The Aseto’ne Network Project ANP) is a healthcare initiative of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) that builds relationships with tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) and promotes student interest and engagement through mentorship and self-paced, Native-relevant, health research education. The curriculum emphasizes a community approach, connecting student goals related to strengthening local human bonds.

Aseto’ne is a Northern Cheyenne word that means the process of taking first steps and growth. Aseto’ne students are embraced as relatives and supported through the growth of their health research knowledge. ANP provides experiences that explore academic and career pathways to health-focused research. Students are paired with mentors who are TCU faculty, Native healthcare professionals, and staff members of Indigenous organizations. Faculty mentors guide students through academic concerns and career pathways while peer mentors come from TCUs and public institutions and offer discussion and advice on such topics as study habits, relocation, transferring from a two to four-year institution, and Indigenous perspectives on the college experience. Aseto’ne students are paid a stipend through grant funds from the National Institutes of Health, are eligible to earn a digital badge, and can attend a national health or science conference.

On the heels of the pandemic, the Aseto’ne team partnered with Praxis AI to create the learning platform for the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute. Nearly all the student engagement happens through the Praxis AI Learning Experience Platform (LXP), which is accessible anywhere via a web browser on computers, tablets, or mobile phones. This cloud-based platform is specifically designed to provide an engaging and effective learning and working experience regardless of physical location. Learning and collaboration occur through a standard web browser, so all students need is a decent internet connection.

STUDENT JOURNEYS

The ANP offers three courses, referred to as learning journeys, that lead to specialized, culturally rooted credentials. Smudge Keeper is the basic journey where students get their feet wet in health research. Fire Keeper is the more advanced journey in exploring health careers with an emphasis on research. The Medicine Shield journey guides students through an examination of cultural resilience as an individual and at the community level. Each journey includes 7.5 hours of educational content per week across 10 weeks. Each week includes curriculum organized into lectures, mentoring or peer mentoring sessions, discussions, quizzes, video ranking, a resource library, and conferencing. Learners in these journeys can assess and rate content after each activity.

Two of the educational journeys, Smudge Keeper and Medicine Shield, are the equivalent of a one-credit college course. Fire Keeper is equivalent to a two-credit course. While the ANP does not confer college credit directly, students seeking credit for their effort are encouraged to work with their TCU. The Aseto’ne team can provide proof of instructional hours, grade assessments, and course descriptions as evidence of learning for any college or university willing to award credits for the work a student has accomplished in the institute.

From the beginning, effective relationship building with students has been a central feature of the ANP, as this is critical to recruitment and retention in higher education. Connecting with students can be challenging in face-to-face settings. Building rapport in a virtual setting is equally challenging, but with a twist. For some students, a virtual environment might empower them to present themselves differently than in face-to-face interactions. Communications through email and discussion boards, for example, exclude photographs or videos, which might encourage students to express themselves more freely. Video conferencing provides students with the option to avoid the camera while still being heard.

The Aseto’ne team respected these boundaries. However, over time, the students came to trust team members, as well as other associated faculty and staff, as they elected to turn on their cameras to reveal their questions, concerns, and requests for help. This level of trust and engagement has been evident in weekly “tea party” activities where students, mentors, faculty, and staff join in a live video chat to ask questions, problem solve, socialize, or just listen to learn more about the ANP services.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VIRTUAL INSTITUTE

When COVID-19 forced TCUs to lock down and made travel to attend a summer institute impossible, AIHEC contracted with Praxis AI to provide a digital solution. Praxis AI is an education and research company dedicated to using digital platforms to leverage strengths of experiential, informal, and formal learning methodologies. ANP content is delivered asynchronously to allow students to learn at their own pace. The Praxis AI LXP navigation is managed by a structured course dashboard and calendar. The Praxis AI LXP platform provides automated ways of nudging learners based on performance thresholds. This is a powerful capability because it ties into engagement, such as online discussion forums and wikis that facilitate community building. given the geographical distance between TCUs, routine face-to-face learning is impossible for most students. However, the ANP program includes synchronous meetings with mentors in the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute as well as the chance to interact and network at approved health-related academic conferences. ANP learners don’t get to walk together on their journey, but they do get to see and speak with each other whenever they wish. It is easy for faculty and staff to develop and curate content with the Praxis AI LXP learning platform. Faculty members simply record a video lecture and send the link to the Praxis AI team, which includes instructional designers, active instructors, and broad technology support. All video formats are acceptable, with most being recorded in Zoom, Facebook, and even on cell phones. Faculty can include other resources such as PowerPoint or PDF documents, instructor-made content, online articles, and assignments.

