I. General Information
School Name: EBUS Academy
School District: SD#91 Nechako Lakes
Inquiry Team Members: Nicole Arnold: narnold@sd91.bc.ca
Karen Boucher: kboucher@sd91.bc.ca
Mia Moutray: mmoutray@sd91.bc.ca
Inquiry Team Contact Email: narnold@sd91.bc.ca
II. Inquiry Project Information
Type of Inquiry: NOIIE Case Study
Grade Levels Addressed Through Inquiry: Primary (K-3), Intermediate (4-7), Secondary (8-12)
Curricular Areas Addressed: Language Arts – Literacy, Language Arts – Oral Language
Focus Addressed: Indigenous Focus (for example, Traditional Knowledge, oral history, reconciliation), Literacy, Core competencies (for example, critical thinking, communication, problem solving), Land, Nature or Place-based learning, Self-regulation
In one sentence, what was your focus for the year? Cultivating opportunities for learners to connect with self, others and the land in an online learning environment.
III. Spirals of Inquiry Details
Scanning: When we received responses from our K-12 Indigenous learners (we conducted an online survey in the fall including the two key questions), we noticed that learners deeply appreciate when we provide opportunities as an online school of coming together and connecting as human beings. This is not new, we have been given this feedback before, from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners. We thought about how we could make Nikki’s Indigenous Education online virtual classes (vclasses) more rich and robust including more opportunity for participants to connect as well as engage in place- or land-based learning. We wondered, instead of doing “just a craft” (which is doable online in a vclass and something Nikki has done for some time), what if we learnt about these hands-on activities through stories and videos selected and read by Nikki with the help of the participants, weaving in reading strategies? Also, we felt it was important to provide ample time for participants talking in these vclasses. This would support a stronger connection to the hands-on activity as well as building relationships with Nikki, the EBUS Indigenous Education Advocate, and Mia, EBUS VP responsible for the Elementary program as well as EBUS Student Council and Student Voice. The participants in vclasses would also get a lot more opportunities to get to know each other, strengthening their network and cultivating community at our school.
We also felt it was important to increase the learning about the land, making more of an effort connecting with nature organizations in the province to support us with our land- and place-based online learning in various vclasses. A strong connection to land also supports a strong sense of belonging. Linda Kaser’s words, “Every school is a nature school” resonate deeply with us and why should that not apply to an online school?
Focus: We were hoping that a stronger sense of connection and belonging to self, others and the land would increase the overall well-being, learning and engagement for our online learners.
Hunch: Being an online learner can be very challenging as learning happens from home, usually away from peers. Online learners are often supported by their caregiver(s) at home and their direct EBUS teacher(s), but are not necessarily connected to other EBUS staff or peers. Hence, it can be challenging to feel a strong sense of belonging to our school community. Some learners may not engage in land- or place-based learning unless the caregivers are valuing this. Therefore, learners can miss out on the relationship building with land, which is another way to feel a sense of belonging.
New Professional Learning: Mia and Karen engaged in a book study: “The Good Ancestor” by Roman Krznaric. This book was gifted to staff in our school district for our Indigenous Conference in September 2024 and we felt it was important to honour this gift and engage with it. It was gifted with a purpose and connected to the conference theme. Our book study was focused on long term thinking and how we can support constructive structures that benefit future generations. The biweekly meetings supported our thinking about our roles as educators (and human beings here on Earth) and what responsibilities we take on as professionals. During our discussions, we shared our highlights from sections read, discussed and made many connections to our school and learning in general. We had endless aha-moments that led to new thinking and curiosities.
We also participated in the NOIIE Symposium, the NOIIE Learning Bursts and the NOIIE SRL online sessions.
Taking Action: Mia and Nikki met most Tuesday mornings throughout the school year, checking in about learners and their families, planning various vclasses (finding fitting stories to learn about the Indigenous crafts as well as thinking about instructions for the activity, and also brainstorming other initiatives such as learning about hummingbirds, crows and ravens and birds in the winter) and new projects, such as in person field trips and the Inspiring Pathways Speaker series.
Nikki’s series of five hands-on vclasses had a huge uptake. Many signed up for the hands-on craft kits which were mailed out. When signing up, students committed to also joining the hands-on vclasses, but far from all showed up in the sessions and also did not post in our shared Padlet.
Taylor McPherson was our Indigenous Inspiring Pathways Speaker this year. Taylor is the Canada Amazing Race Season 10 winner, a wrestler and just graduated with a Master’s Degree in Science. She spoke about her journey to those who joined the session. Later on in the school year, Taylor joined Nikki and Mia in Vancouver for a field trip. We organized a fun and inclusive Amazing Race in the Van Dusen Gardens with EBUS families who signed up. In the afternoon, Taylor showed us how to create dream boards to support us manifesting our visions and dreams. We received excellent feedback from the participants and yet again, we cannot highlight the importance of providing in-person opportunities for us to meet our learners and their families.
We hosted four online vclasses this year which were nature based. Three were hosted at the Vancouver Avian Centre. The sessions were “Crows vs. Ravens”, “Birds in Winter” and the last one focused on hummingbirds. The fourth session was hosted by Chuntoh/the John Prince Research Forest, north of Fort St James and was about caring for hummingbirds (Roufus and Calliope). Nikki and Mia attended the hummingbird banding at Chuntoh and documented the steps. We are currently working on creating a documentary/Canva presentation about this experience for our learners that will be posted in teachers’ online homerooms.
Checking: The discrepancy between learners signing up for the vclass craft kits and those actually joining those vclasses was a big piece of learning for us this year. We are curious to understand why many learners did not feel the need to follow up on the commitment to join Nikki’s vclasses and/or post their creations to our shared Padlet when signing up for the craft kits. The reciprocity piece of giving back to the community, and contributing to a larger group, is something we feel needs more attention. How do we more visibly cultivate this way of thinking and being?
The participants in the vclasses who did show up, were very dedicated and satisfied with the format. Learning about nature is something we noticed many of our learners seem to enjoy. We received excellent feedback, in conversations with Nikki or Mia as well as in the year end survey, on how much families valued the relationships being built in Nikki’s hands-on vclasses. The students expressed how much they enjoyed getting to know more staff and peers at EBUS. We also heard through Karen, who is an Inclusive Education teacher, that families were grateful for the hands-on vclasses as it had helped their child(ren) to gain a greater sense of belonging in a very inclusive multi-grade setting. It was noticeable how all participants in the vclasses valued the opportunities of learning and connecting.
Overall, we were very satisfied with the result of those who showed up, but were left wondering how we can cultivate reciprocity in a more clear and visible way next year.
Reflections/Advice: Working with online learners has its challenges as you don’t get to build in-person relationships and have ongoing face-to-face conversations and connections. Rather, we email, text and chat online (when we have the opportunity in online meetings and gatherings). How can we encourage our learners to join in the social opportunities that we offer while also engaging in purposeful learning?
Nikki and Mia were intrigued by the theme of curiosity at the NOIIE Symposium in May 2025 and wonder how we can bring elements of curiosity into the vclasses. We also loved the presentation from Pete Bombaci and learning about social connections. We feel that these are crucial concepts to dig into as we are cultivating connections and belonging in our online learning environment.