Practically Speaking

By Marcella LaFever

From its roots as audioblogging in the 1980s to its reinvention with the release of the iPod in 2004, the phenomenon of podcasting seems to have skyrocketed in recent years. The inaugural Vancouver Podcast Festival just took accessibility to the digital world to a new level this past November 8th to the 10th.

I could only attend the Friday sessions but it was nice to bump into Jess Wind through the twitterverse while waiting for the panel discussion on “Idea to Audio” to commence. Jess was waiting eagerly for the livecast of Hannah McGregor’s podcast Secret Feminist Agenda in the next session but it seems we did have at least one thing in common – getting some tips on starting a podcast from a fantastic panel that included some people that even other successful podcasters were eager to hear.

One question to the panel about ways to assess success led to a nice little list, from the obvious “downloads” to the more obscure and harder to measure – big data on whether audience listened all the way through or when they dropped out. Other measures included

• interactions at podcast events
• engagement through twitter, FB, Instagram
• Returning listeners
• critical reviews

with a reminder for “different measures for different types.”

In Hannah McGregor’s session that followed, we were treated to Hannah’s first ever live interview with two women criminal defense attorneys, Gloria Ng and Colleen Elden. As Hannah puts it, to talk about “charter rights, feminist friendship, and whether the law is a tool that can be bent towards justice or is inherently aligned with the oppressive function of the state!”

The final free session of the day was one with CBC’s Geoff Turner about his podcast On Drugs and David Payne’s Somebody Somewhere taking on true stories of the legal system. Both fascinating to say the very least 🙂

I truly wish I could have made it to the rest of the festival but I am pumped to finally get the Outdoors Golden podcast up and running soon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Mai Anh Doan

What happens when you soak pinecones in water? They close. And how do you get them to open up again? Well, either put them under direct sunlight (something we miss during these winter months) or put them in an artificially hot setting such as an oven. In both cases, it will take more time for them to open up again.

The metaphor powerfully reminded us, twelve members who sat in the University of the Fraser Valley’s very first New Faculty Development Program, about the importance of creating an open and inclusive classroom environment for students. On every Friday afternoon, for 11 weeks, we switched to being mature students and tackled the most essential issues of learning and teaching at UFV. The classes were always full of ideas and energy as members discussed and shared their teaching experiences with each other and with facilitators from the Teaching and Learning Unit and guests.

In the first half of the program, we re-examined seemingly traditional concepts such as student motivation, engagement in learning, learner community, experiential learning, and positive collaboration. Classic reads, for example, Freire’s banking concept or Mezirow’s transformational model of learning were used as starting points for further in-class discussions on their implications for various disciplines. We were also treated to hearing stories from students and seasoned faculty members who designed and participated in elaborative experiential learning opportunities that made life-long impacts.

For the second half of the program, we immersed in the sea of educational technologies. Some of the members are very well versed in this area, and all of us learned something from everybody. Through a Blackboard discussion, we built an impressive repertoire of the technologies that consists of well-known and well-used tools such as PowerPoint, or Blackboard Collaborate, and newer, cool programs such as Zeetings, Socrative, VoxVote that get students to participate in class in real time.

But perhaps, the biggest takeaway from the program was the opportunity for us, newbies to UFV, to network with peers from other departments. Some of us are already talking about cross- and inter-disciplinary projects that help students see their subjects of study under different lights. As the program continues next semester, we are in fact looking forward to seeing some of these projects come to fruition.

From Marcella LaFever and Shirley Hardman

It started off as a trip to help out a colleague who was having eye surgery in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In the end it became a journey of thinking about when, how and what Indigenous peoples in the United States when they tell their stories publicly.

For this past year I have been immersed in my sabbatical research on Indigenous storytelling as a communicative practice in public dialogue, in particular in relation to use of stories in submissions to the Cohen Commission Inquiry on the decline of Sockeye salmon in the Fraser River. When my co-researcher Shirley Hardman accepted my invitation to fly down and drive back with me on the return trip we quickly decided that we wanted to visit a couple of universities with strong Native American Studies programs and plan our route to visit Indigenous communities along the way.

As we started our travels from Dallas/Ft.Worth Texas we headed just north to the state with the largest Native American population in the U.S., Oklahoma. Our main goal was to visit the University of Oklahoma but we also wanted to stop wherever we saw First Nation sites along the way. This ended up including roadside markers such as the story Chief Joseph (left), complexes such as the Chickasaw Cultural Center, Sulpher, Oklahoma, and interactive memorials such as the Standing Bear Monument in Ponca City. Each of these were channels for telling stories publicly. There are many other ways of course and I will touch on some of the others we experienced later in the blog.

