Land Acknowledgement
The University of Washington Seattle campus acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples of this land, the land which touches the shared waters of all tribes and bands within the Suquamish, Tulalip and Muckleshoot nations.
The instructor of this course resides and works near the traditional Coast Salish territory known as Steh Chas, now known as Olympia, in the state of Washington.
Take a moment to reflect on the lands on which you reside. As we learn, teach, and live on Indigenous territories in Washington state and in other places in the US and around the world, we have a responsibility to acknowledge these places, as well as the histories of dispossession, forced removal, and enslaved labor of Black people that have allowed growth of this and other institutions.
Course Description
Indigenous people are using a variety of digital tools such as video games, virtual reality, language apps, and digital heritage sites to maintain their relationships to place, language, history, and culture. In this course, we will explore the respectful use and development of these tools with an emphasis on Native North American Indigenous approaches to knowledge, including relationality. Relationality is what distinguishes Indigenous ways of knowing from western knowledge in a fundamental way. To understand Indigenous ways of knowing, you must recognize that everything starts with relationships. Relationships energize the ways we interact with the world and the ways of knowing that emerge from those experiences. By the end of this course, students will understand how relationality can inform thoughtful, respectful and appropriate uses of information technology that is designed by and for Indigenous people.
Image credits: Joe Seymour (Squaxin Island/Pueblo of Acoma), Our Journey Together (course thumbnail), Eagle's Journey (course banner)
Watch an overview of the class and Dr. Littletree's introduction here:
Required Course Materials
Course materials will be available via downloads on this page.
Additionally, each student will have the opportunity to review a book for bonus points in the class. These books include:
- Duarte, M.E. (2017). Network Sovereignty: Building the Internet Across Indian Country. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Wemigwans, J. (2018). A Digital Bundle: Protecting and Promoting Indigenous Knowledge Online. Regina: University of Regina Press.
Find all/additional readings on the Course Schedule page.
COURSE FORMAT/STRUCTURE
The class is broken into a series of weekly modules with optional live Zoom class sessions (to be scheduled). Components of each module will include recorded lectures or lecture notes, assigned readings, reading questions to stimulate online discussion, and assignments. The schedule for the live Zoom sessions will be determined during the first week of class. Students have the option of attending live sessions or participating in discussion boards to earn participation credits.
You are expected to be an active participant in our class. What does this mean, especially in an online environment? Each week, we'll have opportunities for you to engage with the course content. Usually, this will be in the form of a discussion board, but we'll also provide other activities, like smaller group discussions or class-wide Google document editing. Other ways to show active participation are to ask questions during a live Q&A session and attending and participating in a live Zoom session. We will take attendance and make note of participation during Zoom sessions.
I've designed assignments that will challenge you (hopefully), and I've included readings that will (hopefully) stretch your thinking. It will be up to you to decide how much effort you want to make towards these goals, and perhaps develop your own goals for your learning along the way (I'd love to hear about these goals, too!).
Student Outcomes/Learning Goals
This class is designed to challenge and stretch your thinking. Ultimately, our goal is to help you develop an understanding of other ways knowing (i.e. Indigenous ways of knowing) and how this intersects with the digital world.
By the end of the course, we hope that you will:
- Be able to define and understand relationality as a core component of Indigenous ways of knowing.
- Become life-long thoughtful designers and developers of information technology with an understanding of how Indigenous systems of knowledge exist and the importance of tribal sovereignty
- Develop critical thinking skills and critical analysis of information technology in Indigenous communities
- Develop an understanding of other ways of knowing as thoughtful developers of technology in underserved communities
- Understand Indigenous people are creators and users of technology
What I do not expect is that you will leave this class feeling like an expert in Indigenous ways of knowing. In fact, if you do feel like an expert in this topic because of this course, I would encourage you to revisit the readings and learning goals. Learning about Indigenous systems of knowledge is a life-long pursuit, and examining this topic in light of the digital world is extremely complicated. We will only be scratching the surface with the time we have together.
STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR EXPECTATIONS
Your input is needed for this segment of the syllabus. What do you expect of yourself, your fellow students, and the instructor and reader/grader? List that information on this discussion board, and I'll collate it and add it to this section.
As the instructor, I expect:
- A commitment to engaged learning from each and every student
- Students to act, think, and communicate at a professional level
- This online classroom to be a safe space for students to learn, explore, and discuss; while we might be dealing with difficult topics and differing values, we remain respectful of others' views
Students can expect from the instructor:
- Engaged, active instruction on course content.
- A commitment to creating and sustaining an inclusive learning environment.
- Quick responses to questions via email: within 24 hours during the week, and 48 hours on weekends
- Timely feedback on all assignments.
Students can expect from each other (quotes from the discussion board!):
- To feel respected and heard
- Be willing to listen
- Trusting each other with each of our contributions
- Create an environment where students feel safe sharing their opinions and beliefs
- Open to being corrected about previous misconceptions
- Be open, compassionate, and understanding that people are experiencing this time differently
- Be graceful with one another, listen before speaking, and talk only from our own experiences
- To discuss together rather than debate
Assignments
During the course of the quarter, students will complete a series of writing and discussion assignments that - altogether - total 10 points. They are:
Podcast Episode Review: Listen to and respond to an Indigenous podcast (1 point)
Writing Reflections (4 points)
Meaningful Participation (1 point)
Collection of Indigenous digital projects (2 points)
Final Assignment: Create a writing assignment for yourself that reflects what you learned in the class and that aligns with your academic or career interests (2 point)
Bonus: Book Review (1 point max) worth a maximum of 3% towards the final grade.
