The Gnoozhekaaning project was designed to be used as an aid for Bay Mills Indian Community (BMIC) members to learn Ojibwe using the social media platform, Twitter. In addition to this project being available to BMIC members, Gnoozhekaaning wanted to reach to anyone who was interested in learning Ojibwe. More specifically, this project intended to target those who like to use social media and technology as a means of communication. Twitter eventually became the tool of choice since it is a popular communication tool, and has the capability to easily reach a large audience. Moreover, most community members already use Twitter to communicate with each other. In addition to Twitter, a scavenger hunt application (GooseChase) was used to make learning Ojibwe interactive by having students completing multiple missions, which had students competing with each other to earn the most points.
In order to gather participants, students at Bay Mills Community College were asked to volunteer for this project, and was given the opportunity to earn extra credit in their Introduction to Computers (CS112) course. CS112 was chosen because it has a class size of 15 students. After students settled in their class, they were required to set up a Twitter account, then they were asked to share their ‘handle’ with the class. During the semester, students were provided resources such as an online Ojibwe dictionary, a pronunciation guide, and several resource websites to expose students to the Ojibwe language.
Gnoozhekaaning used #placeofthepike as a documentation tool, and a way to follow conversations between participants. In addition to using a hashtag, Gnoozhekaaning tweeted several resources on its feed, which is available to anyone who is interested. Students who participated in this project were asked to follow @Gnoozhekaaning to easily find any resources that were made available.
Students who participated in this project stated they were able to learn how to introduce themselves, state where they live, and tell where they are employed. In addition to introducing themselves, students were able to utilize online resources to look up Ojibwe words to translate them to English. However, as the semester went on, students seemed to lose interest in the project, or simply did not want to learn Ojibwe, or they did not like using Twitter because it was new to some of them, and they did not feel comfortable using such a public social media platform.
Overall, this project went well since it exposed students to the Ojibwe language, and even taught basic words and phrases. However, for this project to be successful in future enactments, it should be used in a class that relates to Ojibwe language and culture. Next semester, Gnoozhekaaning will be integrated with an Ojibwe language class offered at Bay Mills Community College. We are in the planning phase of implementing this project into the new course, which includes more scavenger hunts, more online learning resources, and a full implementation of the 'Word of the Day' audio recordings. Moreover, this project will be better suited in a language class for now since the instructor is near fluent in Ojibwe, and also has technical skills that will also be passed onto the student. Finally, the new Ojibwe instructor is a Twitter fanatic, so he will be able to share his enthusiasm for the Ojibwe language and Twitter.
Miigwetch! (Thank you!) Baamaa pii miinwaa kawaabimin! (I'll see you later!)
In order to gather participants, students at Bay Mills Community College were asked to volunteer for this project, and was given the opportunity to earn extra credit in their Introduction to Computers (CS112) course. CS112 was chosen because it has a class size of 15 students. After students settled in their class, they were required to set up a Twitter account, then they were asked to share their ‘handle’ with the class. During the semester, students were provided resources such as an online Ojibwe dictionary, a pronunciation guide, and several resource websites to expose students to the Ojibwe language.
Gnoozhekaaning used #placeofthepike as a documentation tool, and a way to follow conversations between participants. In addition to using a hashtag, Gnoozhekaaning tweeted several resources on its feed, which is available to anyone who is interested. Students who participated in this project were asked to follow @Gnoozhekaaning to easily find any resources that were made available.
Students who participated in this project stated they were able to learn how to introduce themselves, state where they live, and tell where they are employed. In addition to introducing themselves, students were able to utilize online resources to look up Ojibwe words to translate them to English. However, as the semester went on, students seemed to lose interest in the project, or simply did not want to learn Ojibwe, or they did not like using Twitter because it was new to some of them, and they did not feel comfortable using such a public social media platform.
Overall, this project went well since it exposed students to the Ojibwe language, and even taught basic words and phrases. However, for this project to be successful in future enactments, it should be used in a class that relates to Ojibwe language and culture. Next semester, Gnoozhekaaning will be integrated with an Ojibwe language class offered at Bay Mills Community College. We are in the planning phase of implementing this project into the new course, which includes more scavenger hunts, more online learning resources, and a full implementation of the 'Word of the Day' audio recordings. Moreover, this project will be better suited in a language class for now since the instructor is near fluent in Ojibwe, and also has technical skills that will also be passed onto the student. Finally, the new Ojibwe instructor is a Twitter fanatic, so he will be able to share his enthusiasm for the Ojibwe language and Twitter.
Miigwetch! (Thank you!) Baamaa pii miinwaa kawaabimin! (I'll see you later!)