At the Standing Bear Park we were a bit wary as we drove through a major refinery to get there. Never mind that further research showed that some of the oil being refined comes through Keystone from the Alberta oil sands and that oil played no small part in the despicable policies that displaced these First Nations peoples for a second time; the first being when they were forced to locate to Oklahoma territory by the U.S. Government under the Indian Removal Act that resulted in what is called the Trail of Tears.

Nevertheless, the story and site we experienced when we arrived was well planned for those who wanted to be engaged. We were greeted in the five languages of the local First Nation peoples and led through an outdoor interactive site that led us clockwise through the lives of the Osage, Pawnee, Otoe-Missouria Kaw, Tonkawa and Ponca communities, ending with the nearly 7 meter (22 ft) high bronze of Standing Bear.

After hearing the story of Standing Bear and learning of the peoples of the area we ventured into the Museum and Education Center to see other ways the stories were told. Inside the circular architecture of the center each of the five nations had their own case to display whatever they wished and included such things as art works, current event mementos, and some heirlooms. The center also hosted traveling exhibits, a display featuring all the models and the sculptures submitted as proposed designs for the Standing Bear bronze, contemporary artwork and pottery for sale, as well as a good selection of books. Clyde Otipoby (Comanche) was the featured artist when we were there.

Before leaving Ponca City we made a visit to what turned out to be the local pawn shop that also advertise themselves as the “Premier Oklahoma Pow Wow Store.”  (More about “beads and beading” as storytelling later.)

Soon after leaving Ponca City we made our way to the University of Oklahoma and the Native American Studies Program in Norman with the goal of finding out what American universities might be doing to indigenize their campuses. We spent a fantastic afternoon escaping the 30c heat and it was great to be in the university atmosphere. No one even blinked (although they did smile) at our traveling companion Rocky (#rockyrapido).

UO is a huge campus so we stopped in at Visitor Center where we were immediately made to feel welcome and introduced to Jarrod Tahsequah the Assistant Director of Diversity Enri

chment Programs. Jarrod (Comanche-Choctaw), Norman born and raised, got us excited about what was happening on campus, showed us how to get to Breanna Faris (Cheyenne-Arapaho), Assistant Director for American Indian Student Life, and from there to the office of Dr. Amanda Cobb-Greethan, the Chair of the Department. Amazing, everyone was on campus despite being after end of term. We were also impressed with such things as the elevator that was completely clad in a historical photographic mural of what we could only imagine was a local Indigenous community (no interpretation was provided). Both Jarrod and Amanda ensured we were OU American Indian bling equipped before we left campus – a definite plus to make us the envy of tribal members back home.

While doing our homework ahead of our visit we had found that it had been more than 100 years earlier that the department had been established and the promise of their own building made. While that goal has still not been achieved, Dr. Cobb-Greethan was quite happy to show us around the entire floor that they occupied. We were greeted by a guest book and map where visitors were encouraged to add their Nation identity and pin a map (the one created by Aaron Carapella). Amanda also explained to us that there are 39 tribal groups in Oklahoma and that each was represented by the flag of their Nation posted the length of the hall. She also pointed out that there was plenty of room for any student who came to the program from outside Oklahoma to bring a flag to post as well and that they were actively encouraged to.

The star quilt, which we saw over and over again on our tour, and which we carried home adorning our bling, has significant meaning at OU. The quilting, undertaken to produce these various stars, was learned in Indian boarding schools. There is an act of reclamation in using the quilting learned in those place of cultural dispossession and the “star” as it has become an accepted pan-Indian design, to create the star quilts today – this act termed by those at OU as a cultural sovereignty. These are a couple of ways that students can tell their stories in a public way.

After negotiating through some stories told and untold about Lewis and Clark interactions with the peoples they met on their trek along the Missouri River, we made our way to the University of South Dakota in Vermillion

Again we had a wonderful reception as we found our way around the University of South Dakota looking for Native Student Services and Native American Studies. First we met Donis Drappeau (Ihanktonwan Oyate) at the Native American Cultural Center that houses the student services and acts as a study and gathering place. We heard not only some of her story but stories of the center and successes of the students. The NACC was undergoing summer renovations and much of the furniture and aesthetics were shoved to one side to allow the reno workers access to the Centre. What remained on the walls were seven core-values (Humility, Generosity, Sacrifice, Fortitude, Compassion, Wisdom and Respect) translated into Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota. Donis then pointed us in the direction of Dr. Elise Boxer (Assiniboine – Oglala Sioux) , Coordinator of the Native American Studies program. Elise was very proud of the department’s direction in changing from one that focused on the past to one where classroom and research is rooted in the present and looking to the future. Dr. Boxer’s office was crowded with sewing machine boxes, when Shirley asked, Elise explained that the sewing machines are part of her community outreach.

