The Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB) and Georgian College have signed a memorandum of understanding to bring the college’s Indigenous learning virtual reality (VR) program to students at Regent Park School. Students who take part in the program can learn about the Ojibwe language and culture in VR. Regent Park teacher Laurie Smith said that VR gives students the opportunity to interact using the language in real-life settings. “It’s been incredible as an educator to use the VR headsets because it’s fostering different inter-cultural understanding between non-Indigenous and Indigenous students,” said Smith. Both partners hope to expand the program: SCDSB intends to bring the programming to other schools in its district, while Georgian is in talks with other school boards. “Learning the language is hard. It really is, and the way youth learn today is not the way that they learned 30 years ago. So to entice them, you have to create learning that is fun,” said Georgian Indigenous Studies programming coordinator Michele O’Brien.
