WebEx - live video, visual and audio possible

Good for students comfortable with computers who prefer studying in a home environment

Different Experiences with Web-based Course Delivery “So at home you can

just...it’s you and your computer and there’s no distractions around you” (Community Member).

“I was so alone. Oh my, I was so alone. Sitting by the computer and by the phone and, you know. No, I was literally sick to my stomach, that’s how much I...I’m not a computer learner at all” (Community Member).

Post-sec Delivered by Videoconference

Real-time audio-visual in a classroom setting

Preferred by students who ID’d as visual learners, needing more interaction with classmates and prof

Frustration with connectivity and technical challenges that could be easily solved

Different Experiences with Courses Delivered by Videoconference To me we were closer in

videoconferencing so more of a community than [WebEx] because ... Like we're all doing the same thing… we were closer. Like WebEx, to me, there's space there blocking. It's not as personal I don't think” (Community member).

“Thank God for one my classmates for math because that was one of my worst experiences-taking a math class through videoconferencing as I have a really hard time with math and the professor was really rude, for one” (Community member).

Summary of Findings People have different

learning styles and preferences

Web-based systems work well for those at home with family responsibilities

Videoconference works for those preferring group learning

Videoconference may be more suitable for those with limited computer skills

Next Steps… Work with community to

interpret findings, more papers

Consider how distance learning fits within a holistic e-community strategy

Invite anyone at ANTEC interested in this research to contact us for follow-up

Contacts for Follow-up More info and publications: http://videocom.firstnation.ca http://firstmile.ca

Susan O’Donnell: susanodo@unb.ca Kevin Burton: admin@firstnationhelp.com

Thank you!Comments, questions?