From Vermillion we head due west across the plains though Sioux territories. Beadwork had brought us stories all along the way as we stopped in First Nation Communities. Shirley says the “raven” in her cannot resist shiny things and beadwork qualifies as shiny things. Anyone who knows Shirley know that she wears beautiful beadwork made for her by her niece Collete Williams, Skwah Band member. Many people will comment on the beadwork Shirley wears but it is only in First Nation communities where people bring stories to the conversation. For example when we stopped for the night at Rosebud we met the lovely Elsie Huber. Elsie explained that she had lived on the Rosebud reservation almost her whole life. She went on to explain that it is the best place on earth and that now more than 80 years since she was born she is rich with children, grand-children the land she loves and the dawning of each new day.

More stories came as we traveled through Wounded Knee, Pine Ridge, at the Crazy Horse Monument, the Little Bighorn Battlefield, and Head Smashed-In Buffalo Jump. So many of these stories ask of us a solemnity that the area demands. At Wounded Knee we offered tobacco, hiked the muddy road to the monument, spoke with hovering locals hoping to secure a few dollars to get them through one more day from the tourists who persist. It was a windy, cold day when we offered more tobacco at the Little Bighorn Battlefield, at a time of year just one month before the annual commemoration.

Last Week the University of the Fraser Valley co-sponsored our local undertaking of the 2018 Women’s March in Chilliwack. The march, started after the 2017 presidential inauguration in the United States, seemed to coalesce a call for more women to be involved in electoral politics by running as candidates at all levels of government. Canadian women also have taken up the call but are reminded by current women political figures like Christy Clark and Elizabeth May that they will have to be strong and determined.

On top of that women will need to study up on communication and the skills they will need in all arenas of politics – not to become like men, but to let their own style and message be heard loud and clear. Women have many years of research on gender, politics, and communication to get them started such as volumes like Gender in Applied Communication Contexts, edited by Patrice M. Buzzanell, Helen Sterk, Lynn H. Turner or Gender and political communication in America: rhetoric, representation, and display edited by Janis L. Edwards.

Probably a more engaging way to discover tips and tricks to practice is through the medium of podcasts. Podcast resources for women seeking to be inspired, and to learn about or to practice communication skills for leadership and personal relationships, are easy to access. I started my search by using some common search terms such as communication or intercultural competence and categories such as education, politics, or society & culture.

While there are many excellent podcasts about communication and marketing produced by men, such as Terry O’Reilly’s Under the Infloence or from The Communication Guys, Tim Downs and Tom Barrett, in this blog I want to bring your attention to podcasts by women and for women. Here are just a few that I found that you might want to check out.

From the Apple Podcast app with twitter profile links where possible:

• The Rebel Speaker from Michelle Mazur, Ph.D.
• Careers by Jenn (formerly Communication Diva) with Jenn Swanson
• Quick Communication Tips by Lorna McLaren
• Defeat the Drama at Work from Kirsten E. Ross
• Relatable Leader with Catherine Goggia
• The Public Speaker by Lisa B. Marshall
• Nonprofits are Messy with Joan Garry, and
• The TalentGrow Show from Halelly Azulay

From the PodcastOne site, I found these:

• Hiding in the Bathroom with Luvvie Ajayi
• Inspirational Women from Kate Daniels
• The Limit Does Not Exist by Christina Wallace and Cate Scott Campbell

Many times the mainstreams site don’t cater to your unique situation so please search around the internet until you find a podcast that speaks to your demographic such as this one from Essence Magazine: 13 Awesome Podcasts for Black Women or Her Confidence Her Way by Emiko Rasmussen for a Japanese women’s audience.

The above is not an exhaustive list of possible podcasts and it would be great to hear your suggestions in the comments section below.

