[LINK] "Big interest in CBU’s online Mi’kmaq course"

[rfmcdonald]

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald's Tom Ayers writes about the enormous success of Cape Breton University's online course in the Mi'kmaq language.

Registration for a new online and in-class course on Mi’kmaq history and culture at Cape Breton University has already surpassed 2,200 students and the number keeps growing.

And that’s just fine with instructor Stephen Augustine and co-facilitator Ashlee Cunsolo Willox.

The free 12-week course launches Monday evening, covering a range of topics that include the Mi’kmaq creation story, oral history and traditions, indigenous governance, the legacies of residential schools and the impact of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“As of two hours ago, we were at 2,238, which is 400 more people than Friday night,” Cunsolo Willox, the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Health at the Sydney university, said Sunday afternoon.

“We have no upper limit, because we are running it as the open online access for free. We are asking people to register just so we will get a sense of who actually will show up on campus … but really, we can take as many people as have access to Internet and interest in the course.”

The course, called Learning From Knowledge Keepers of Mi’kma’ki, will stream live and sessions will be archived each week and available any time to the public. It will also be broadcast by Bell TV1.

The course homepage is here.