Words as Big as the Screen: Native American Languages and the Internet

It is ironic that technological advances have not only aided in the loss of our languages but at the same time have made it possible for us Native people to use technology in a way to promote and educate others about our unique culture and language. I hope we continue to use the internet as a tool to maintain and keep our languages. I would say now would be the best time to use technology to record our languages, therefore we need specialists such as the students in the SLATE program to do this. From students presentations, I have noticed so much talent that could be applied toward creating curriculum in Yup'ik and for the Yup'ik people. Reading page 108 titled Outnumbered and Out-Typed: Natives Online made me furious. There are so many people who jump at the prospects of making a dime out of Native people. They use Native people in television commercials and on web-sites to promote their business when in fact they don't know much about Native people. I am beginning to see it all the time. I continue to hope that our Native people will work toward becoming educated and self sufficient in the 21st century, especially in the ever expanding field of technology. That way, we can use technology as an advantage for our people to strengthen our language and culture. In my school, we are lucky we have a computer lab. On the other hand, it also saddens me that because my community is economically disadvantaged, many people don't have access to internet. The internet is a powerful thing and it is sad that many of our people don't have access to this learning tool.

webquest

I really enjoyed the web-quests that were less cluttered with so much information and where each section had its own slide. Viewing the web-quests made me think about how I would arrange mine if I were to create one. People who make web-quests need to keep the students in mind at all times. When I entered a couple web-quests, they caught my attention right away because it appeared that the web-quest was talking to me-the student. For example, in the web-quest titled A Stitch in Time, the creator caught my attention by saying, "Attention, Attention, the museum has been burglarized! You have been selected to...." That attention grabbing sentence makes me want to continue reading. While going through the web-quest another thing that caught my attention was the use of contrast. One web-quest about the Egyptians has a good background that complemented the black lettering, while another had a bulleted list. I'm sure others will agree that web-quests have to be visually appealing to student. Another thing about web-quests is that they should be teacher user friendly. In the beginning of evaluating the web-quests, I thought to myself, "Gee, it would be better for the teacher tab be at the top so that teachers will be aware of the standards and goals of the web-quest." Then again, while looking at the other web-quests I told myself, "Hey, these web-quests are for the students more than they are for the teachers." Therefore, teachers should take their own time to look over the web-quest in order to utilize them efficiently. One resource that I really liked were the hyperlinks that helped students to create a project. For example, in the web-quest about the Bowhead Whale, there was a hyperlink that helps the student to create a multi-media presentation. I liked the web-quests that had hyperlinks to additional activities, although there was this one hyperlink to a set of directions that made me think...."Will my students be able to read all this information and be able to comprehend the directions?" Overall, I think web-quests can be informative and interactive. If I were to create a web-quest, I would make sure to keep it simple, interesting and most of all educationally interactive.