Most of the presentations by the "talking heads" are excruciatingly boring. Is the U of A Faculty of Native Studies really so chock full of people who cannot apply resonant pronunciation to, and stress points in a sentence? The deadpan reading by the three primary presenters lacks any sense of emphasis - or capacity to generate sustained interest. I also could not believe that every video for each of the individual presenters displayed them wearing the same clothing as their last video; the hair style for each of them also never changed. This absence of change reflects badly on their view of the real world, and made it difficult to stay attuned to the speakers' vocalizations. Monotony, in a visual presentation, is NOT a good thing.

This course provided information that provided me a better understanding of indigenous cultures in Canada. It expanded my understanding of the issues around colonization and residential schools. It provided information about indigenous cultures strong ties to the land and nature. However, I am a little concerned that it is infused with a victim mentality and is not balanced. I am not suggesting that we gloss over the horrific things that happened to our indigenous brothers and sisters, however, more positive stories about indigenous people who have excelled and prospered in our society would have been beneficial. I know and have met a number of individuals like that in my lifetime and they have wonderful stories to tell.

Extremely important content, and I want so much for it to be excellent. However, the delivery method seems rushed and/or poorly implemented. Once per module, a video is interrupted for one single test question about something immediately stated in the video, which seems like something that was intended to be used throughout, but was not. Titles projected within the video are often misaligned; some have animations, others do not, and this inconsistency undercuts the value of the content. The module on Indigenous Art has almost no examples of the art pieces being described. The content is well written, and again, very important, but the delivery tends to be flat, making it difficult to pay attention and differentiate topics.

I'm very grateful for the information and an opportunity for a new perspective. I feel my understanding of First Nations and Canadian history is now improved, especially hearing it from the mouths of Indigenous People. Very seldom did I feel I was getting biased information or propaganda, however, I did feel there was a lack of courageous truth telling, and there is an undertone of opportunistic blaming with a lack of balanced ownership. That said, I almost didn't include that criticism, because that issue was far outshined by the volumes of information that any Canadian would benefit from learning. The quizzes were the only poor point. I wish they were less trivia, and more confirmation of learning objectives.

Overall, a VERY worthwhile course.

Whereas I learned a lot, I was often distracted by the presenters' lack of emotion and rote reading of the course notes (which themselves seemed full of grammatical or typographical errors).

And, was Joseph Boyden wrong or was there much Indigenous culture avoided for political reasons? In this course there was little evidence of the society he described in The Orenda. It might have been wise to include that which is considered barbaric by current day societies together with the evolution that has since occurred.

Several unit questions were poorly worded. Double negatives made many of them frustrating.

I have been changed - and will strive to learn further.

Thank you!

Lots of good informatin, but inconsistent in depth throughout. I found the forum particularly unhlepful: posts asking for information going 19 days without a response. I was actually unaware of the existence of the fourn untile I was on Week 10 - so maybe some reference within the course and encouragement to participate.

Also, one or two quizes warn that many people didn't pass on their first attempt. To me this means that the course content and/or the wording of the questions need work. If you are presenting the materials in an understandable way we should be able to answer the questions.

Although a bit annoying, I found the short video format kept me engaged better than one long video would have.

I appreciate the efforts made by the writers, presenters and artists involved. I appreciate the material presented. What I would have liked to see was a little more balance. I realize it is an Indigenous view but it could have created a lot more learning by bringing both government of Canada and "colonial members of Canada" into the discussion. If this lengthened the course, I would be in favour of that.

Finally, it would have been really useful to have a way to chat with presenters and students in each module, allowing a way for questions and ideas to be discussed. I recognize how much work this would be, however, the learning would be enhanced greatly!

This course is filled with information and very interesting. However in my experience, it tends to make it very difficult for those who take the course by not having events organised chronologically, and often repeating information. The length of the classes is challenging, and the nature of them are mostly legally oriented - which is not my area of interest, however I recognize that it is necessary for understanding current Indigenous experiences.

Overall, I think the existance of this course is amazing and incredibly useful! However I also think there is space for improvement in terms of course organization and efficacy in learning.

I found the structure of the course and workflow easy to follow. The quality of the presentations was excellent as were the instructors. The course notes were well presented and easy to follow. I was disappointed with how biased the course was. While I appreciated the indigenous perspective, I felt that the course deliberately excluded facts and other perspectives. I found myself constantly wanting to challenge the comments of the presentors without the ability to be heard. This course would be better in person with a proper Q&A section to follow. That said, I will post my comments into the message boards and hope for responses

Thank you so much for making this course publicly available and free!

The reason for the less than perfect score is that I enjoy reading the course notes and then having a less structured discussion about the meaning of it all. The presenter was really just reading off a written script which was a bit dry.

Some of the people who were interviewed seemed unprepared.

More images and videos- especially in the final section talking about the art would have been nice. I ended up looking up the pieces of art myself anyways.

Overall it was informative and I would recommend it! Thanks!

