ENGL 353/3353
Guidelines: Posts to OurLearningCircle.org
Weight: 6%
Quantity: At least 4 posts are required (see below)
Deadlines: Sept. 23rd for first post, Dec. 9th for remaining posts

How to Register
Visit Our Learning Circle (www.ourlearningcircle.org) and complete the brief user registration (I will have to
approve you as a member before your posts actually appear, but this shouldn’t take long). You can choose
whatever name you like for your username, but be sure to include your actual first and last name when filling out
those fields. N.B. Your name will be visible to other members of the class if they click on your profile, but not to
the general public (only students registered and approved by me will be able to see our discussions).

Overview
This assignment is intended to supplement our Blackboard discussions by having students reflect, via MHC’s new
decolonization/Indigenization website, on the relevance of course material to contemporary Indigenous life.
As you read the assigned material for this course, think about how the themes engaged there reverberate in the
contemporary world. If you are not a regular reader of the news, you may wish to set up a Google Alerts
notification (https://www.google.com/alerts) which informs you of recent articles containing particular keywords
(“Indigenous,” “Indigenization,” “First Nations,” “FNMI,” “Native American” would be good choices).
The format of your posts is largely up to you, though you should try to highlight the relevance of your comments
to the ideas broached in class. You might, for instance, begin a post as follows: “King’s arguments about the
consequences of certain stereotypes for Indigenous peoples seem as timely as ever. As I was reading The Truth
About Stories I was reminded of the recent controversy involving...” After reflecting on your topic, you could
then, if you like, include a link to a relevant news article, quoting and commenting on parts of it that seem
especially significant).
To receive a high grade on this assignment, you should have contributed at least 4 relevant, articulate posts to
OurLearningCircle before midnight, Dec. 9th (moreover, you should contribute your first post before midnight,
Sept. 23rd).

Some things to keep in mind:
- Students are encouraged to respond to what others have posted, and to engage in lively discussions about
issues related to contemporary Indigenous life; however, it is imperative that contributors maintain a polite tone
at all times (offensive posts – for instance, those that engage in racist or sexist speech, or in personal attacks –
will be deleted, and may incur academic penalties).
- There is no “official” word count for these posts, though it is, in most cases, best to limit your individual
responses to a few hundred words (shorter responses, if eloquently concise, are of course also welcome).
- Do not post copyrighted content on the site (videos, images, etc.).
- Do proofread your contributions (you have the opportunity to edit them after they have been posted).

*N.B. Our forum is restricted to students enrolled in our course (it is not visible to the public), but if you’re
comfortable doing so, I would love to have you post to the public forums as well (for instance, the
“Indigenization in Canada” forum under “General Discussions”) even if you’re simply copying your post from
our private forum. There is no extra credit for such posts, other than my gratitude. *