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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Indigenous Canada by University of Alberta

4.8
stars
22,677 ratings

About the Course

Indigenous Canada is a 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) from the Faculty of Native Studies that explores the different histories and contemporary perspectives of Indigenous peoples living in Canada. From an Indigenous perspective, this course explores complex experiences Indigenous peoples face today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations. Topics for the 12 lessons include the fur trade and other exchange relationships, land claims and environmental impacts, legal systems and rights, political conflicts and alliances, Indigenous political activism, and contemporary Indigenous life, art and its expressions....

Top reviews

MD

Jul 2, 2021

This course was very interesting and very informative. Not only did it help correct stereotypes or prejudices, it showed a wide range of subjects pertaining to global and specific Indigenous cultures.

EG

May 27, 2021

Very well done! Thank you for allowing me to learn more about your history & culture. Being from Ireland and relatively new to Canada I wanted to know more about the beginnings of Canada as a country.

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7001 - 7025 of 7,815 Reviews for Indigenous Canada

By Felix A

Oct 12, 2020

Essential course for ALL colonial settlers. Suggestions: for modules that are long or contain a lot of facts, eg Module 8 and the final one, please have Quizzes at shorter intervals to build encouragement. Also, include more visual examples, especially for Indigenous Artists, to enhance interest and help personalize the lectures. Grateful thanks for a liberating eye opener on Canada’s HIDDEN HISTORY 🙏🏽

By Anne P J

Aug 2, 2021

i found the videos had just the right level of complexity for someone new to the topic. I appreciated that i could then print off a transcript of the videos as a permanent resource to refer back to. I liked that i could do the course in my own time and at my own pace. I would thoroughky recommend this course to anyone who wishes to educate themselves about the true story of indigenous people in Canada.

By Tiffany T

Dec 10, 2020

Great primer for history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, especially evolution of relationships with European settlers. I am glad the course talks about diversity of Indigenous Peoples rather than grouping them together. I did not have time to delve into the interactive art at the end of each module, but I love this idea. Some questions and answers on quizzes are worded strangely or are a bit ambiguous.

By Bill A

Nov 1, 2020

Very good. Carefully factual. Supported with evidence and documentation. Offered more depth and detail than I expected at first. Understandably idealized depiction of Indigenous cultures (no mention of precolonial slavery or caste systems, for example), but why invite negative criticism. There has been enough of that. A little bit dry and stilted in places, but that's typical of most academic courses.

By Meagan S

Sep 21, 2020

While the course information was very interesting and important to learn, the delivery was very hard to focus on. It was very repetitive and was hard to engage with. I am glad that I have the readings for later as this will be helpful to reread over time. Overall, very happy I took the course to open my eyes up to these experiences which I was not fully aware of before. Very good learning experience!

By Jennifer M

Aug 29, 2022

This course was informative, interesting and eyeopening. It challenged the worldviews I recieved growing up about the Indigineous community and history and made me have a much greater respect and appreciation for Indigineous culture.

I would have liked to see more examples of the Indigenous art described in the last module as it was being spoken to, to elicit a deeper appreciation and understanding.

By Kathleen T

Jun 18, 2021

I found this course very rewarding. I feel like I have a better understanding of the history and legacy of Indigenous Peoples in Canada. It was at times difficult to face the horrors my colonial ancestors inflicted upon Canada's Indigenous peoples. My only concern is with the quizzes. If I did the quiz on my laptop I couldn't properly select the answer I wanted. It would change them after the fact.

By Pauline V E

Jun 15, 2020

The variety of topics presented was comprehensive, but the content in each topic was not. I was immensely disappointed that some native words were incorrectly spoken , eg. Mohawk people Kanien:keha'ka (there is NO "k" sound in Mohawk - its a "g" sound). If you are going to share this with your listeners, then please pronounce it correctly. I definitely finished this course knowing so much more.

By Pat G

Apr 12, 2022

This course was an eye opener to understanding the binary and matriarchal importance and role it played in Indigenous culture. The historical data of European influence was well presented and helps me to understand negative attitudes towards non-indigenous people. I am getting involved with our Rotary Clubs Indegenous relations committee so this course will certainly assist me in moving forward

By Robert S

Apr 1, 2020

This course was an excellent introduction to someone seeking a better understanding of Indigenous North Americans. I learnt a great deal more than I expected, and would highly recommend it to anyone. I might recommend editing of some of the quiz questions/answers, as they are occasionally poorly worded, which often obfuscates the correct answer. Thanks very much for putting the course together!

By Marina T

Aug 3, 2023

The course was excellent: illuminating, engaging, a nice mix of breadth and depth. The interviews were particularly great.

