Hybrid Course Sharing in Native American Studies
Caroline Woidat
SUNY Geneseo
Caroline Woidat is Professor of English at SUNY Geneseo, where she teaches courses in American and Native American literature and studies, and is coordinator and co-founder of the Native American Studies program. She has published articles studying representations of Native Americans in Legacy: A Journal of American Women Writers, Twentieth-Century Literature, and The Journal of American Culture. Her edition of works by nineteenth-century American author Elizabeth Oakes Smith, The Western Captive and Other Indian Stories, was published by Broadview Press in 2015.
Abstract
The field of indigenous studies depends upon creative approaches to institutional challenges including limited resources, faculty, and enrollment. Four campuses in the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, supported by a... [ view full abstract ]
The field of indigenous studies depends upon creative approaches to institutional challenges including limited resources, faculty, and enrollment. Four campuses in the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, supported by a Teagle Foundation grant, have implemented Hybrid Course Sharing in Native American Studies to expand curricular offerings by pushing against boundaries between classrooms, institutions, and diverse communities. The consortium joins COPLAC campuses that have Native American Studies programs with few full-time faculty to support them, combining course offerings so that students encounter a wider range of scholarly expertise and methodologies. In contrast to other forms of distance learning designed for wide access, the hybrid component incorporates face-to-face mentorship with a faculty member on the student’s home campus in combination with the online instruction from a partnering scholar.
Hybrid course sharing builds a multi-campus community, and it has also led instructors to experiment with new strategies for studying indigenous literacies. Courses focusing upon oral traditions and life writing, for example, have considered a range culturally-specific vehicles for encoding and transmitting knowledge about indigenous people, culture, and history. Hybrid courses have also engaged students from different campuses in experiential learning and public humanities projects, including summer field schools on sites such as a former residential Native American boarding school. My paper draws upon experience with this collaborative project between scholars across the U.S. and Canada to discuss the possibilities and challenges of using hybrid online courses to develop new approaches to teaching indigenous studies.
Authors
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Caroline Woidat
(SUNY Geneseo)
Topic Area
Indigenous Textualities: Native Americans, Writing, and Representation
Session
S1 » Seminar 1: Indigenous Textualities: Native Americans, Writing, and Representation (08:00 - Thursday, 22nd March, Boardroom East)
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