Ojibwemowin student Rebecca Nenookaasi Pederson was one of several students who benefited from RLNC’s multifaceted approach to online instruction.

In the summer of 2017, Red Lake Nation College (RLNC) became independent of its partnering institution, Leech Lake Tribal College. RLNC had established candidacy for accreditation with the Higher Learning Commission in 2016, initial accreditation in 2021, and distance education approval for one program in 2022. As part of this independence, RLNC invested heavily in educational technology, including the Canvas Learning Management System, the Populi Student Information System, multiple learning tools within Canvas, and a transition to Gmail, Google Suite, and other cloud-based applications. Google apps were installed in Canvas and faculty members were immediately able to share Google Docs, Slides, Sites, Sheets, and Meet within their Canvas courses.

When faculty members were polled in the spring of 2021, they demonstrated increased usage of Google tools over any prior year, with 80% of faculty members using Google Meet, up from 0% the prior year when almost all classes were delivered face-to-face. There was also a significant increase in the use of Google’s apps.

“When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, higher education was changed forever,” says RLNC president Dan King. “Thanks to RLNC’s previous investment in technology and focus on faculty training and development, our college was well-positioned to pivot to online instruction, with minimal disruption.”

But reaching this level of faculty development in educational technology took time. From 2017 through 2019, faculty members began using one to two additional tools within each course every semester. The college polled faculty members to identify tools they wished to incorporate in their classes and purchased or accessed several other tools to address assessment and evaluation; audio, podcast, and video platforms; infographic creators; online engagement; open educational resources; online presentations; polls and surveys; screencasting; and social networks. Additional tools that RLNC purchased included TutorMe, which provides students 24/7 access to professional tutors in most subject areas, and Dropout Detective, to help support student retention and serve as an early alert system.

Since 2020, RLNC has focused on the tools that have provided the most value based on institutional needs. For example, RLNC purchased Canvas Studio, which allows instructors and students to actively collaborate through video and audio media. The college also purchased Canvas Impact to help improve technology adoption and evaluate the impact of educational technology, while helping faculty and students seamlessly navigate new platforms. And Canvas Catalog, which offers a customized catalog with its own course registration system and payment gateway within the native Canvas platform, helped to expand offerings to the broader community, including community education, continuing education, workforce development, and professional development

Faculty members also established a practice of consistent course navigation. All Canvas courses at RLNC look similar, each offering simple navigation to enhance the learner experience. All courses use modules to organize and present information by week or by unit. Unused tabs are hidden in all classes so students are presented with similar navigation bars. Students see six options on the left of the screen, including home, announcements, grades, syllabus, modules, and TutorMe. All faculty members set the syllabus page as the home page. Faculty can see the course from the student view in order to better understand the student experience and help them navigate course content.

All courses offer consistent assessment of student performance on course, program, and co-curricular learning through the use of rubrics and the learning mastery gradebook, providing faculty members with an average performance rate for each learning outcome. Through the use of online engagement strategies, RLNC saw an improvement in course completion/ success rates across all courses throughout the liberal education program. Some of the most notable improvements were identified in Ojibwemowin language courses. Ojibwemowin I completion rates increased from 78% in the fall of 2018 to 87% in the fall of 2022. Ojibwemowin II completion rates rose from 62% to 83% during the same timeframe. Ojibwemowin instructor Lucas Bratvold incorporated and assessed new and innovative teaching strategies throughout this period, which helped realize these improved completion rates.

RLNC employs assessment, end-of-term reflections, and innovative teaching strategies to maximize student learning. An example of the innovative teaching strategies used within the Canvas LMS for language courses is uploading Ojibwemowin audio files and creating related, match-based translation quizzes for each lesson. Student speeches are recorded and uploaded, even when they are conducting a live, in-classroom speech. For some assignments, instructors have modeled the Ojibwemowin language that students are to use and then they embed the recorded files. Discussion board reactions to embedded language and culture-based resources such as videos or podcasts, worksheetstyle assignments, and files and links of audio/video resources for transcription and translation virtual labs are all examples of how instructors can integrate innovative technological processes for student use.

Instructors invite students to Google Meet through their Google Calendar reminder for each class session. Canvas reminds students about assignments, and announcements can be posted in each course. Instructors send additional notifications through mass text/email to specific course sections and include additional notes like assignment reminders through the Populi Student Information System to ensure students receive an additional reminder.

Within Google Meet sessions, instructors screen share PowerPoints or documents and students also have the link in Canvas to navigate between slides or documents as needed. Instructors use Google Docs or Jamboard (a digital interactive whiteboard) to write sentences, allowing students to take notes at their own pace. Students are cued into the sentence structure and grammar by watching their peers, which allows instructors to observe and provide feedback. This has sped up the sentence writing process, enabling more sentences to be written and spoken. Additionally, instructors post links to Canvas, where students can review the sentences later as needed. Breakout sessions within Google Meet enable students to practice having a dialogue with one another. Instructors record Google Meet sessions, which is helpful for review and for students who are absent.

Gamification integrations include Kahoot and online multiplayer card games such as go Fish, which students play while interacting live in breakout sessions. Quizlet, which offers basic flashcard study as well as games, is another effective learning tool. Instructors will be integrating Rosetta Stone Ojibwe into courses in the 2022 academic year, a product that was produced in partnership with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe; RLNC has purchased accounts for all current students, staff, and faculty.

The use of multiple technologies results in dynamic and engaging courses. These tools help keep things fun and interesting for students, which is reflected in their feedback. The technology supports multiple aspects of language learning, including reading, writing, listening, and speaking. This results in students having more opportunities to find their strengths, and to continue developing both their strong points and those that need improvement. All of this increases student comfort and confidence.

Getting and keeping students engaged and providing a safe space in which they feel confident are important aspects of student success in learning our Indigenous heritage languages. Instructors use various technologies and strategies to support the college’s mission: to provide excellent higher education that is grounded in the Ojibwe language and culture of the Red Lake Nation. Instructors will continue efforts with innovation and progressiveness as part of their learning responsibilities in the Anishinaabe gikinwaa’amaadiwin—the Anishinaabe reciprocal education pedagogy.

Mandy Schram is the vice president of operations and academic affairs at Red Lake Nation College; Lucas Gaagige Aanakwad Bratvold is an Anishinaabe language and culture instructor at RLNC.