Cohort April 2024: Sauder School of Business – Justin Bull, Ryka Shahzadi, Bailey Hill, Jasleen Khakh
Project background
COMM 386T (Indigenous Relations and Economic Development) aims to equip students with the necessary political, legal, cultural, and historical context to showcase the significance of establishing meaningful relationships with Indigenous Peoples in the private sector. Enrollments comprise of 15-20 students from diverse backgrounds, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners from various faculties, fostering a rich learning environment. The course structure entails the first half focusing on skill-building and testing the integration of learning into assignments, while the second half centers on student progress reflection.
Project details
Led by Dr. Bull for six years, the redesign project aims to further enhance student understanding of Indigenous perspectives on Canadian economic development, diverging from Western views. It was collaboratively determined there needs to be incorporation of reflection on biases, updating course cases, and refining assignment objectives for deeper analysis.
The redesign is structured around three primary goals:
- Deepening Student Understanding of Indigenous Perspectives: Provide students with authentic and constructive representation of Indigenous worldviews and perspectives concerning economic development. By incorporating Indigenous voices and experiences into the curriculum through redesigned course learning objectives, readings, and Indigenous guest speakers to foster a deeper understanding of the complexities and nuances of Indigenous economic development.
- Integration of New Case Studies: We will collaboratively identify and integrate new case studies highlighting current issues and advancements in Indigenous economic development to serve as focal points for student analysis.
- Strengthen Guidance on Student Community Profile Development: Identify and strengthen research methods, particularly in developing community profiles through revised assignment objectives. These community profiles culminate class learnings into students developing an in-depth overview of their selected Nation, acting as a hands-on research project to explore Indigenous communities’ economic realities.
To ensure the project alignment with the restructuring goals the following key principles will act as a guiding framework:
- Authentic Indigenous Representation: We will ensure that course materials, assignments, and activities authentically reflect Indigenous perspectives on economic development.
- Engaging with Indigenous scholars and leaders will enable us to incorporate diverse viewpoints respectfully and accurately.
- Inclusive Course Design: Our redesign will follow universal design for learning (UDL) principles to cater to diverse student needs. By providing multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression, we aim to create an inclusive learning environment supporting all students.
- Student-Led Assessments: Students will conduct assessments focusing on community engagement and research, respectfully integrating Indigenous perspectives. This empowers students to explore Indigenous realities in the Canadian economic context while fostering critical thinking, creativity, and empathy.
Assessment will occur in multiple stages:
- Focus Groups: Collaborative discussions among faculty, and current and past students will be conducted through focus groups to ensure feedback loops are established at multiple stages to test course content before implementation in COMM 386T.
- Expert Panel Review: Revised content will be presented to an expert panel consisting of Indigenous leaders, academics, and industry professionals to ensure it accurately reflects Indigenous economic development.
Overall, the COMM 386T redesign aims to deepen understanding of Indigenous economic perspectives, fostering respectful engagement with Indigenous communities for reconciliation in the private sector.