Professional Learning Goals

• Learned and applied digital media skills (spherical imaging, WalkInto overlay program, producing various media works including audio and video recordings)
• Collaborated with colleagues, community partners and project partners from around the world via video conferencing
• Increased awareness of the challenges faced by aboriginal youth in remote northern Ontario communities
• Empowered aboriginal youth with a global platform to share their stories and relay positive messages to other youth
• Found creative ways to deliver the Ontario English curriculum and aligned it with the aboriginal perspective with a particular focus on media skills and oral communication

Activities and Resources

We have partners to help facilitate certain aspects of our project. Google Earth Outreach is providing ongoing troubleshooting assistance for the project when questions about the Street View app are sent to their team. As well, an opportunity to attend the GEO for Good User Summit at the onset of this project was offered, and this allowed the project lead to pass on the knowledge/skills attained to team members and students. One of the co-founders of WalkInto, Boni Gopalan, participated in a few Google Hangouts (GHO) with the students to teach them how to use the tools to build virtual tours. In addition, WalkInto provided server resources to host the project and WalkInto credits to cover operational costs (e.g., students received credits to allow ad-free tours), and they continue to work with us. A Google Trusted photographer, Neil Cariani from CreativeXistence360, has worked with us to facilitate GHO’s about spherical imaging and has taught students how to operate the Ricoh Theta S camera. He has also provided his expertise with post-processing (e.g., lightening panospheres if they were taken on cloudy days). Like our other partners, Neil continues to provide assistance and technical expertise to the club. The sessions with Boni and Neil were mostly held during our lunchtime weekly meetings, and additional technology and/or storytelling workshops were conducted during special events, such as field trips or planned half-days. As well, students conducted interviews on their own time and/or during planned field trips. We provided the students with a secure online platform (Google Classroom) to communicate with team members throughout the project and share their thoughts as we learn together. We utilized Twitter (@WWUProject; #walkwithusproject) to document our journey and engage the students in contributing to their positive digital footprints. This was modelled throughout the project. Google Sites was also used to create a website for the Walk With Us Project, and the intention was to open a section for students to blog and vlog. As this report goes live, students are currently working to contribute their reflections to this section of the site.

To prepare for their storytelling, students studied exemplars of various non-fiction narratives written by indigenous authors, and were also taught interviewing skills and how to properly use consent forms. 

Our project resources include: 

• Ricoh Theta S cameras and tripods; smartphones and/or iPads to control the camera’s movements on the tripod
• WalkInto platform (virtual tour building overlay software) and Google Street View (publish our panospheres to Street View)
• Google Hangouts, a free web-based video calling service for training sessions with our technology partners, as well as for our community partners
• Working to establish relationships with various community organizations such as: Timmins Native Friendship Centre, Misiway Milopemahtesewin Community Health Centre, Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre, as well as elders
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action, Ontario curriculum (media literacy, oral communication) and Aboriginal Perspectives Toolkit documents

Unexpected Challenges

As with any grassroots project/club based in a school, Walk With Us did encounter some challenges. There were some practical considerations, such as lack of time with students (our club met once per week during the lunch hour and, in reality, our hour was typically cut down to 45 minutes). Since the learning curve was fairly steep on the part of both teachers and students, this was also a challenge, but an anticipated challenge as both teachers and students (with the exception of the project lead) had never used a 360° camera, Street View app (in the immersive way we were using it), or WalkInto (or indeed any type of virtual tour building software) prior to this project. Much of our time at the onset of the project was spent on technology training.

Communication with students was another minor issue at first, as much of our communication concerning meetings was done via email or sporadic  announcements at the high school. We rectified this by using Google Classroom and having the students enable mobile notifications on their phones. This worked infinitely better as students were very rarely without a mobile device, and it was more inclusive and engaging for them, according to feedback.

Working within the parameters of a school, at times, student attendance was an issue where if the students were not attending classes, they were not permitted to attend extra-curricular events. This meant that a few of our students missed out on some of the training offered. 

Other unexpected challenges included inclement weather for our field trips. While we had a contingency plan for dealing with cloudy weather (our partner Neil Cariani edited our panospheres so that they were not as dark), we could not travel to additional communities due to timing and warmer temperatures. These communities (Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, etc.) would have been accessible by using the winter road; however, it wouldn’t have been safe for us to travel. Time was also an issue, so we decided as a club to defer this travel to next year.

We experienced a few technological hiccups here and there with the Street View app, but our Google Earth Outreach partners were always there to help if we could not find an answer in one of the many online help forums. The app has undergone many changes in recent years, and it has been exciting to watch these changes unfold and troubleshoot as we learned together.

