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Open Dissertation Draft Revised Final.Pdf The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School ICT AND STEM EDUCATION AT THE COLONIAL BORDER: A POSTCOLONIAL COMPUTING PERSPECTIVE OF INDIGENOUS CULTURAL INTEGRATION INTO ICT AND STEM OUTREACH IN BRITISH COLUMBIA A Dissertation in Information Sciences and Technology by Richard Canevez © 2020 Richard Canevez Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2020 ii The dissertation of Richard Canevez was reviewed and approved by the following: Carleen Maitland Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Daniel Susser Assistant Professor of Information Sciences and Technology and Philosophy Lynette (Kvasny) Yarger Associate Professor of Information Sciences and Technology Craig Campbell Assistant Teaching Professor of Education (Lifelong Learning and Adult Education) Mary Beth Rosson Professor of Information Sciences and Technology Director of Graduate Programs iii ABSTRACT Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have achieved a global reach, particularly in social groups within the ‘Global North,’ such as those within the province of British Columbia (BC), Canada. It has produced the need for a computing workforce, and increasingly, diversity is becoming an integral aspect of that workforce. Today, educational outreach programs with ICT components that are extending education to Indigenous communities in BC are charting a new direction in crossing the cultural barrier in education by tailoring their curricula to distinct Indigenous cultures, commonly within broader science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) initiatives. These efforts require examination, as they integrate Indigenous cultural material and guidance into what has been a largely Euro-Western-centric domain of education. Postcolonial computing theory provides a lens through which this integration can be investigated, connecting technological development and education disciplines within the parallel goals of cross-cultural, cross-colonial humanitarian development. This is a process that can be usefully illustrated by depicting how those undertaking it conceptualize its potentials and pitfalls, as well as what those depictions illustrate about ICT within broader STEM education. To explore the challenges of this initiative, I used a case study focused on a nonformal, educational outreach organization from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Geering Up. During the course a 2-month field study period gathering observations and interviews with Geering Up employees and members of a First Nations community working with Geering Up (K’omoks First Nation), which in support from an analysis of documents from the organization, was used to identify key themes. These themes include a Canadian work-force focus underlying Indigenous outreach, the immensity of commitment required to integrate Indigenous cultural material into a Western iv STEM educational program’s curriculum, aspects of how identity and locality impact the process of developing curricula and lessons, and how resources shortcomings are particularly acute in ICT education, as compared to broader STEM. Principally, the discussion of these themes highlights the importance of viewing integration as a process (as opposed to over-fixation on end- results in the form of educational artifacts). I also highlight the epistemological complexity of cultural integration by a Western outreach education program, how power circulates within a system that interacts with broader corporate and governmental alignments, ultimately leading to recommendations for scholars and community members working in the space of cross-cultural, cross-colonial technological design. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. viii LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... x LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................... xii Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1 Integrating Culture and Education: From Reconciliation to Reality ................................ 2 Topic Statement: A Postcolonial Computing Lens on Designing Cultural Integration ... 3 Definition of Terms .......................................................................................................... 5 The Purpose of the Study and Research Objectives ......................................................... 7 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................. 8 Organization of the Dissertation ...................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2 Background Scholarship......................................................................................... 12 Foundations of Cultural Integration in STEM ................................................................. 12 Building STEM Diversity ........................................................................................ 12 STEM Education at the Colonial Border ................................................................. 15 Models of Indigenous STEM Education .......................................................................... 16 Indigenization Setting the Standard of Cultural Integration in Education ............... 19 Cultural Integration and Educational Models .......................................................... 23 Ethnocomputing and Postcolonial Computing: Indigenous Cultural Integration and Computing Education ............................................................................................... 26 Ethnocomputing as Cultural Integration into Computing Education ....................... 27 Broadening Cultural Integration through a Postcolonial Computing Perspective ... 30 Summary of Research Objectives .................................................................................... 38 Chapter 3 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 39 Relationship Building and Background of Key Entities .................................................. 40 Relationship and Background of Geering Up .......................................................... 40 Relationship and Background of K’omoks First Nation .......................................... 42 Geo-Political Context of Geering Up and K’omoks First Nation ............................ 43 Evaluative Case Study as Overarching Framework: Structure and Rationale ................. 46 Grounded Theory Analysis Options and Rationale .................................................. 49 Integrating Case Study and Grounded Theory Methodology ................................... 53 Data Collection ................................................................................................................ 55 Semi-Structured Interviews ...................................................................................... 56 Geering Up Outreach Educators and Administrators ....................................... 57 K’omoks First Nation ....................................................................................... 59 Additional Interviews ....................................................................................... 60 Observation of Geering Up Practices ....................................................................... 62 vi Documents and Organizational Statements .............................................................. 63 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 65 Semi-Structured Interviews ...................................................................................... 65 Observations of Practice ........................................................................................... 66 Document Analysis .................................................................................................. 66 Application of the Straussian Grounded Theory Coding Process ............................ 67 Researcher Positionality ................................................................................................... 70 Acknowledging and Mitigating Limitations on Cultural Know-How ..................... 71 Chapter 4 Report of Findings from STEM Educational Outreach Case Study ....................... 72 Grounded Theory Coding Results as Structuring the Findings ........................................ 72 Context and Foundations of Geering Up Organization .................................................... 75 The Geo-Political Context of Geering Up: British Columbia .................................. 75 Motivations and Valuations of Indigenous Program Customization ....................... 76 The Canadian Workforce: Access and Underrepresentation ............................ 77 Reconciliation and Colonization as Motivations .............................................. 79 Cultural Integration of STEM: A Process View .............................................................. 82 Navigating and Crossing Cultural
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