NWIC Math instructor Janet Hsia teaches her students virtually from the NWIC Port Gamble S’Klallam site in Kingston, Wash. (Photo by Caitlynn Mayhew)

Recently, the Northwest Indian College (NWIC) Distance Learning Department and Technology Committee reviewed its five-year distance learning plan. It didn’t take long, because the plan was written in 2019.

NWIC had explored online options long before March of 2020 and the outbreak of COVID-19. Night classes began in 2016 via Zoom with the aid of faculty who were comfortable teaching online from home. With a robust set of online classes, data showed that hybrid Zoom classes had better retention rates for first-year students than asynchronous online classes. At the time, those Zoom students were still a tiny portion of the overall student body.

Like many other institutions at the outset of the pandemic, NWIC faced the challenge of training a large group of faculty who had limited experience with online pedagogy. Many thought this would be a temporary measure. The college’s deans and department chairs proactively asked faculty to train and commit to teaching on Zoom through 2020.

NWIC rapidly expanded what had been a one-man distance learning department. A part-time instructional designer position was quickly increased to full time. Laptop and accessory equipment, wi-fi hotspots, and other services were provided to students in need. A second instructional designer position was added to work with student services. The e-learning coordinator and instructional designer held training sessions for faculty and staff nearly every day.

In the summer of 2020, the Distance Learning Department overhauled its inhouse training process, converting it to a six-week credential that all faculty, whether full-time or part-time, main-campus or extended-campus based, could complete and be compensated for, helping bridge some generational gaps in tech fluency. The Distance Learning Department held daily office hours in the first few weeks of the pandemic and then twice per week once staff and students began to adjust.

By the end of the year, NWIC students, the majority of whom have children, had adjusted their schedules to attend class from home while caring for their families. Faculty appreciated opportunities to refresh their training at periodic intervals and a beginner training was offered every quarter. Dean of Academics Destiny Petroske played a critical role in directing all efforts.

Tutoring sessions, clubs, seminars, activities, and the annual Vine Deloria jr. Symposium were offered virtually and eventually, with proper safeguards, in a hybrid fashion. An increase in virtual offerings allowed for more flexibility for students and faculty, especially those with families, who were studying remotely or unable to commute. With the newfound ability to reach people who never saw a college degree as accessible or affordable, enrollment rates at NWIC were quickly met and exceeded pre-pandemic numbers.

In 2021, as the college cautiously resumed in-person classes, it became clear that a large majority of students preferred Zoom, or at least found it more convenient. Demand for in-person classes was far lower than expected, and many of the faculty who learned distance pedagogy as a “temporary measure” are still teaching fully or mostly online.

NWIC has grown a great deal in this time of crisis. The college exists across seven sites: the main campus at Lummi and extended sites at Swinomish, Tulalip, Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Port gamble S’Klallam, and Nez Perce. Servicing or replacing technology from a distance can be slow, difficult, or costly, but the college’s information systems and distance learning staff aim to always be available for troubleshooting.

Due to its multisite structure, NWIC worked to connect site faculty long ago. In the pandemic, full-time and part-time faculty across multiple states all worked together to develop curricula and support students. In turn, students have gained greater skills and commitment for their online classes, allowing them more flexibility. Moreover, the college has begun to work with students who plan to obtain degrees entirely through remote learning.

Kenwa Kravitz, a Pit River tribal member and California resident, has attended NWIC since the fall of 2018. She initially thought obtaining a degree would require a move up to Washington State and a pause in her community organizing, but with NWIC’s cyberinfrastructure, Kravitz was able to graduate last June. “It’s great for me to get the degree without having to leave home, because I’m very involved with my tribal community,” Kravitz attests. “I was able to go to a big meeting with BLM about Medicine Lake Highlands and the fight to preserve sacred land by Mount Shasta and take my math class from the hotel.”

Distance learning has also allowed for new perspectives and interactions for students. “It’s so cool that I’m in California and in one of my classes there’s an elder from Alaska,” Kravitz observes. “It’s great to have people sharing different experiences and different points of view.”

Pushing through technological barriers and the Zoom fatigue most of us now know well, NWIC students are excelling with distance learning. The college meets students where they are. Cyberinfrastructure has enabled success for Running Start students in Olympia, on-campus students in Bellingham, elders in Alaska, mothers in California, and other students joining the NWIC family from across the nation.