Disruptive Knowledge in Education for Reconciliation: The Effects of Indigenous Course Requirements on Non-Indigenous Students’ Attitudes

Following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, various institutions have embarked on diverse educational initiatives in the name of creating equitable and respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples. One such initiative is the University of Winnipeg’s mandate that all undergraduate students fulfill an Indigenous Course Requirement (ICR). Using the framework of disruptive knowledge, this mixed-methods study investigated the impact of select ICR courses on non-Indigenous students’ attitudes. Results revealed increased recognition of discriminations facing Indigenous Peoples, increased support for systemic change, and self-described behavioural changes. At the same time, these results highlight the limitations of such courses within a settler-colonial context.À la suite de la Commission de vérité et réconciliation du Canada (CVR), diverses institutions se sont lancées dans des initiatives éducatives variées au nom de la création de relations équitables et respectueuses entre les peuples autochtones et non autochtones. L›une de ces initiatives est le mandat de l›Université de Winnipeg, selon lequel tous les étudiants de premier cycle suivent un cours obligatoire qui répondra à une exigence de cours autochtone (ECA). En utilisant la théorie des connaissances perturbatrices, cette étude à méthodes-mixtes a examiné l›impact de certains cours (ECA) sur les attitudes des étudiants non autochtones. Les résultats ont révélé une reconnaissance amplifiée des discriminations auxquelles les peuples autochtones sont confrontés, un soutien développé aux initiatives d›équité du gouvernement et des changements de comportement et de pensées auto-décrits. En même temps, ces résultats mettent en évidence les limites de tels cours dans un contexte de colonisation

Digital culture clash: “massive” education in the E-learning and Digital Cultures MOOC

While education has been both open and online, the sizeable enrolment numbers associated with massive open online courses (MOOCs) are somewhat unprecedented. In order to gauge the significance of education at scale, this article analyses specific examples of massive participation derived from E-learning and Digital Cultures, a MOOC from the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Coursera. Student-created content, user statistics, and survey data are illustrated to examine the experiences and repercussions of engaging with educational activity where participants number in the tens of thousands. This activity is shown to mirror established instructionist or constructivist approaches to pedagogy. However, rather than working with “massiveness,” these positions are suggested to oppose large participant numbers. Concluding remarks propose an irreducible diversity of participation, rather than a generalised categorisation of “student,” and call for future considerations of the MOOC to move beyond individualism and self-interest

The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Search for Transverse Polarization Modes in the Gravitational-wave Background

Recently we found compelling evidence for a gravitational-wave background with Hellings and Downs (HD) correlations in our 15 yr data set. These correlations describe gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, which has two transverse polarization modes. However, more general metric theories of gravity can have additional polarization modes, which produce different interpulsar correlations. In this work, we search the NANOGrav 15 yr data set for evidence of a gravitational-wave background with quadrupolar HD and scalar-transverse (ST) correlations. We find that HD correlations are the best fit to the data and no significant evidence in favor of ST correlations. While Bayes factors show strong evidence for a correlated signal, the data does not strongly prefer either correlation signature, with Bayes factors ∼2 when comparing HD to ST correlations, and ∼1 for HD plus ST correlations to HD correlations alone. However, when modeled alongside HD correlations, the amplitude and spectral index posteriors for ST correlations are uninformative, with the HD process accounting for the vast majority of the total signal. Using the optimal statistic, a frequentist technique that focuses on the pulsar-pair cross-correlations, we find median signal-to-noise ratios of 5.0 for HD and 4.6 for ST correlations when fit for separately, and median signal-to-noise ratios of 3.5 for HD and 3.0 for ST correlations when fit for simultaneously. While the signal-to-noise ratios for each of the correlations are comparable, the estimated amplitude and spectral index for HD are a significantly better fit to the total signal, in agreement with our Bayesian analysis

The NANOGrav 15-year data set: Search for Transverse Polarization Modes in the Gravitational-Wave Background

Recently we found compelling evidence for a gravitational wave background with Hellings and Downs (HD) correlations in our 15-year data set. These correlations describe gravitational waves as predicted by general relativity, which has two transverse polarization modes. However, more general metric theories of gravity can have additional polarization modes which produce different interpulsar correlations. In this work we search the NANOGrav 15-year data set for evidence of a gravitational wave background with quadrupolar Hellings and Downs (HD) and Scalar Transverse (ST) correlations. We find that HD correlations are the best fit to the data, and no significant evidence in favor of ST correlations. While Bayes factors show strong evidence for a correlated signal, the data does not strongly prefer either correlation signature, with Bayes factors $\sim 2$ when comparing HD to ST correlations, and $\sim 1$ for HD plus ST correlations to HD correlations alone. However, when modeled alongside HD correlations, the amplitude and spectral index posteriors for ST correlations are uninformative, with the HD process accounting for the vast majority of the total signal. Using the optimal statistic, a frequentist technique that focuses on the pulsar-pair cross-correlations, we find median signal-to-noise-ratios of 5.0 for HD and 4.6 for ST correlations when fit for separately, and median signal-to-noise-ratios of 3.5 for HD and 3.0 for ST correlations when fit for simultaneously. While the signal-to-noise-ratios for each of the correlations are comparable, the estimated amplitude and spectral index for HD are a significantly better fit to the total signal, in agreement with our Bayesian analysis.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

A Pedagogy of Reconciliation: Transformative education in a Canadian context

Of the 94 Calls to Action within the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Final Report, almost one-fifth focused on matters of education. This represents a strong belief that formal teaching and learning can positively impact the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada. However, there is no established framework for such education. Reflecting on the report and drawing on critical pedagogy scholarship, I work towards a better understanding of the necessary pedagogy required for education for reconciliation. Recognizing the ways in which the work of “reconciliation” is situated in particular cultural, historical, and social realities, I outline an approach to education for reconciliation that is attentive to the Canadian context. Drawing on both critical pedagogy and Indigenous knowledges, this framework attempts to honour the TRC Final Report, offering an approach that is both pointedly critical and deeply relational

The NANOGrav 15 yr Data Set: Constraints on Supermassive Black Hole Binaries from the Gravitational-wave Background

The NANOGrav 15 yr data set shows evidence for the presence of a low-frequency gravitational-wave background (GWB). While many physical processes can source such low-frequency gravitational waves, here we analyze the signal as coming from a population of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries distributed throughout the Universe. We show that astrophysically motivated models of SMBH binary populations are able to reproduce both the amplitude and shape of the observed low-frequency gravitational-wave spectrum. While multiple model variations are able to reproduce the GWB spectrum at our current measurement precision, our results highlight the importance of accurately modeling binary evolution for producing realistic GWB spectra. Additionally, while reasonable parameters are able to reproduce the 15 yr observations, the implied GWB amplitude necessitates either a large number of parameters to be at the edges of expected values or a small number of parameters to be notably different from standard expectations. While we are not yet able to definitively establish the origin of the inferred GWB signal, the consistency of the signal with astrophysical expectations offers a tantalizing prospect for confirming that SMBH binaries are able to form, reach subparsec separations, and eventually coalesce. As the significance grows over time, higher-order features of the GWB spectrum will definitively determine the nature of the GWB and allow for novel constraints on SMBH populations