The Praxis AI team uploads all the content into a series of horizontal skill tiles arranged in columns of weekly lessons that form the 10-week digital journey. The Praxis AI LXP combines asynchronous digital learning with synchronous video conferencing and collaboration tools to create a fully integrated, engaging research and education environment. The Praxis AI team also curates supplemental content to bolster learning materials without effort from the instructor.

The flexibility of the Praxis AI LXP learning platform empowered the Aseto’ne design team of AIHEC staff, faculty, and Praxis AI developers to improve communications and expedite course delivery. In response to COVID’s impact on students and their families, the design team removed barriers for students, refined the analytical measures, and strengthened knowledge on how to create a successful digital learning solution. Lessons learned from the experience of the first cohort of students inspired the design team to modify the delivery of video lectures. The coursework journeys were restructured into microlearning units by breaking the 60-minute lectures into three 20-minute segments. The shorter lectures provided more frequent stop points for homebound, multigenerational, and employed students who needed to juggle learning activities as efficiently as possible.

During the learning process, the Praxis AI LXP tracked student performance, usage, and assessment analytics on a real-time basis. These analytics can be used to assess the efficacy of remote learning in the achievement of education and research outcomes. Being able to combine multiple types of assessments (quizzes, student progress, etc.) provides tremendous flexibility and the ability to bring hard and soft skills together, offering qualitative and creative assessment into a holistic quantitative course. Overall student performance is measured as a score using a sophisticated algorithm that combines usage, assessment, and engagement. gamification (leaderboards and badges) motivates students to engage with the content and nudges them through the program. These analytics informed the Aseto’ne design team of the student experience and aided in the creation of the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute.

Digital delivery of coursework offered opportunities and presented challenges. The Aseto’ne team examined student usage analytics from the Praxis AI LXP learning platform, gathered student and mentor feedback, and made improvements quickly. The team recognized that students in the institute were also enrolled for a full credit load at their TCU throughout the academic year. Decision-making was always filtered through the lens of COVID stressors and the relative newness of online education for many TCU students. By taking these first steps and growing through the experience of providing a virtual institute during a pandemic, the Aseto’ne design team learned new strategies to engage and retain students.

Another associated ANP activity is the creation of the video library for TCU faculty use. All the videos developed for the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute are included in the video library and are accessible to TCU faculty for download and to incorporate in their health and research classes. The Aseto’ne video library catalogs over 100 videos specifically created to aid in teaching about biomedical and behavioral health research with American Indian perspectives in mind. The videos are categorized under technical expertise, professional development, and biomedical research career planning. Many of the videos focus on Indigenous perspectives, methodologies, health disparities, and research. TCU faculty are invited to register online to explore this unique resource of informative, American Indian-focused videos. ANP updates the video library regularly and seeks requests from TCU health and science professors for topics they would like for their courses.

INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVES

ANP’s main goal is to promote health research by Natives, for Natives, and from a Native point of view. Taking this approach in a digital space serving multiple tribes added an opportunity for creativity in the design of health research education. This holistic approach to health research called for balancing science with a tribal way of life experienced by contemporary Indigenous students residing on their reservations or in an urban community. The Aseto’ne design team used the medicine wheel philosophy as a guide. The wheel is divided into four equal quadrants that represent the core needs of living in harmony or balance within self and community. The Aseto’ne design team sought ways to include holistic needs for spirituality, physical fitness, and emotional and mental well-being that collectively serve a balanced lifestyle where education can occur in all four quadrants.

Students’ spirituality has been addressed by video blessings from elders, healers, and a powwow princess who responded to the call for help to keep students uplifted and empowered to continue with their studies. Videos like Powwow Sweat, created by Shedaezha Hodge for an Indigenous exercise experience, were added to encourage students to keep physically fit. The mentors engaged in a dialog with their students that included thoughts about emotional well-being. Such dialogs accounted for up to 25 hours throughout the 10-week institute. This effort led to the development of a separate journey called Medicine Shield that is taught by Native faculty from Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona using Native philosophies. Other strategies included instructional videos by Natives about Native mathematics, cultural resilience, and Native researchers and health professionals. A number of these videos look at research methods, clinical research, nursing research, research skills, and research in Indian Country. Other videos focus on infectious diseases, exploring their impact on American Indian/Alaska Native communities; environmental health, with an emphasis on concerns and considerations in tribal communities; infrastructure; and policy to provide an examination of ways to reach, support, and expand policy building, research ethics, and research capacity in tribal communities. The Aseto’ne design team focuses on continual improvement as new resources in Indigenous teaching materials are found or created especially for the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute.