Enhancing Student Learning and Development

This project provided a safe space for First Nations youth to share their stories in an effort to continue to build their self-confidence and well-being. It has enhanced their understanding of a variety of technological tools and, more importantly, they are developing an understanding of how these tools can be used to create immersive experiences to spread positive messaging, and support their work in recording and digitally archiving their culture. These skills align with the 6Cs of 21st-century teaching (thinking critically, communicating clearly, working collaboratively, embracing culture, developing creativity, and utilizing connectivity). They also had the opportunity to reach beyond their community and form real connections with youth, educators/mentors and global partners through the use of technology and travel. There is evidence that our students have been and continue to be engaged in their learning as they have a personal stake in the project, and are beginning to see themselves as journalists/recorders, photographers and historians.

Sharing

• Blog posts (https://adventuresineduteching.com/), Teach Ontario site, Twitter, board website and Facebook page, etc.
• Share video via teacher YouTube channel, share learning/resources via Google Drive and Google Classroom
• Project lead shared information about the project at technology conferences (booth at the “Bring IT, Together” (BIT) conference, November 2016; International School of Brussels’ “Learning by Design” conference, March 2017)
• Student digital artefacts (URLs and/or embed codes of virtual tours) will be published on the digital Human Library website under “Social Innovation Projects”

Project Evaluation

Our goal of “learning and applying digital media skills to transfer to students (spherical imaging, WalkInto overlay program, producing various media works including audio and video recordings)” was met; however, we will require more time to produce digital media artefacts to insert into WalkInto. Prior to this project, team members had not used these types of technologies. In a pre-survey, when asked about their feelings using this new technology, results showed mixed feelings with some nervousness and apprehension. In a post-survey, all team members felt excited about the technology and would like to learn more. We will also require more time to create our virtual tours. Since we were starting from scratch to develop the backdrops and collect information for these tours, a block of dedicated, consecutive days to experiment with various audio and video editing tools and convert written interviews into digital media forms would have been useful.

Our goal of “collaborating with colleagues, community partners and project partners from around the world via video conferencing” was met. In the post-surveys administered to team members and students, team members unanimously agreed that the learning provided by Google Hangouts (GHO) was beneficial and they felt supported by the planned activities, and 100 per cent of the students who responded felt that the use of these communication tools (GHO, Twitter, Google Classroom) were effective.

We believe that Walk With Us is beginning to “increase awareness of the challenges faced by aboriginal youth in remote northern Ontario communities,” and “empower aboriginal youth with a global platform to share their stories and relay positive messages to other youth.” We have visited two communities in this inaugural year (Mattagami FN and Moosonee), and plan to visit more, should we receive funding again. The students were asked to brainstorm their story and topic ideas via Google Forms, and here are some of their ideas: residential schools, suicide rates and crises in First Nations, our culture and the way we do things (hunting, trapping, cooking), importance of aboriginal teachings and traditions, history of the communities and stories from elders. The students are beginning to see themselves as historians, and they wish to contribute to the preservation of their culture and language, and teach others about who they are to promote understanding and open a dialogue.

Our goal of “finding creative ways to deliver the Ontario English curriculum and align it with the aboriginal perspective with a particular focus on media skills and oral communication” continues to develop. Team members agreed that this platform for learning (Street View and WalkInto) provides a unique way to “get students involved in experiential, real-life learning. I can see students going out in the field, taking pictures for any number of projects, posting the pics, writing stories, and sharing their learning with others! The potential of this technology is HUGE!” 

Team members were asked in a pre-survey about how they see Walk With Us and learning about this new technology impacting their own practice and/or student-learning outcomes, and all members spoke about the potential for relevant, authentic learning and increased student engagement. Responses in the post-survey affirmed their positing about students; however, they also reflected on their own learning. One member wrote: “Before Walk With Us, I did not realize that anyone is able to “map” and upload photos via Street View or that basically anyone can essentially become a Google photographer. I thought that that was very interesting.” Also, in terms of the member’s own practice/mindset: “I have always tried to maintain a very small digital footprint in the past. Walk With Us has shown me how technology and social media can be used in positive ways to share information, network and document progress.”

Finally, when asked if Walk With Us should continue beyond this year, 100 per cent of respondents said, “Yes.” The students offered these ideas in terms of their vision for/changes to Walk With Us moving forward:

“I see that one day, the members will go places and explain our project. To change, if I could go back in time, I would’ve attended the meetings more often.”

“I think WWU club should continue for next year as more students can join. I wouldn’t change anything as there isn’t need for any improvements. It worked out really well this year, I would join next year to continue.”

“I think that we should keep doing what we’re doing and hopefully in the future our project will continue to grow.”

“I see Walk With Us going very far. I’m very excited for when we have our very first tour for anyone to see. As for change or adding, I would like to add more time when visiting communities to try and capture more of the reserve.”

“I think that we really can teach people about who we really are.”