Niizhwaaswi

It is in fact Spring!! I hear the birds and the sun is shining. Since the last blog entry there has been a wedding in the family, a new grandchild, named after my mother whose name was Margaret, and a First Communion. We are thinking about and making plans for our annual trip to Bad River when we clean and decorate graves and remember those who have gone before us. That great circle continues.
The role of technology in the teaching and learning of Ojibwe -- what a huge topic! I have valued the role of technology in education since the early days of what was then called CAI or Computer Assisted Technology. Maybe it still is called that. I remember very clearly a time many, many years ago a small Indian boy used to come to my office, then in an elementary school. I had an ancient Commodore computer with a few educational software programs, then not much more than computerized workbooks. He would be sent to me during recess when his behavior was such that he wasn't allowed recess, so he was often sad. After working on that Commordore one recess time, he looked at me and said, "I like working on the computer, because it isn't mean to me when I get the wrong answer!" I think of that comment whenever I hear some say that technology isn't good enough because the human element isn't there. Sometimes the human element doesn't help.
That being said, our recent discussion about what teachers need to know and what does fluent mean, kind of informs my response to this question. I really believe that technology can provide some of what is lacking in some communities, given that we have fewer and fewer fluent speakers. We sometimes think in terms of maintenance, retention, restoration and revitalization of tribal languages. I think the use of technology can assist in each of those areas. Certainly it can help in the retention area if the fluent speakers agree to be recorded and make their knowledge more accessible. It can help the communities that have no or few speakers of the language. I really wish that somehow there could be interactive online learning for all grade levels for schools where students wish to learn the language. Classes are available in colleges but are not readily available in the K-12 system.
It is hard for me to think of the potential drawbacks, but I expect the importance of positive human interaction can't be discounted. Also, we now have a variety of dialects that exist. Would technology force a level of sameness, thus losing some of what we now have? A first step might be the development of a consistent scope and sequence for the language, otherwise the research and devevelopment might overlap and precious resources to do the work might not be effectively used. There is huge potential for tribal collaboration with the higher education institutions. As far as I know only UMD has made efforts toward that type of collaboration.
During this course it was an eye opener to use the movies project and to learn about the online resources available during the website review assignment. I fully intend to continue the work on the movies project and the other websites in the future.