TakingITGlobal

C O N N E C T E D N O R T H : A J O U R N E Y O F T R A N S F O R M AT I O N & W E L L- B E I N G 6 2. Introduction The North is not a singular entity It's a diverse, expansive environment that has a rich culture tied to the land and the natural environment. Specifically, the North refers to the traditional territories of the many First Nations communities within the Canadian Yukon and Northwest Territories, and Nunavut as well as the northern and coastal regions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario. The communities of the North are shaped by geography; separated from the more densely populated South, limiting access to expertise and materials found elsewhere in Canada. In a world increasingly shaped by engagement with global perspectives, this presents barriers to youth seeking to engage that wider world more fully. Paradoxically, Northern communities are coping with a lack of integration of traditional, local knowledge into their classroom experience. Classroom learning is oen disconnected from the social, cultural, and historical realities of Indigenous traditions, including the effects of residential schools, colonialism, systemic discrimination, and genocide. The Connected North program has sought to provide an educational link to content previously unavailable to school communities to support learning and Well-Being through interactive programming that connects experts around the world with schools in Canada's North. Using high-speed broadband telecommunications networks supported by educational programs developed by TakingITGlobal (TIG) and "delivered by Cisco's video conferencing technology, Connected North provides students with exposure to people, ideas, settings, and tools that they would not have otherwise due to limits posed by distance." This paper looks at what it means to create a connected North - both in the literal sense and in relation to the education partnership with the same name. It will bring together what we know about Well-Being, education, and community development with what has been learned about the people, cultures, and lived experiences of those who live, work, and inhabit the lands of the North. The aim is to create a greater understanding of the complexity, opportunity, challenge, and place that is at the heart of Connected North by drawing on theory, research, and practice-based evidence that reflects Western science and scholarship while connecting that with traditional ways of knowing and being. This bridge- building between two 'worlds' is what Connected North is all about. The experience of designing, delivering, and evaluating Connected North is shared by linking concepts found in practice and the lived experience of the educators, students, communities, and administrators together with those found in the science of systems and complexity, education research, technology, and community psychology. This paper will draw upon all these areas in profiling Connected North and discussing the implications for its future development and scaling.

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