Dakota Online Learning Platform
Dakhóta Online Learning Platform is a continued language revitalization initiative that takes a novel approach to language revitalization combining several transmission-boosting practices that have been previously successful, with the ultimate aim of spreading the Dakhóta language beyond classroom walls, making it meaningful, useful, and accessible to Dakhóta people in their daily lives at home. The online portal will provide self-guided lessons, quizzes, and grading mechanisms, allowing language learners to learn at their own pace, as well as a synchronous learning component, where teachers can provide live lessons that are flexibly scheduled according to the time they have and the learners at each level. There will also be a teacher training component, training teachers to create and implement similarly effective and pedagogically-sound curricula based on their particular community’s needs, creating an 5 Dakhóta Iápi Okhódakičhiye ever-growing repository of reusable, online materials to be used by educators of the language. The courses on the platform will be accredited for high-school and college students, building on the existing accreditation of DIO’s curriculum by Concordia College of Moorhead, MN. Additionally, the platform will allow public high school and middle school students to earn Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) credits, preparing them for their college experience. The online platform will be coordinated by experienced language teachers, immersion teacher trainers, and in consultation with our Elders. It will likely be accessed by speakers of Lakota and Nakoda dialects as well, because of its low barriers and effective pedagogy, and they will then be able to adapt their learning to their community’s dialects through conversations with local teachers and elders. Ultimately, the development of the Dakhóta Online Learning Platform will guide all learners to fluency in the Dakhóta dialect of the Siouan languages.
Dakhóta Online Learning Platform objectives include: 1. Engage young people in learning Dakhóta and inspire them to parent and teach Dakhóta to their future generations 2. Increase teacher effectiveness through access to engaging Dakhóta language materials and experiences for classroom use 3. Engage elders and cultural experts in the co-creation of Dakhóta-medium curriculum, materials, and experiences that transmits traditional knowledge and reaches beyond the walls of the classroom 4. Expand the supportiveness and engagement of Dakhóta learning communities through the development of an online learning community, embedded within the learning platform.