Decolonizing cyberspace: Online support for the Nunavut MEd

• Published in: The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning
• Main Authors: McAuley, Alexander, Walton, Fiona
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Athabasca University Press 2011
• Subjects: Nunavut; inuit
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v12i4.848; http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewFile/848/1798; http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewFile/848/1837; http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewFile/848/1804; http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewFile/848/1811

Offered between 2006 and 2009 and graduating 21 Inuit candidates, the Nunavut Master of Education program was a collaborative effort made to address the erosion of Inuit leadership in the K-12 school system after the creation of Nunavut, Canada’s newest territory, in 1999. Delivered to a large extent in short, intensive, face-to-face courses, the program also made extensive use of online supports. This paper outlines the design challenges – geographical, technological, pedagogical, and cultural – that faced the development and delivery of the online portion of the program. It highlights the intersection of the design decisions with the decolonizing principles that framed the program as a whole, the various and varying roles played by the online environment over the course of the program, and the program’s contribution to student success.