Introduction
Storytelling practices have been used for millennia as an educational tool for passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Indigenous populations around the world have employed storytelling and oral tradition to emphasize the balance between themselves and the land, all living creatures, and the cosmos (Woodhouse, 2011). The efficacy of storytelling can be seen in contemporary education settings where student engagement, achievement, and motivation are all enhanced when digital storytelling technologies are integrated into classroom pedagogy (Smeda, Dakich, & Sharda, 2014). The Indigenous Lifeways in Canadian Business project employs digital storytelling captured in this Open Educational Resource video series to deliver content about Indigenous business issues in Canada. Instructors can easily integrate some or all of the videos containing digital Indigenous content within the curriculum of their courses as needed. This instructor guide is the source listing all of the videos in the series and descriptors about what each video contains.
It has long been a concern for instructors to easily incorporate Indigenous content into their courses to try and improve progress towards the Truth and Reconciliation’s calls to action. Indigenous curricula is scarce (Brown, Doucette, & Tulk, 2016). Therefore, this series provides an introduction to important business topics impacting successful Indigenous entrepreneurs in Canada and connects to their stories from the point-of-view of Aboriginal stakeholders. End-users can link to one or more videos, embed the material into their websites, or download a video to use offline. End-users cannot, however, make any derivatives of the video material.
References
Brown, K. G., Doucette, M. B., & Tulk, J. E. (Eds). (2016). Indigenous business in Canada: Principles and practices. Cape Breton University Press.
Smeda, N., Dakich, E., & Sharda, N. (2014). The effectiveness of digital storytelling in the classrooms: A comprehensive study. Smart Learning Environments, 1(1), 1-21.
Truth, & Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Canada’s Residential Schools: The Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (Vol. 1). McGill-Queen’s Press-MQUP.
Woodhouse, H. (2011). Storytelling in university education: Emotion, teachable moments, and the value of life. The Journal of Educational Thought (JET)/Revue de la Pensée Educative, 45(3), 211-238.