My only critique is the design of the assessments as often the questions / answers were unclear or very specific (rote memory) or in the case of the in video questions, unrelated to the specifics that were just discussed. More concept and synthesis based questions would add

By Wally W

Jan 6, 2021

Not having been in a school learning environment for over forty years, I found it difficult to study and retain the information appropriate to answering the quiz. I am looking forward to being better prepared

and retain the most relative information in my next course initiative. I truly found this course very well presented and most informative about our Indigenous citizens and their culture.

By Dan P

Nov 26, 2020

I found many errors in the notes and the lectures which undermined the credibility of the presentation. I also found the speaking voices to be very monotone and difficult to listen to for more than a few minutes at a time. There were also technical issues with the website freezing and dropping out. Overall it was a very informative and useful experience that I would recommend to others.

By Miss L B

Oct 16, 2020

This is a very interesting and informative course that was thorough and well presented. It touched on a wide variety of areas regarding the Indigenous people of Canada. The reading material before answering the questions was excellent. Much better than another course that I have taken. A couple of questions on two quizzes were ambiguous, but that would be the only aspect that was negative.

By Amanda R

Jan 24, 2019

This course had excellent content. I am baffled and outraged at how Indigenous people have been treated in the past and continue to be treated, and that the majority of Canadians (myself included) are not educated on this history. My only complaint is that the course notes do not always match the spoken dialogue in the videos (ex: Rebecca Belmore's "Trace" was called "Fringe" in the notes).

By Alyssa D

Feb 28, 2021

I really enjoyed the content of this course and learned a lot! The assessments did make my learning experience a bit more challenging. I found that the multiple-choice questions tended to be a bit confusing, ambiguous, poorly worded, or too memorization-based (as opposed to deeply testing knowledge). If possible, I think it would be very helpful to students for the quizzes to be reviewed.

By Catharine L

Jul 28, 2020

Extremely informative, insightful, and equally shocking. There are so many dimensions to the history of the Indigenous, Inuit and Metis. We all need to educate ourselves and this course is very good start. There needs to be much discussion around this topic in our high schools, post secondary education institutions and in our living rooms. Hearing the story first hand was very moving.

By Sueanne P

Mar 26, 2022

This course is insightful, and a reset to the way history is taught in Canadian schools. It has changed my perspective, and highlighted how much more is to be learned about who they are, and what they have been up against to retain their right to their sovereignty. Thank you for sharing your stories as to what Indigenous people have endured . May we all move forward in peace and love.

By Catherine M

Nov 29, 2021

a great course, fabulous information and thoughtful forms of presentation The art mural was a brilliant way to capture the diversity of issues and their import to Indigenous peoples and Canadians. I would recommend the insertion of additional or supplementary readings, if possible, to broaden the scope of what the course addresses. But overall the quality was superb and well delivered.

By andrew T

Feb 14, 2021

The course was really well presented, very informative. There were parts where the pop quiz in the middle of the course popped up before the information was shared. Other than that the course was great. I learnt the number of Indigenous people is in Canada vast and diverse, and how the Canadian government has to do a better job in consultation and inclusion of our First Nation People.

By Andrea B

Nov 16, 2020

I found the assessments were not well written at all. There were many negatively worded questions which test how well students can read the questions; they don't test knowledge.

The presentation of the material was good.

I'd suggest adding in visuals in the last lesson when you are talking about art. That way we can tie names of the artists to their art instead of just a list of names.

By Tracy A

Sep 3, 2020

I found this course to be very informative however the testing often doesn't relate to the lessons. I felt I had learned and understood the material, the wording in the questions made me feel like I didn't absorb anything.

I would love to learn more and I hope more courses can be made available in time.

Thank you very much for putting this together and I hope it brings more awareness.

By Matthew H

May 23, 2020

I enjoyed the course quite a bit. As a history buff the fur trade portion was very informative. It's important to confront our failures to honour commitments made in treaties and failures to negotiate treaties. It's doubly important to work toward resolving outstanding issues on reserve and in treaties. For many Canadians that work starts with information in courses such as this.

By Nicole U

Jan 11, 2021

I really enjoyed this course. However, I feel that it was difficult to follow along and concentrate with multiple dates and organizations were named. Also, I found that in some areas, the information randomly skipped back and forth. I think some of the information could be re-arranged to prevent back and forth skipping and a more detailed learning. But otherwise I enjoyed this!

By Valerie E

Sep 13, 2020

I think this course was put together in a very interesting way. I found I was learning some new concepts along the way. Old information, previously learned, was strengthened. I enjoyed being able to read as I listened to the lessons. thanks for putting together such a great program. I will take these new and deepened learnings with me in my teaching to elementary children.