The Five R's for Indigenizing Online Learning: A Case Study of the First Nations Schools' Principals Course

Abstract

This article focuses on the creation, implementation, experiences, and research sur­rounding the first online professional development course for principals of First Na­tions schools across Canada, named the First Nations Schools' Principals Course(FNSPC). First, we describe the contexts, goals, and designing of the FNSPC. Second,we outline the complexities of bringing Indigenous values into an online educationalspace. Lastly, we describe how using the Five R's (Kirkness & Earnhardt, 2001;Restoule, 2008) of respect, relevance, reciprocity, responsibility, and relationships re­casts the challenges of Indigenizing online education into opportunities for spaces oftraditional and non-traditional Indigenous learning through the FNSPC.