Project Investigator(s): Alon Eisenstein, Assistant Professor of Teaching, School of Engineering, Applied Science
Project Description
The School of Engineering’s Indigenous Engagement Plan calls for Indigenization of the curriculum. In response, an Indigenous-focused project was developed to prepare students for early, deep and meaningful consultation with Indigenous communities and has been introduced to the second-year course APSC201: Technical Communication. This study seeks to measure the impact the Indigenous-focused project has on students’ intercultural understanding as it relates to Indigenous Peoples in BC. The study will employ a mixed-methods approach that will include a pre/post survey as well as student generated reflective written work that will be analyzed and triangulated for emerging themes.
Research Questions
1. To what extent does students’ intercultural understanding of Indigenous Peoples in BC change as part of their course experience?
2. To what extent does students’ confidence in their preparedness for consulting with Indigenous Communities as engineers change as part of their course experience?
Impact on teaching and learning at UBC
The result of this project has the potential to inform existing and future efforts at UBC to address the commitment for truth and reconciliation by capturing students’ cognitive and affective changes as they relate to Indigenous Peoples issues in BC.