Decolonizing Cyberspace: Online Support for the Nunavut MEd

• Main Authors: Alexander McAuley, Fiona Walton
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Athabasca University Press 2011
• Subjects: Inuit; Aboriginal; distance graduate program; decolonization; pedagogy; K-12; school administrator; Indigenous education; Nunavut; decolonizing; educational leadership; distance education; distance learning; blended learning; knowledge building; Special aspects of education; LC8-6691; inuit
• Online Access: https://doaj.org/article/fd8c643754be4b1faa5261b1951b2de6

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.