The information and format of the 12 module course of the Indigenous Peoples of Canada, past and present, are very good. The interviews added interest and knowledge. Loved the interactive paintings. However, the quiz questions were unnecessarily confusing, wording felt like you were trying to trick me and often the answers came as an elimination of possibilities rather than mastery learning. For a free, non-certification class whose prime goal is to bring "awareness", the quiz section overshadowed the deep understanding, sense of learning and enjoyment of the process.

I learned a lot, filling in blanks in my knowledge, but I would have structured the presentations differently. The approach used is to make broad general statements (often repeated) and then to provide a few examples, which are most often not fleshed out. I would take a story-telling approach, starting with a person or event which leads us to understand the more general conclusion. I think that this would be more engaging. And while we can find the artwork referenced in the lectures on the Net, it would be great to get a view while they are being discussed.

I was craving being able to see examples of the art while the prof was speaking about each artist's work. I would gladly have exchanged the 1491 video for some of the art of Morrisseau, Odjig, Belcourt... Belmore...Bill Reid...

Archeological visuals related to different areas would have been amazing. I know I can pursue this on the internet.

The lecturers spoke clearly and the printed words were helpful.

I am left with a feeling of an overwhelming sense of the negative, about the past, and no direction for future positive personal actions.

Very informative and a great overview of indigenous culture. However, there were parts of the course that were convoluted and hard to understand. A few exam questions were poorly worded and left a lot of confusion as to which answer it was seeking. Overall, a very good introductory Indigenous course that covers most of Canada's colonization to modern day. Would have loved to have heard more indigenous stories and lived experiences throughout the course, and the arts class at the end definitely left me wanting more.

I found this course extremely interesting and felt that much of this information should be included in our school curriculum. My criticism of the course is in the presentation. I found that the presenters ( 2 of the 3 especially), were very hard to follow because of the obvious reading they were doing. At times I had to turn the sound down and read for myself as their sentences were broken and lost meaning. The material would have been easier to retain if the sentences had flowed and had proper inflection.

Insufficient explanation of the difference / unique nature of Indigenous life, in a format that is comprehensible to a non-Indigenous person. Significant lost opportunity in module 12, when speaking of Indigenous art, to NOT show samples of major works. Discourse was excessively and unnecessarily laden with academic jargon, to the point of distracting from the message being conveyed. The three main speakers were very eloquent, but their delivery would benefit from less pap reading from the prompter.

There is a clear slant towards the Western Provinces and very little mention of Indigenous peoples and communities in Ontario. Just based on the urban setting alone, it would be beneficial to see information from Ontario in understanding how current political environments and pop culture and art are different. Additionally, there was no touch on shows such as North of 60 where an Indigenous woman is an RCMP officer and how that protrayle impacted the perception of Indigenous people.

Loved most of the material but the political overtones lead to me missing some key components of understanding idiegenous people.

I was hoping to get an understanding of their interactions wth the system,particularly healthcare and t understand their needs in the system. I got history which I had already read,but still not the essence of the culture and insight of their worldview and how they are able or not to interact today with Canada 2020. This is where we are missing a link.

I learned a lot of information that was new and very thought provoking. Much of it very well thought through and well presented. Some of the fairly provocative information felt unsubstantiated and left me wishing there had been more factual information provided. I wasn't persuaded to accept all the information asserted because of what seemed like broad statements that felt more like indoctrination than learning. I enjoyed first person interviews and segments - very well done.

Thank you, I did learn a good deal more than I had ever understood or was taught in grade school. It was all very eye opening, but it felt like the last few weeks were stretched out too much? I found some of the content hard to follow, some outdated, and the last quiz had me completely stumped. In the end, it provided additional knowledge that I would not have had and I really wanted to learn more. Appreciate the work that went into building the course.

I really enjoyed the first portion that provided the history, however, I felt some of the later modules where a little less authentic. Like they were tryign to hard to tie indigenous cultures and worldviews to current events. But perhaps this is still some of my lingereing sterotypes that I still need to change as part of my journey in relearning what I was taught about our indigienous peoples. All in all I'm grateful for the new lersings.

As was stated in the beginning it is from an Indian point of view. The course outlines all the bad that the white man has wrongfully set upon Indigenous people, but has not metioned any good that has come from it. Until the trading started there were no rifles used in hunting for one, and then all of a sudden becomes tradition to use it. As with any history being written, it is always biased to the belief of the person writing it.

Some really interesting material. It changed my views on things like the economy of Canada in its earliest days and the relationship between resource extraction and colonialism. I really appreciated the inclusion of first nations feminists and of queer indigenous people. It felt a bit shallow though, and I would have appreciate greater depth. I hope there will more MOOCs on indigenous issues.

I was disappointed that the course did not focus on all the indigenous people of Canada. I live in Treaty 3 area and there was barely a mention of the Anishinabe (Ojibwe). It was touched on in the numbered treaty section and the indigenous artists section but not much else. I would have liked to have learned more about the indigenous peoples in eastern Canada as well.

Listening to a lecturer is not the easiest way for me to learn. I appreciate the information and the speakers are engaging, but I preferred the audiovisual portions and the interviews. Talking about art without being shown art is a bit counterintuitive. The most difficult section for me was the module about treaties. I think I have to review it to get a clearer picture.