U of S receives grant to develop Indigenous education program in VR

WATCH: The University of Saskatchewan is working on a new way to deliver education among Indigenous youth, thanks to a recent funding bump.

The University of Saskatchewan’s School of Rehabilitation Science will be developing a virtual reality health education program targeted towards Indigenous youth.

“In speaking with communities that I work with directly and in my virtual health hub work, it became apparent that health promotion information in a way that would be useful for students would be of big interest to communities,” Lovo, who also serves as the director of Virtual Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation at the Virtual Health Hub said.

Dr. Soo Kim and Dr. Stacey Lovo have been working with virtual reality and laying the groundwork for the past six years. Now, thanks to a $250,000 grant from the New Frontiers Research Fund, they will spend the next two years developing a program to help engage Indigenous youth in health sciences.

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“We have a responsibility to be able to use our expertise and come together as a community to come together as a team, to help them to explore different ways to learn about mental health and wellness in ways that are culturally appropriate,” Kim said.

While the program is still in the early stages of development, Kim and Lovo have many ideas, thanks to the collaboration of Whitecap Dakota Nation.

“Consulting with their elders, the educators and the youth themselves to sort of bring their opinions in to build something that’s really meaningful for them,” Kim said.

The virtual reality program is intended to both educate youth in health sciences, and focus on Indigenous teachings which have existed for many years.

Dray Bear is the former community development & special projects coordinator for Whitecap, and helped connect the U of S with the community for the project.

“Revitalization is a really strong word for it. Also, brining community together and helping others learn. Because I mean at the end of the day, this is a huge initiative that could turn into something bigger especially in terms of helping people learn and bringing the community together,” Bear said.

While health science classes are offered in the Saskatchewan education curriculum, Lovo shared that there are gaps in the system when it comes to incorporating Indigenous knowledge.

“At the moment in Saskatchewan, there are not opportunities for indigenous students to take those classes from the lens of their own cultural worldview or their own language, that limits the responsiveness or applicability of that content to them.” Lovo said.

This program is intended to both educate youth, and preserve the knowledge of those who existed on this land long before colonization.

“This will hopefully encourage students and youth to learn about anatomy of the brain and other parts of the body and perhaps lead them more toward health science programing if it’s of interest and applicable, and can embrace the incredible knowledges that have been in their own communities for hundreds of years,” Lovo said.