OER Master Creator - Badge application (Responses)


25	By creating Vachiam Eecha in 2003, I created the first ethnographic website that had Yoem Noki as the default language and featured a language learning section. Using that experience, I created the Wiki for Indigenous Languages in 2011 that offered a general web platform for any indigenous language. We created a test site with Yoem Noki (Yaqui language) and at the request of the Peru Ministry of Culture, created a second one for Quiche. The WIL project is still open for adoption by indigenous communities who want a custom built site for their language learning programs. My goal was to use Drupal to then build a language parser into the functionality so that terms could be crossed search in both origin and goal languages. I also wanted a site that could be built by request so that tribal communities could decide the menu items, the content, and the access terms. While the first site is static, the second site, WIL, remains a viable option for communities who have access and rights to either a Word or Excel version of their dictionaries. These dictionaries then become the core component of the website. From there, communities can determine if they would like grammar exercises, videos, wiki functions, community boards, etc. For example, some communities might want visitors to watch videos. Some communities might want log-in options that are different for tribally enrolled members. Some communities come ready to upload their own images, while others ask for advice. By being based at UCLA, we can offer student assistants for minimal charges. While only two languages are featured, we have been contacted at various times by other communities looking for possible options. My team can help with the original dictionary coding, the design of the desired sites, and the functionality of the various modules. Communities can choose to have us host their data or manage the sub-site on their own servers, though linked through our main hub. In the original proof-of-concept, we used the Yaqui dictionary that we had rights to use and then built exercises around that data. For example, users there can translate sentences, see speakers give oratories, hear the language in context via protected YouTube videos, read passages written in Yoem Noki prose, and of course learn basic sentences such as greetings. Importantly, the site also mentions that the site is not a component of the official Yaqui Nation, which has its own language learning program and represents the Yoeme communities north of the US-Mexico border. Analytics enable us to see how many users are on the site and the pages they frequently visit, but not about their particular identities (more than they choose to share). With more funding, we hope to build user profiles that will track exercise completion and provide direct messaging, as well as "point" accumulation to embody game theory approaches to language learning.

By creating Vachiam Eecha in 2003, I created the first ethnographic website that had Yoem Noki as the default language and featured a language learning section. Using that experience, I created the Wiki for Indigenous Languages in 2011 that offered a general web platform for any indigenous language. We created a test site with Yoem Noki (Yaqui language) and at the request of the Peru Ministry of Culture, created a second one for Quiche. The WIL project is still open for adoption by indigenous communities who want a custom built site for their language learning programs. My goal was to use Drupal to then build a language parser into the functionality so that terms could be crossed search in both origin and goal languages. I also wanted a site that could be built by request so that tribal communities could decide the menu items, the content, and the access terms. While the first site is static, the second site, WIL, remains a viable option for communities who have access and rights to either a Word or Excel version of their dictionaries. These dictionaries then become the core component of the website. From there, communities can determine if they would like grammar exercises, videos, wiki functions, community boards, etc. For example, some communities might want visitors to watch videos. Some communities might want log-in options that are different for tribally enrolled members. Some communities come ready to upload their own images, while others ask for advice. By being based at UCLA, we can offer student assistants for minimal charges. While only two languages are featured, we have been contacted at various times by other communities looking for possible options. My team can help with the original dictionary coding, the design of the desired sites, and the functionality of the various modules. Communities can choose to have us host their data or manage the sub-site on their own servers, though linked through our main hub. In the original proof-of-concept, we used the Yaqui dictionary that we had rights to use and then built exercises around that data. For example, users there can translate sentences, see speakers give oratories, hear the language in context via protected YouTube videos, read passages written in Yoem Noki prose, and of course learn basic sentences such as greetings. Importantly, the site also mentions that the site is not a component of the official Yaqui Nation, which has its own language learning program and represents the Yoeme communities north of the US-Mexico border. Analytics enable us to see how many users are on the site and the pages they frequently visit, but not about their particular identities (more than they choose to share). With more funding, we hope to build user profiles that will track exercise completion and provide direct messaging, as well as "point" accumulation to embody game theory approaches to language learning.