Additional Online Resources:

• Gender Role and Communication. (2018). In Wikipedia.
• Merchant, Karima, “How Men And Women Differ: Gender Differences in Communication Styles, Influence Tactics, and LeadershipStyles” (2012). CMC Senior Theses. Paper 513

Dr. Marcella LaFever (University of New Mexico, 2005) is an Associate Professor in the Communications Department at the University of the Fraser Valley. She specializes in intercultural communication and brings that expertise to various subjects such as communication for workplace, instruction, social media, team and public speaking contexts.

“Education has gotten us into this mess, and education will get us out,”

These were some of the words of the Hon. Senator Murray Sinclair on the release of the Truth and Reconciliation report in 2015. As Canada continues on the journey to Reconcilation with First Peoples, the University of the Fraser Valley is afforded an amazing opportunity for involving students, faculty, staff, administration and all the residents of the Fraser Valley in an art installation that is available from September 13—November 8 in Evered Hall in the Student Union Building, Abbotsford campus.

The Witness Blanket: Pieces of History by Carey Newman (Ha-yalth-kingeme) is a large-scale art installation that weaves together hundreds of objects reclaimed from Indian Residential Schools and other related sites in Canada to recognize the atrocities of the Indian Residential School era, honour the children, and symbolize ongoing reconciliation.

Here are some of the ways that the faculty in the Communications Department have considered as ways to incorporate the art installation into teaching opportunities.
– Provide a brief orientation to the topic of the Truth & Reconciliation and then:
– Have students download the free app that accompanies the Witness Blanket installation
– Watch the Vimeo (2 mins) Senator Murray Sinclair: What is Reconciliation? https://vimeo.com/25389165
– Take a field trip as a whole class to visit the Witness Blanket installation (in the SUB)                                            – Have online students who are unable to visit the installation  engage with both the app and the vimeo.
– Engage students in finding additional resources (and cite them in APA)
– Create opportunities for class discussion and writing response
– Write a memo (CMNS 125) or an activity report (CMNS 251)
– Write a speech as a whole class (demonstrating all the decisions and moves that need to be incorporated into the speech (235) [i.e. a persuasive speech to encourage other students to attend the installation]
– Use the following questions as a writing or discussion focus:
As a Canadian, a resident of Canada, or an international student living in Canada what actions can you take to contribute to restoring the balance to the relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in Canada?
OR
As an Aboriginal person in Canada how receptive am I to reconciliation?; and if I am, what can non-Aboriginal people do to demonstrate their willingness to work towards reconciliation?

 

The Communications Department is very proud to spread the news that a Directed Studies (CMNS 490) student, and Professional Formal Research Report Writing (CMNS 351) class were chosen for two freshly launched research awards at the University of the Fraser Valley. The new Community Service Research and Indigenous Research Award were announced this year and we are very proud that our students were nominated and won the awards. Each come with a $1000.00 cheque.

The Indigenous Research Award went to a cohort of nine students in the community of Bella Coola who consulted together to create a report directed to the Nuxalk Nation board for education, NVIT for their program for certification as Chemical Addiction Workers (ChAd), and our own institution UFV which granted a block transfer from the ChAd program and delivered the balance of courses needed to gain a Bachelor of General Studies. The research report, titled Acwsalctimutilh, Yalctimutilh, Ksnmakaylaycilh: Tl’mstaliwatimutilh s Nuxalkmcilh** reviewed their experiences, honoured their learning, and made recommendations to all three institutions for continuation of program delivery in their own and other First Nation communities. The research and writing project was supervised by Dr. Marcella LaFever.

The Community Research Award is in recognition of research by an undergraduate student who has partnered with an organization in the Fraser Valley. Korina Gratton, the premier winner of the award, worked with Chilliwack Restorative Justice (CRJ) to assess their website presence and make recommendations for improvement. Her onsite supervisor for CRJ was Leanna Kemp and her CMNS faculty supervisor was Dr. Marcella LaFever.

Korina’s purpose of the research, titled “Restorative justice organizations: a comparison and evaluation of website best practices,” was to analyze best practices for online environments; compare Chilliwack Restorative Justice and ten other restorative justice organizations’ web-sites against each other and the best practices, and recommend improvements to the CRJ website for better communicating, marketing, and overall appearance. As part of the analysis Korina develop an 18 item grid*** for rating websites in relation to online communication best practices.

BTW – Korina was also nominated for the CMNS Undergraduate Research Excellence Award but could only accept one and chose the Community Research Award.

Our heartfelt congratulations to all the students!!!

__________________________________________________________________

*Student Jim Dean Nelson passed on while in hospital just a short time before ceremony. He was awarded this and his Bachelor’s degree posthumously by the University of the Fraser Valley.

