The Educational Developer, Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy will provide academic expertise and guidance in work to advance excellence in Indigenization in teaching and learning across the community as mandated in Western’s institutional plans, Towards Western at 150 (2021), the Indigenous Strategic Plan (2016), and the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Decolonization and Accessibility (EDIDA) Strategic Plan: Advancing Inclusive Excellence (2024). The role will also be informed by Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (TRC, 2015).
Working in the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) with supervision provided by the Director (in consultation with the VP/AVP II in the Office of Indigenous Initiatives [OII]), the Educational Developer will work collaboratively with internal stakeholders to introduce and enhance Indigenous perspectives and teaching and learning methods into new and current curriculum/programming across Faculties and departments. The Educational Developer will offer expert consultation to faculty instructors and staff members, on curricular policy, and program design and review informed by culturally-safe teaching practices that strive to increase understanding around respectful ways of taking up Indigenous ways of knowing and working with Indigenous students and communities, which are attentive to issues of positionality, cultural misappropriation, misrepresentation, and power dynamics.
The Educational Developer will also support the university in developing and piloting curriculum, researching Indigenous content and pedagogical practices, designing and coordinating a range of learning services and programs, including Indigenous-specific teaching workshops, learning modules/videos, web-materials, and instructional resources.