Empowering Indigenous Education: A Comprehensive Review of Extended Reality Literature and Projects

Empowering Indigenous Education - A Myera Group/BU CARES Report

Given that the average age of traditional Indigenous harvesters of fish, wild rice and traditional food and medicines is 60-70, how can we support youth to preserve and restore cultural ways of managing food systems? What role can advanced manufacturing, machine learning and AI play in helping to create a new generation of Indigenous innovators? Can the benefit of these innovative technologies create enough value and be employed in rural and northern communities, further inspiring youth to stay in community?

The Myera Project is a joint collaboration between Myera, Inc., Brandon University Centre for Applied Research and Education in Indigenous, Rural, and Remote Settings (BU CARES) and the Rural Development Institute. The intention of this collaboration is to explore the opportunities to develop culturally-relevant STEM curriculum and education initiatives that may leverage extended reality technologies to promote community development, wellness, and food sovereignty in Indigenous communities. This report seeks to identify recommendations for utilizing extended reality technologies in education.

This project would like to acknowledge funding from Myera Group, Inc., Brandon University, BU CARES, Rural Development Institute, Function Four, Ltd., an Indigenous software development firm, the Protein Innovations Supercluster, the Southeast Resource Development Council, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Challenge.