Rural and Remote Teacher Education Program

Description

The “Rural and Remote Teacher Education Program (RRED): An Innovative Hybrid Approach” project is an intentionally decolonizing approach to inclusive, equitable, and accessible hybrid course design and multimedia, interactive resource development in the RRED program. Course and resource design principles are co-created with IBPOC graduate students’ and teacher candidates’ funds of knowledge. Collaboration between instructors, faculty, staff, students and learning designers cultivates culturally responsive courses and resources that embody diverse lived experiences and perspectives.

The project was proposed by Dr. Leyton Schnellert, and in 2023 it was granted funding from the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF). Funding was renewed on March 1, 2024.

Goals

The goal of the RRED project is to partner with Indigenous faculty, educators, RRED teacher candidates and graduate students in course redesign so that Indigeneity, place, pedagogy, decolonization, accessibility and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action are woven authentically throughout the program. The videos filmed in situ serve as resources that are relevant to the B.Ed. program, and they incorporate interactive components to support asynchronous learning. The course redesign prioritizes and enacts equitable, diverse and inclusive pedagogy and addresses learner diversity to create equitable learning opportunities for teacher candidates in rural and remote locations. Course redesign principles serve as a model for other courses, departments and programs.

The benefits of the program include:

• Providing a hybrid B.Ed. program to help address teacher shortages in rural and remote communities;
• Increasing instructor capacity to create online courses;
• Providing a learning map with illustrations and examples for instructors and designers within and beyond UBC’s B.Ed. Program;
• Making video resources available to UBC B.Ed. cohorts, thereby disrupting deficit narratives, permeating colonial systems and contributing to anti-racist and culturally sustaining pedagogy;
• Providing equitable learning opportunities for teacher candidates living in rural and remote locations, and urban and suburban contexts; and
• Exemplifying how university educators can partner with Indigenous educators and graduate students in course redesign to authentically weave Indigenous paradigms and the perspectives of equity-deserving groups throughout a program.

Deliverables

Specifically, the deliverables of the project are:

• The Hybrid B.Ed. Program and courses
• Certified rural and remote teachers
• Multimodal learning objects utilized across teacher education courses
• Course design that is responsive to learners’ needs
• Learning map/visual representation
• Curriculum map of redesigned UBC B.Ed. courses

The anticipated impact of the project is as follows:

• Strengthen engagement in the first hybrid B.Ed. program approved by the BC Teacher Regulation Branch;
• Redesign courses/resources that can be utilized across all UBC B.Ed. programs;
• Increase the number of certified teachers to address critical rural shortages;
• Support equitable access for rural students to remain in, and contribute to, their communities;
• Expand future pathways for UBC students; and
• Influence other B.Ed. programs by modelling quality hybrid teacher education created with and for teacher candidates.

Project Team

Academic Team

• Leyton Schnellert, Associate Professor, EDCP
• Carly Christensen, Assistant Professor, ECPS
• Joaquin Munoz, Assistant Professor, EDCP
• Harper Keenan, Assistant Professor, EDCP
• Karen Ragoonaden, Associate Dean, Teacher Education
• Shelley Moore, Instructor; Joann Anokwuru, Instructor
• Yvonne Dawydiak, Learning Design Manager, TEO

Indigenous Education Circle

• Bonny Lynn Donovan, PhD Candidate/Instructor
• Denise Flick, Instructor
• Jesse Halton, Instructor
• Megan Read, Instructor
• Joaquin Munoz, Assistant Professor, EDCP

Learning Design and Digital Innovation

• Jamilee Baroud, Curriculum and Evaluation Consultant

Graduate Students

• Bonny Lynn Donovan
• Belinda Chi
• Nina Pak Lui
• Lee Iskander
• Amy Ceasar
• Nadia Galvan Hernandez
• Andrea Kellaway

Sample Videos

The following videos, filmed in situ for the hybrid B.Ed. program, are samples of the resources provided to rural and remote B.Ed. cohorts.

Inclusive Education: Student and Parent Voice in IEPs

Disability Justice