Different Worlds Same Province - Blended Learning Design to Promote Transcultural Understanding in Teacher Education - Article 6

Oct 15, 2026

The history of Canada’s educational offerings for Indigenous students relied on colonial and assimilative practices, creating a need for culturally responsive pre-service teacher education with moral and social imperatives for reconciliation. Literature highlights difficulties for both Indigenous and mainstream teacher candidates in building efficacy for transcultural skills development. A blended-education model for cultural understanding was designed during a 16-month community-based Bachelor of Education, alongside a campus-based program, and its pilot outcomes were analyzed through instructor observations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Context and rationale

Design of the blended model

Pilot evaluation and findings

Implications for transcultural understanding

The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning | Volume 11 | Issue 3 | Article 6 | | --- | --- | Winter 12-31-2020 Different Worlds Same Province: Blended Learning Design to Promote Transcultural Understanding in Teacher Education Kathy Snow University of Prince Edward Island, [ksnow@upei.ca](ksnow@upei.ca) Follow this and additional works at: [https://www.cjsotl-rcacea.ca](https://www.cjsotl-rcacea.ca) [https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2020.3.8303](https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl-rcacea.2020.3.8303) Recommended Citation Snow, K. (2020) . Different worlds same province: Blended learning design to promote transcultural understanding in teacher education. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 11(3). [https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl](https://doi.org/10.5206/cjsotl)rcacea.2020.3.8303 Different Worlds Same Province: Blended Learning Design to Promote Transcultural Understanding in Teacher Education Abstract The history of Canada’s educational offerings for Indigenous students was based in colonial andassimilative practice. As such culturally responsive pre-service teacher education needs to respond not only by moving away from historical practice but with a moral and social imperative through programming that aids reconciliation. Current literature outlines the challenges that both Indigenous and mainstream teacher candidates have in developing efficacy towards transcultural skills development. In an effort to respond to both types of students, during the design and development of a 16-month community-based Bachelor of Education program, that was offered in parallel to a campus based program, a model of blended-education for cultural understanding was developed. Using the“elementary science methods” course as design case, this paper will outline the development of the blended model which paired campus-and community-based students. The challenges and successes of the design were determined through a thematic analysis of instructor observations of the pilot during the 2014-15 academic year. Four key themes emerged as important in fostering transcultural understandings within blended learning practice: student efficacy, relationship building, recognition of cultural bias, and legitimizing traditional ecological knowledge. Each of these will be discussed in the context of the course as well as transformative post-secondary educational experiences. Historiquement, les programmes d’éducation pour les étudiants et les étudiantes autochtones au Canada étaient basés sur la pratique coloniale et l’assimilation. C’est pourquoi la formation des professeurs et des professeures culturellement adaptée doit répondre non seulement en s’éloignant de la pratique historique mais aussi avec des impératifs moraux et sociaux par le biais de programmes qui favorisent la réconciliation. La documentation actuelle présente les grandes lignes des défis qui seprésentent tant aux candidats et aux candidates autochtones qu’aux futurs professeurs et aux futures professeures ordinaires pour développer une certaine efficacité envers le développement decompétences transculturelles. Afin de répondre aux deux types d’étudiants, au cours de la phase de conception et de développement d’un programme de baccalauréat en éducation de 16 mois basé dans la communauté qui était offert en parallèle à un programme basé sur le campus, un modèle d’éducation hybride pour favoriser la compréhension culturelle a été développé. Cet article, qui se base sur le cours de « méthodes de sciences élémentaires » en tant que conception de cas, présente le développement du modèle hybride qui avait jumelé les étudiants et les étudiantes du campus avec ceux et celles de la communauté. Les défis et les réussites de la conception ont été déterminés par le biais d’une analyse thématique des observations du projet pilote faites par les professeurs et les professeures au cours del’année universitaire 2014-15. Quatre thèmes p

FAQs

Why is culturally responsive teacher education needed in this context?

Because Canada’s earlier Indigenous-focused educational offerings were grounded in colonial and assimilative practices, the document argues that teacher education must move away from that history and support reconciliation through moral and social imperatives.

What blended-education design was developed and how was it evaluated?

A blended education model for cultural understanding was created during a 16-month community-based Bachelor of Education running alongside a campus-based program, using the “elementary science methods” course as the design case and evaluating challenges and successes via thematic analysis of instructor observations from the 2014-15 pilot.

What four themes were identified as important for fostering transcultural understandings?

The paper reports four themes: student efficacy, relationship building, recognition of cultural bias, and legitimizing traditional ecological knowledge, each discussed within the course and in transformative post-secondary educational experiences.

Oct 15, 2026

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