Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

The Nak'azdli Whu'ten recognized a need to strengthen intergenerational linkages between elders and youth to preserve cultural wisdom held by elders for future generations. Analysis of the Nak'azdli elder's survey, conducted in the spring of 2016, showed sharing cultural knowledge and traditions was a priority for Nak'azdli elders. Therefore the main goal of this research project was to facilitate opportunity in the Nak'azdli community to share their knowledge and culture using digital storytelling and to build connections between Nak'azdli elders, youth, and the larger community. Our team included the Nakalbun School, Nak'azdli Health Centre, Nak'azdli Elders Society, Nak'azdli Youth Council, and researchers from the University of Northern British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, and the University of Waterloo. Together we introduced a digital storytelling workshop at the Nakalbun Elementary School using technology as a means to facilitate knowledge-sharing between elders and youths. The Nak'azdli elder storyteller led the workshop with support from academic and community partners. Over the course of ten 2-hour workshop sessions, the Nak'azdli elders and youths worked in small groups to produce a digital story highlighting a story from their culture. WeVideo, a cloud-based video editor, was used as it makes editing in a browser fun and simple. The WeVideo software enabled students and elders to drag images and videos into a timetable, record voices and sounds to coincide with an image, and add a music track to create their digital story. We will discuss how the workshop was tailored to meet the needs of the Nak'azdli community and how it combined cultural and traditional teachings while using modern technology to support broader communication. We will report on the feasibility to integrate digital story telling into the school curriculum and to support Elders working with youths in a meaningful way to bridge the intergenerational divide.