**Translations of Nuxalk language (ilh = us, we, you them)

• Acwsalctimutilh = leaner or student or learning
• Yalctimutilh = to be recovering
• Ksnmakaylaycilh = to be able to work
• Tl’mstaliwatimutilh = Living life to the fullest extent possible (includes struggle, support, learning /growing/healing, vision/future).
• Nuxalkmcilh = Nuxalk person

*** To use a get more information about this analysis tool please contact Korina (twitter @korcat55)

Guest blogger: Jasmeet Sandhu

Scholarships, grants, bursaries, and loans are available in all different shapes, prices and size. However, it is vital for students to understand how to seek financial aid. On average, according to Statistics Canada, Canadian citizens studying in Canada are expected to pay CAD $6,000 yearly. On top of that, $600-800 is spent every month on food and other expenses. All together living expenses are between $10,000-$15,000 per year depending on which university students are attending (Collier, 2016).

Without financial aid, it is nearly impossible for students to obtain a university education. In this blog I compare three resources linked from this website: Scholarships Canada, Government of Canada Jobs Training, and Gail’s blog.

Needing assistance is nothing to be ashamed of

As tuition expenses increase, more students are in greater need of financial assistance. Last year, it was recorded that a full time student in the year of 2016 in an undergraduate program on average pays 3.2% more on tuition fees than in the previous year. Also, there was a 3.3% increase in the 2014/2015 year. Nevertheless, the rate of accommodation and other expenses are beginning to slowly increase too. With the increases in expenses it is getting tougher for students to financially support themselves. Students have no choice but to turn to loans, grants, scholarships and budget smarts for support and assistance.

As a student going through the undergraduate school phase is a burden on students. On this website, there are 16 unique centers where students can benefit from. Those are areas with countless links that lead to different websites which are related to the unique center. This is a very essential website for students as it notifies them of information they may have not known existed.

What website will you choose?

The students attending university in the near future can really take advantage of these resources as a great information tool. These resources give out tons of information about grants, loans, scholarships and other budget smarts. The comparison of these resources will help all future students be guided through which resource will work the best.

Comparison Criteria

The criteria I used is based on what information the websites had available for the students, how easy it was to navigate through and find relevant information, if it connected to further links, and whether it seemed trustworthy.

Here is what I think

As you can see from the chart here, Scholarships Canada meets seven out of the eight criteria.While Scholarships Canada does require a login and there is a lot of information to sort through, it offers links to countless scholarships, which allows students to be able to benefit from the financial aid. Wide varieties of scholarships are available for students based on one school or study and others available for any school or study. For some scholarships and bursaries it is so easy to attain, all you have to do is apply.

The second resource I chose was the Canadian government site which offers student grants to help finance post-secondary education. I found this site very reliable as it is a government site, and that it helps not only full-time students but also part-time. However, it does mainly focus on low-income students with dependents, for when they are enrolled in post-secondary institution.

The third resource was a blog focused more on people and on how to save money. This resource was the least effective for students as it focus on the general population being able to save money, and isn’t focusing specifically on the students. However, knowing how to save money is the only way you can spend money. This blog is very valuable to life in general.

My recommendation

After comparing the three resources, Scholarship Canada is the one that is the most effective and useful.  This site as of now has 80, 340 awards available worth $174,909,983 that students can easily obtain. It is a site that is a collection place for any money from any source has a lot of potential to help students obtain loans, grants, scholarships and budget smarts.

Out of the three sources Scholarship Canada has the best resources available for all students. It is very clear and straightforward for what you need to be eligible, and it shows deadlines to when a student needs to apply. It is Canada wide, which benefits students because it shows them post-secondary schools they probably did not know existed. There is a search box which helps narrow the search based on what post-secondary institution a particular student would like to go to.

I encourage students to go this site as there are 15 other categories to peruse which will help you with your post-secondary education.

References

Canada Student Grant for Full-Time Students with Dependants. (2016, July 28). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/student_grants/csg/dependants.page

Collier, S. (2016). How Much Does it Cost to Study in Canada? Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/student_grants/csg/dependants.page

Scholarships Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/index.aspx

University Tuition Fees (2016, September 9). Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/index.aspx

Vaz-Oxlade, G. (n.d.). Gail Vaz-Oxlade Make Money Make Sense. Retrieved January 24, 2017, from http://www.scholarshipscanada.com/index.aspx