MENTORING

Relationship building is a priority in the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute, as every participant is enrolled in mentoring. Smudge Keeper and Fire Keeper students are matched to a faculty/professional mentor and a peer mentor and receive a total of 10 mentoring hours a month. Each Medicine Shield participant is assigned one mentor and receives 5.5 hours of mentoring per month. In some cases, a mentor might have more than one student, but not more than three. Students build deep relationships with their mentors. The Aseto’ne team recruits faculty and students from TCUs, Indigenous healthcare professionals, and members of Indigenous healthcare associations from across the nation to serve as peer mentors or professional/faculty mentors.

“I appreciate the structured environment my mentor offered me via writing workshops,” attests Medicine Shield student Sarah Llanque. “I was able to finish an eBook to help nursing students navigate their way through the nursing program.”

The learning content and meeting spaces for the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute are conveniently accessible through the Praxis AI Learning Experience Platform. Pictured above is the Medicine Shield learning journey.

The Aseto’ne faculty and peer mentors engage with their assigned students in a private space within the Praxis AI LXP learning platform. Faculty mentors are encouraged to discuss a list of suggested topics in their mentoring dialog with mentees, respond to their mentees’ postings in the discussion board, and participate in weekly and monthly video conferencing with the full group of participants. Recordings are provided as an alternative method to participation for mentors and participants juggling complex schedules.

The peer mentors work in small teams of two to three to design a monthly video conference on a topic significant to student success in higher education. Recommended topics range from study skills, obtaining letters of recommendation, the benefits of internships, and relocating off reservation to attend college among other topics the peer mentors feel are most needed.

“One of the most enlightening things for me about this asynchronous process is that the content is flexible in terms of time management. Students have the freedom to create their own learning schedule and can complete the program at a pace that is convenient for them,” says mentor Liliana Bronner, an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. “The program is convenient for those learners who have to balance studies with family or work responsibilities.”

Mentoring is included in each coursework journey in the virtual institute. The mentoring tile is on every week’s list of lessons and tasks. Only the student and their mentor have access to their private meeting space. Additionally, students and mentors can create their own virtual spaces on the fly to collaborate via webcam, audio, screen sharing, and chat. The ANP staff monitors the mentoring relationship by tracking minutes of contact through the Praxis AI LXP learning platform. The Aseto’ne Virtual Institute home screen includes a tile for the mentoring lounge, which is a public space for all users. In the lounge, ANP staff, mentors, and students can post mentoring-related videos or comments, as well as information on internships, scholarships, and conferences.

Orientations are hosted by the mentor coordinator in small groups using the video conferencing function in the learning platform. These orientations include introductions of the student and mentor(s) and also instruct participants on how to navigate the learning platform and what to expect from peer and faculty mentoring. The mentor coordinator can share her screen for demonstrations on how to navigate the learning platform. Students and mentors have access to videos about platform navigation and submit invoices for their stipends. They can also request another orientation meeting with the mentor coordinator. The live chat orientations and videos are useful for onboarding new mentors and students and to clarify expectations of their role in the institute.

DIGITAL BADGING

The Aseto’ne Virtual Institute’s collaboration with the Praxis AI LXP grew in the second year through the introduction of digital badges for students who completed their institute journey with above average assessment scores. Students’ digital presence in social media, on websites, and with their email signature is bolstered by the iconic Aseto’ne digital badge, verifying job-ready skills. Digital badges validate learned skills with direct application to the job market. The job skills verified by the Smudge Keeper digital badge include relevant American Indian-focused skills in Indigenous research methods, Native math, and Native science.

Through its online portal, the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute keeps students abreast of various scholarship and job opportunities.

Digital badging through Credly matches Smudge Keeper skills to employers and position announcements. The same verification of skills matched to the job market is provided in the Fire Keeper and Medicine Shield journeys. Digital badges increase student knowledge of the job market when they see how their new skills are matched to position vacancies across the nation.

FINAL THOUGHTS

The Aseto’ne Network Project uses digital resources to build relationships with TCU students who are interested in learning how to help their communities by using health-related research as a tool for growth and improvement. Technologies in distant education bring members from all directions of Indian Country into a learning space where tribal worldviews are shared as methodologies in solving problems or exploring innovative approaches to addressing health disparities.

“As Indigenous people, we depend on our community to survive. We need proper reflection for effective human development,” shares Aseto’ne Smudge Keeper student Jerald Red Buffalo. “Aseto’ne Virtual Institute aims to establish these relationships as we were forced to move into a new era of online learning.”

The digital space connects a network of people of various talents and resources in a learning community where relationships will support participants through academia and career paths far beyond their initial introduction in the Aseto’ne Virtual Institute. We believe that the Aseto’ne approach is a realistic prototype for TCUs to build a national online tribal university. Mitakuye Oyasin.

Reno Charette (Crow) is the director of AIHEC’s Aseto’ne Networking Project.