There is no way to avoid doing work in this class. You are will be expected to read, write, discuss, plan, and interact. And hopefully, along the way, you'll build relationships with me and your peers. This is an important component of an Indigenous-focused class. We'll also be figuring this out along the way as we are only interacting online!
I'm hopeful that the assignments, especially the final assignment, will be something you can be proud of and perhaps build upon in your professional career. But again, that is up to you. I will be here to help guide you as best as possible.
Find complete assignment details and due dates on the Assignments page.
Grading
All work will be evaluated on a simple three-tier scale: Good (full credit at 100%), Satisfactory (partial credit at 75%), Missing/Incomplete (no credit at 0%). At the end of the quarter, point totals will be converted to corresponding grades on the iSchool standard grading scheme.
The top tier is designed to be attainable no matter what your previous experience with Indigenous systems of knowledge is. In this class, "good" work will follow instructions, meet basic requirements, and show a reasonable or good faith effort to meet and exceed the assignment's goals; "satisfactory" work will meet the basic requirements, but fall short in some easily demonstrated way (like being off-topic, deliberately misunderstanding source material, or deploying rushed writing or difficult to parse grammar); missing/incomplete work says what it is - work that isn't turned in or that doesn't meet the basic requirements.
Late Assignments
Please take a few minutes to look ahead on the syllabus and review your other course assignments to
see when you might have multiple deadlines and plan ahead. I acknowledge that we are learning during a pandemic, combined with other complicating factors. I understand that sometimes deadlines will be difficult to meet. As the instructor, I will make decisions about accepting late assignments on a case-by-case basis. Please notify me as soon as you can if you think you'll need more time to complete an assignment. It is the responsibility of the student to contact the instructor immediately to discuss any accommodations needed.
Zoom Sessions
This course was scheduled to run synchronously, but will instead run as a combination of weekly optional live Zoom sessions and discussion board posts.
Zoom class sessions will be recorded. The recording will capture the presenter’s audio, video and computer screen. Student audio and video will be recorded if they share their computer audio and video during the recorded session. The recordings will only be accessible to students enrolled in the course to review materials. These recordings will not be shared with or accessible to the public.
The University and Zoom have FERPA-compliant agreements in place to protect the security and privacy of UW Zoom accounts. Students who do not wish to be recorded should:
- Change their Zoom screen name to hide any personal identifying information such as their name or UW Net ID, and
- Not share their computer audio or video during their Zoom sessions.
Religious Accommodation
Washington state law requires that UW develop a policy for accommodation of student absences or significant hardship due to reasons of faith or conscience, or for organized religious activities. The UW’s policy, including more information about how to request an accommodation, is available at Religious Accommodations Policy. Accommodations must be requested within the first two weeks of this course using the Religious Accommodations Request form.
Guidance to Students Taking Courses Outside the U.S.
Faculty members at U.S. universities – including the University of Washington – have the right to academic freedom which includes presenting and exploring topics and content that other governments may consider to be illegal and, therefore, choose to censor. Examples may include topics and content involving religion, gender and sexuality, human rights, democracy and representative government, and historic events.
If, as a UW student, you are living outside of the United States while taking courses remotely, you are subject to the laws of your local jurisdiction. Local authorities may limit your access to course material and take punitive action towards you. Unfortunately, the University of Washington has no authority over the laws in your jurisdictions or how local authorities enforce those laws.
If you are taking UW courses outside of the United States, you have reason to exercise caution when enrolling in courses that cover topics and issues censored in your jurisdiction. If you have concerns regarding a course or courses that you have registered for, please contact your academic advisor who will assist you in exploring options.
Resources
Your safety and well-being are more important than anything going on in class. Please feel free to reach out to me if you want to talk or need additional support.
Student Resources
A number of challenges from a variety of directions can affect your ability to bring your optimal attention and energy to a course. Student Resources is a set of links to campus resources that UW makes available to students in trying to mitigate and cope with some of these challenges.
iSchool Technology Requirements
The iSchool has a set of technology requirements for both online and residential students. We highly recommend that students adhere to these standards which are updated annually. Students who do not meet these standards may experience technology problems throughout the course.
iSchool Learning Technologies Support Site
Knowledge base for Canvas, VoiceThread, web conferencing systems, and other learning technologies tools.
UW Libraries
In this course you may be required to access a large number of databases through the Internet. Several of these databases are publicly available, but some are proprietary and access requires authentication through the UW Libraries. Information about logging in to use these databases is available on the Connecting to the Libraries page.
Academic Conduct
Please review the iSchool Academic Policies which cover:
- Academic and Behavioral Misconduct
- Academic Integrity
- Copyright
- Privacy
- Concerns About a Course
- Evaluation of Student Work