CTLT Indigenous Initiatives has free online resources to support you with your learning journey at UBC. Regardless of if you’re a first-year undergrad or deep diving into your PhD, we got you. Our resources support the entire teaching and learning community at UBC, which means students as well as faculty and staff.
Below you’ll find helpful tips on utilizing our resources in course work, student groups, and self-advocacy during your student career.
If you have any questions, fill out our consultation form and ask to meet with our Educational Resources Developer, Sam!
Indigenous Initiatives Resource Key
Our resources meet a variety of different needs in and out of the classroom, but we wanted to make navigation simpler. Think of this resources key as a suggestion on how to use our resources.
Peer Reviewed
Peer reviewed resources have went through the rigorous process of being verified by leaders in our field. These resources can be cited in formal academic work. Think of these resources as a place to start your research, not your end destination.
Peer Support/Learning
Looking for something to support a fellow student in their learning? These resources are helpful tools to share with others who are wanting to grow their understanding of Indigenous contexts, histories, and contemporary realities. We want to recognize the added, and invisibilized, labour thrust upon Indigenous students to educate their peers. These resources can help with some of that heavy lifting.
Self Advocacy/Learning
Our post secondary learning journeys often come with the hard lessons of advocating for ourselves in the face of institutional pressures and bureaucracy. For Indigenous students, this often happens both in and outside the classroom. These resources support self advocacy by providing documented examples, conversations, and strategies on navigating complex situations in our learning environments.
Holding Difficult Conversations
Sometimes the best way to move through misunderstandings and conflict is to hold that difficult conversation. In our experience, these conversations occur in the classroom for both students and instructors when navigating topics that are deeply personal to communities historically and contemporarily marginalized. These resources can help navigate these conversations within our personal lives, the classroom, student groups, and beyond.
Meet The Indigenous Initiatives Resources
What I Learned in Class Today (WILICT)
What started as a student directed seminar in 2007 by CTLT Indigenous Initiatives Associate Director Amy Perreault and UBC alumna Karrmen Crey, What I Learned in Class Today (WILICT) has grown into an oral history resource spanning decades. Driven by the experiences of Indigenous students in UBC classrooms, WILICT holds multiple student and faculty interviews tackling topics like tokenism, anti-Indigenous racism, and isolation in the classroom. Paired with expertly written articles and a facilitation guide, WILICT is an excellent support for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students navigating complicated dynamics inside and outside of the classroom.
in/relation
Are you new to learning about Indigenous topics and contexts? No worries, many are in the same position and in/relation is here to help! Developed by CTLT Indigenous Initiatives Senior Strategist Janey Lew, in/relation is a learning resource for anyone who is interested in exploring Indigenous histories and contexts at UBC with others who are also new to these topics. Combining facilitation tools, sample learning modules, and a podcast, in/relation helps navigate those sticky situations where you find yourself saying, “hey, I don’t know but let’s find out together.”
Indigenous Foundations
Content Note: Some of the terminology used within Indigenous Foundations is outdated, please refer to UBC’s Indigenous Peoples: Language Guidelines for clarification on current terminology. Created in 2009 by then graduate students Erin Hanson and Karrmen Crey with support from Dr. Linc Kesler, Indigenous Foundations provides peer reviewed information on a variety of Indigenous topics. Indigenous Foundations is a great starting point for personal learning and narrowing down research topics.
See also: The Berger Inquiry
Place Based Resources
Content Note: Some of the terminology used within these resources is outdated, please refer to UBC’s Indigenous Peoples: Language Guidelines for clarification on current terminology. Understanding the places we learn from and on is essential on our learning journeys, these resources offer up comprehensive conversations around land and place at UBC and the Lower Mainland.
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Make sure you check out X̱wi7x̱wa Library, the First Nations House of Learning, and the UBC Indigenous Events Calendar.
If you want to chat more about Indigenous Initiatives resources, learn about other Indigenous centred learning resources, or have something else learning related on your mind? Request an II Consultation and ask for Sam.