Indigenizing the 21st Century Classroom


Conference poster
Poster OER.pngConference poster

Paul McKenzie-Jones, Ph.D.
Paul is Assistant Professor of Native American Studies at MSU Northern. His research and teaching focus is on critical intersections of race, indigenous identity, contemporary issues, cultural traditionalism/revitalization/fluidity, and trans-national indigenous activism in the 20th and 21st centuries. His first book, Clyde Warrior: Tradition, Community, and Red Power, was published by University of Oklahoma Press in 2015.

Indigenizing the 21st century classroom
This OER showcases the use of tools such as twitter, blogs, and other forms of social media, as a project for increasing cultural awareness in the classroom. These tools create spaces in the classroom for culturally responsive engagement between Native and non-Native students. Using contemporary indigenous activism as the focus of a semester-long project, I will discuss the steps taken to enable students to explore contemporary Native issues from indigenous perspectives. The ‘real-time’ environment of social media enables the students to engage with multiple indigenous perspectives in a pro-active, rather than passive, manner. The OER will also show how this exploration leads to increased student intellectual awareness and engagement with the indigenous world around them.

Access the OER here:

Download: OER Indigenizing the 21st Century Classroom.docx


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