Dine Language site

[Mia@RedPony]

I tried this to. I created a user account, and then tried the first lesson,
Shirley. I spent 5 minutes loading and loading and loading. We have DSL here
at Red Pony, and 5 minutes is LOTS AND LOTS of load time.

Also, I wasn't sure who the "lesson" was for: the English lables seemed to
be for teachers. There were "Standards and Performance Objectives" options
for Navajo Nation, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico. These seemed to be hot, but
clicking did not result in any action. Mouse-over showed the link, but
nothing happened when I clicked on any of the options.

The registration seeemed to be strongly focused on K-12 schools; because I
am associated with a University, I was an "unknown". This status may have
affected the generation of Pre-test questions, because when I clicked that
option, it said that No Pre-test questions had been generated". But this
time when I clicked "Lesson", it loaded. Apparently there is a proscription
on loading the lesson without the pretest questions.

The material had static drawings, without specific references to what was
being said. There was no internal volume control in the application, and it
was too quiet for me to make it audible with my volume control.

There was a glossary that translated the Navajo to English. This is
misleading in that verbs were translated as "nouns". This may be okay for an
English precis/gloss, but it is fatal for learning Navajo.

Finally, the material was developed in the traditional way for stories where
reading and writing are being taught in an environment where the language
abounds. For some reason, people don't seem to realize that when learning
new languages, students need the kind of materials that simulate the
learning opportunities in environments where they hear the language all
around them. Instead, people develop sparse materials that do not provide
enough learning information for the brain. I don't know why they do this,
but they do. Perhaps there is not enough hard research on the cognitive
impacts and results of the different materials. So far as I can tell,
Pschologists and educators study students, but not materials. Materials need
to be subjected to hard scrutiny in different environments so that robust
materials that actually facilitate learning can be developed.

My overall response to this site is that it is not appropriate for children,
especially in the stipulated grade levels 1-3. There is "too much chatter on
the line": "Landing site", "pre-test", "lesson", "post-test" are not a good
structure for children. The process should be seamless, and take them
through each step without requiring that they click. The Download Authorware
link was inappropriate on the learning page. The copyright agreement was
inappropriate on the learning page, also. And the hidden requirement that
one run the pre-test before loading the lesson, if this was really what was
going on, was a serious design flaw.

Load time is too long. People lose attention when they have to wait for the
computer to respond. Ending with the Macromedia Authorware page, which is
not an option, it is a forced structure in the tool, is also not good
because it is also cognitively distracting. This is cute technology, but
just, just, just NOT good learning material.

I have a thought that perhaps these kinds of things happen because people
are really unfamiliar with how to use technology in a learning environment.
I have seen situations where Psychologists have moved black and white text
to the computer, and run comparative learning tests on the text on the
computer vs. the text on paper, and said, People don't learn better when the
material is on the computer. Well, Duh!

Computers should provide the rich interaction opportunities. Things should
move, they should be in color, there should be lots of sounds, and above
all, lots of opportunities for interactive response. [Tribal College Journal
says this over and over and over and over.] People can argue that these rich
resources are "distracting", but the simple fact is that these rich
resources simulate the natural learning environment where birds fly, dogs
bark, fish swim, and people talk. Children aren't "overwhelmed" by they
environment when someone puts them on the floor and lets them wander about.
Language learners do better in rich, involving environments than in sparse
environments. I know this because I tested it. :-) [for my master's thesis].

Finally, at AILDI last year, Lilly Wong Fillmore told the very sad story of
some students in the Yukon in Alaska who could "read" "fluently". They were
still failing the inference tests on their college boards; Lilly discovered
that the problem was that no one had thought to teach these children that
the words had meaning in the concrete world, so while they were able to
pronounce the words flawlessly, because of years of drill and practice, they
couldn't tell you what the "story" was about, and they were positively
incapable of drawing more subtle inferences and structuring hypotheses.

. . . thus ends my review of this beautiful site (it really is beautiful,
just not appropriately structured).

Hi, Sue, thanks for this link. Hope you are having fun in your class at
AILDI this year.

Mia


----- Original Message -----
From: "phil cash cash" <pasxapu at DAKOTACOM.NET>
To: <ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU>
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 8:51 PM
Subject: Re: Dine Language site


> Dear ILAT,
>
> The link came up okay from my end, but if you look closely, you need to
> register as a user to access the language lessons.  You may have to
> download the Authorware plug-in to play the lesssons.  A bit of
> manuevering here but well worth the effort.
>
> Phil Cash Cash
> UofA, ILAT
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Indigenous Languages and Technology
> [mailto:ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU] On Behalf Of Dorothy Martinez
> Sent: Monday, June 16, 2003 12:35 PM
> To: ILAT at LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Dine Language site
>
> Susan:  Please resend.  The URL couldn't be recognized.  Thanks
>
> >>> sdp at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU 06/16/03 12:00PM >>>
> Everyone,
> This site has some great language lessons for Dine composed using
> Authorware...
> http://nettrain1.unm.edu--    It is also offers a very comprehensive
> tribal education site generally.
>
> Susan
>
>