ICT and STEM Education at the Colonial Border: A Postcolonial Computing Persepctive of Indigenous Cultural Integration in ICT and STEM Outreach in British Columbia
Open Access
- Author:
- Canevez, Richard
- Graduate Program:
- Information Sciences and Technology
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- October 06, 2020
- Committee Members:
- Carleen Maitland, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Carleen Maitland, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Lynette Yarger, Committee Member
Daniel Susser, Committee Member
Craig A. Campbell, Outside Member
Mary Beth Rosson, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- STEM
ICT
Postcolonal Theory
Postcolonial Computing
Education
Indigenization
Indigenous
Cultural Integration - Abstract:
- Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have achieved a global reach, particularly in social groups within the ‘Global North,’ such as those within the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. It has produced the need for a computing workforce, and increasingly, diversity is becoming an integral aspect of that workforce. Today, educational outreach programs with ICT components that are extending education to Indigenous communities in BC are charting a new direction in crossing the cultural barrier in education by tailoring their curricula to distinct Indigenous cultures, commonly within broader science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiatives. These efforts require examination, as they integrate Indigenous cultural material and guidance into what has been a largely Euro-Western-centric domain of education. Postcolonial computing theory provides a lens through which this integration can be investigated, connecting technological development and education disciplines within the parallel goals of cross-cultural, cross-colonial humanitarian development. This is a process that can be usefully illustrated by depicting how those undertaking it conceptualize its potentials and pitfalls, as well as what those depictions illustrate about ICT within broader STEM education. To explore the challenges of this initiative, I used a case study focused on a nonformal, educational outreach organization from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Geering Up. During the course a 2-month field study period gathering observations and interviews with Geering Up employees and members of a First Nations community working with Geering Up (K’omoks First Nation), which in support from an analysis of documents from the organization, was used to identify key themes. These themes include a Canadian work-force focus underlying Indigenous outreach, the immensity of commitment required to integrate Indigenous cultural material into a Western STEM educational program’s curriculum, aspects of how identity and locality impact the process of developing curricula and lessons, and how resources shortcomings are particularly acute in ICT education, as compared to broader STEM. Principally, the discussion of these themes highlights the importance of viewing integration as a process (as opposed to over-fixation on end-results in the form of educational artifacts). I also highlight the epistemological complexity of cultural integration by a Western outreach education program, how power circulates within a system that interacts with broader corporate and governmental alignments, ultimately leading to recommendations for scholars and community members working in the space of cross-cultural, cross-colonial technological design.