Partnership Grant Outcome Reports

International Consortium for Educational
& Economic Development

Entrée Program Evaluation Report

Prepared by Linda Holmes and Judith Palier
January 26, 2003

Project Title: Langara College - San Juan College: A Collaborative Curriculum Project

Project Dates: September 2002 through June 2003, with extension to November 2003

ICEED Contacts:

Planned Project Purposes:

Background

Langara College (Langara) and San Juan College (SJC) both serve and value their students who are aboriginal or Native American. Langara College has developed an Aboriginal Studies Program that is transferable to several British Columbia Universities and Colleges. The curriculum content is oriented to providing students with a thorough understanding of the historic and current circumstances of Aboriginal life in Canada and in international venues, while at the same time looking to the future in terms of Aboriginal self-government and community development. Each Semester's courses are organized around a particular theme as follows: Semester 1 - The Colonial Experience from an Aboriginal Perspective; Semester 2 - Aboriginal People and the Law; Semester 3 - Aboriginal Identity, Culture and World Views; Semester 4 - Aboriginal Community - Applied Research.

San Juan College, while serving a large number of Native American students, has no formal program that provides education related to their historical and current circumstances, both locally, or as it is shared on an international basis.

San Juan College wished to build on the strengths of its faculty in areas such as Native American politics, literature, history and art to develop a comprehensive program in Native American studies. Langara College wished to establish a relationship with San Juan College to provide international experiences for its fourth term Program students.

It was hoped that a strong relationship would develop between the institutions as a result of Langara sharing its experience, expertise and curriculum design, and San Juan providing opportunities for study abroad for Langara students. Eventually, student exchange programs may develop, with students completing a semester or more of articulated study at each institution.

Outcomes:

Intended

San Juan College

As a direct result of the activities supported by the mini-grant, San Juan College (SJC) developed a concentration in Native/Navajo Studies that was approved by the SJC Instructional Affairs Council and will be included in the Fall 2004 catalogue. This concentration incorporates a 1-4 credit capstone project that borrows ideas from Langara's Aboriginal Studies Program and may make it easier for Langara students to work under the supervision of SJC faculty, should they chose to conduct their research in the Southwest.

Langara College

Partnership Possibilities 

• Straight Student Exchange: Students will do a semester at the other College while paying tuition at their home institute. Possible responsibilities of each College may include (have not been negotiated): the home College will assist the student with obtaining a visa and course selection, and the hosting College will do the best they can to assist with finding housing, work study and transportation. This appears to be the most likely option for LC students initially. Though SJC does not have an ABST program they do offer a wide variety of courses that may be of interest to Langara students. There are also course options available at Diné College and SJC's satellite campuses.
   
• Student Group Exchange: Students will travel as a group to study at the other College and or surrounding areas. The students may or may not take regularly scheduled courses. It is more likely that students will take condensed courses specifically designed for them. It is more likely that this is the option that SJC will utilize first. Another possibility is for student group exchanges consisting of one group composed of students from the different Colleges studying somewhere else together.
   
• Collaborative Teaching: There are two possibilities under this option. First, each College will offer the same course at the same time with students benefiting from both Instructors through distance hook-ups; or secondly, through faculty exchange. The
  Langara ABST program would have to develop a new course to fulfill this requirement along the lines of, "Comparative Indigenous Perspectives or Resistance".
   
• Collaborative Efforts: Each College will continue to assist the other in all areas relevant to the betterment of Indigenous students such as retention, recruitment, and other similar areas of need. One area that has been helpful already is the visit with the Director of the Native Studies Centre at SJC. She shared some of the work that she had produced for her Ph.D. and how to better assist the Native American Student. Langara will look at and implement some of the ideas that she shared with us.
   
• Research Possibilities: Langara College ABST program students have the option to take ASBT 2100/2101 in their fourth term. It is possible that Langara students may fulfill these courses through Diné College at Shiprock or SJC. At SJC, the course fulfillment would be similar to what is required at Langara College. At Diné College, the fulfillment would be somewhat different as Diné College has an existing Summer Research Enhancement Program. All discussions have indicated that Langara students would be more than welcome in these programs. Also, the variety of research programs may be of interest to Langara students. Another possibility is the NASA summer program at Diné College, for which Langara students are eligible.
  
  NOTE: All of the above suggestions can be expanded to fit within the needs of the Consortium for Cultural Cooperation or with SJC alone.

Unintended

Consortium for Cultural Cooperation

The Consortium for Cultural Cooperation (CCC) concept grew out of the ongoing collaboration between San Juan College in Farmington, NM, U.S.A. (SJC) and Langara College in Vancouver, B.C., Canada (Langara).

Background information:

While at the semiannual conference of the International Consortium for Education and Economic Development (ICEED) in Scottsdale, Arizona in September 2003, Dr. Judith Palier met with Virginia Macchiavello, incoming President of ICEED, from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, Canada (St. Clair). Virginia informed her that St. Clair would like to be involved in our Native Studies project, and suggested that Judith speak to Mtro. Andres Salazar Dzib, Secretario Academico of the Universidad Autonoma del Carmen in Campeche, Mexico (UNACAR) about the possible involvement of UNACAR as well.

Virginia pointed out that with St. Clair, Langara, SJC and UNACAR, we had four of the six schools (3 from each country) that we would need to form a consortium eligible to apply for
FIPSE funds under the North American mobility project. These are funds that cover student travel for international experiences on the North American continent. SJC has been working with Diné College in the development of SJC's Native Studies concentration, in an effort to avoid duplication of efforts and offerings, and in order to take advantage of Diné's expertise in this field. It therefore seemed natural that Diné be the second U.S. partner.

Where we are now

We have begun preliminary discussions about what we are currently calling the Consortium for Cultural Collaboration. If this comes to fruition, it will enable students from any of these six schools to study Native cultures and Native issues from northern Canada, down into the Yucatan peninsula. We discussed the possibility of four different levels of collaboration: 1) traditional student exchange programs for transfer credit; 2) collaborative teaching using distance hook-ups or actual faculty exchanges; 3) team-taught field work with instructors from the various institutions working together, traveling to our various regions, with groups comprised of students from the various institutions; and 4) collaborative efforts in recruitment and retention of Native/aboriginal/indigenous students. The intent is to apply for mobility funding under FIPSE; the next FIPSE application deadline is April 2004. This is a 3-year grant, which will allow us some time in the first year for organization and finalization of consortium agreements.

San Juan College

As an indirect result of the mini-grant, San Juan College is also working on broadening offerings in other area beyond Native Studies. The Cultural and Regional Studies Advisory Board that was established as a spin-off from the grant has enabled the faculty, students, and staff at SJC to look at other ways that SJC can expand its international and intercultural offerings. We will begin working in the near future on a concentration in Latin American Studies, and have plans to develop a concentration in International Studies. The impetus supplied by the grant has been tremendous, and the ripple effects have only just begun.

Langara College

This partnership is seen as not only viable but extremely exciting for Langara College students and faculty. In terms of what needs to be done, we will be completing what is requested in terms of information required for creation of the Consortium for Cultural Cooperation. Langara College is highly interested in supporting the application for mobility funding under FIPSE. We will maintain communication and continue furthering the partnership.

Evaluation Summary

The Project that was approved and implemented has been successful beyond the expectations of both Colleges, most of all because of the improvement that both institutions are now able to make to enhance the learning experiences for their students.