Elementary school teacher Bertha Chief of the Timiskaming First Nation had often observed her students’ fascination with iPhones and tablets, and started thinking about how she could harness that passion to teach kids about the Algonquin language.
One day, when Bertha and her son Kevin Chief were attending a pow-wow, Kevin introduced Bertha to his long-time friend Michel Lacroix, an Algonquin College professor in Design Studies, thinking Lacroix could help give shape to Bertha’s idea. Soon, Lacroix became the Creative Director of a collaborative project with the Chiefs to develop a mobile app that would teach children aged 3-12 about Algonquin language and culture. The app is called the Noopimok—which means ‘in the bush’— E-Learning Project.
In the fall of 2017, after getting approval from the department chair, Lacroix started making the app an assignment for students in his classes, which have ranged from UX (User Experience) and UI (User Interface) classes to Graphic Design. Continue reading