1. Indigenous Perspectives in a First-year Astronomy Course – One Settler’s Search Jennifer Kirkey Astronomy is literally universal. The introduction to astronomy course for liberal arts major is a staple lab science course in virtually every institute of higher education in this province. I have been using an adapted version of OpenStax Astronomy for about five years now. Including indigenous perspectives in the book and in my teaching has been a focus (pun intended) for me throughout this adaption. As an eight-generation settler raised in the middle of Turtle Island, it has been a challenge to not perpetuate cultural appropriation while sharing resources. This lightning session will give you a fast tour of what resources are available with a Coast Salish and other British Columbia First Nations emphasis as well as outlining my journey to find them with tips to start finding your own.
As an example, I hope to see you at the local Hobiyee celebration on February 28 and 29 2020 at the PNE in Vancouver. <http://www.tsamiks.com/hoobiyee-2020.html> This is the Nisga’a New Year <http://www.nisgaanation.ca/news/hobiyee> and their Government holds a great celebration where everyone is welcome.
Being able to adapt resources to local perspectives is one of them most powerful aspects of OER. The OpenStax Astronomy book <https://openstax.org/details/books/astronomy> is a beautiful, classic textbook whose head writer is very respected in the field. It is also very focused on the United States of America. The adapted book has started to disrupt that narrative. It is now full of references to Canadian science, Canadian astronauts, Canadian science. <https://pressbooks.bccampus.ca/astronomy1105/> Special thanks to BCcampus for funding a student to help make graphics for this book. The cultural and historical perspectives now include many different cultures, with some local First Nations, and I continue my search to respectfully include more. This session will outline some of what I have found and give you some ideas on how to start, or continue, your own journey.
2. Learning Transformed: Open Educational Technology as a Social Good Ian LinkletterThe Faculty of Education at UBC has developed a new strategic plan entitled Learning Transformed, and the first priority is the “advancement of education as a social good”. This lightning talk will centre around how the Faculty of Education has employed open source learning technology to benefit society, and the opportunities ahead. Participants will develop an understanding of how open technology can promote:
- Learning equality
- Open learning
- Collaboration
The talk will conclude with a call to action around how to get involved with OpenETC, an open educational technology cooperative dedicated to making technology accessible to all.
3. Disrupting Assessment Weightings in Course Outlines Trent TuckerA couple of years ago I came across James Lang's piece in The Chronicle entitled “How Much Do You Want Your Final to Count?”. I finally worked up the courage to try this approach myself in a Business Analytics course this past Fall Term. Students tried their hand at a couple of individual and a couple of team assessments. They were given information about the capstone project and a prior year's final exam. Once they had received feedback (and grades of course) on those initial assessments, they got to choose the weights — within pre-set ranges — for their work for the entire term! If they wanted to weight their final exam at 26%, that's fine. If they wanted to weight it at 34% — that's fine too. If they wanted to stick with the default grading scheme I designed for them — again that's fine. Had too much fun at Homecoming and missed a homework assignment? Weight it lower. Picked a great team and worked awesomely together? Weight it higher. Assessment weightings in Course Outlines are usually set by the instructor and convey their thoughts about the relative importance of the various assessments as indicated by the weights. This approach give students the ability to set the importance based on their own criteria and play to their strengths and reduce the impact where they may be weaker.