Many Ways of Knowing: Connecting Native American Skills to Degree Pathways
By Julie Johnson and Haley Glover
A Wisconsin community college has created an associate degree featuring Native American cultural and language skills by recognizing a tribal concept that honors the “many ways of knowing,” or learning that occurs outside traditional education.
Nicolet College in northern Wisconsin is leading efforts to recognize Native American skills gained in local indigenous communities and connect them to a liberal arts degree program at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Nicolet serves the second largest population of Native American students in the Wisconsin Technical College system and works to increase Native learners’ educational attainment. Across Wisconsin, only about 26 percent of Native Americans have earned a postsecondary degree or credential.
To help remedy that, the college, along with the Wisconsin Indian Educational Association (WIEA), is one of nine grantees in Lumina Foundation’s All Learning Counts initiative. The three-year project aims to increase recognition of non-institutional learning; elevate effective, innovative practices, and scale up new pathways to learning and training. This is the first in a blog series to share what we learn.
Before joining All Learning Counts, Nicolet College partnered with two of the three federally recognized tribes in the area to create the Native American Tribal Business Management technical certificate. The program, designed to meet local tribes’ economic and social needs, incorporates experiential learning and culturally sensitive curriculum. Tribal members served as speakers, mentors, and adjunct instructors. A tribal liaison helped facilitate relationships.
Building on that success, Nicolet sought to create a path from tribal community-based learning to a bachelor’s degree offering in First Nations Studies at UW and possibly other schools. Nicolet College and WIEA are developing an associate degree that incorporates tribal knowledge and skills to connect the two ends of the path. The program prioritizes culturally relevant curriculum for indigenous people and trains Native American educators as instructors. It also added the area’s third federally recognized American Indian tribe, the Forest County Potawatomi Community, joining the other partners, Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and the Mole Lake (Sokaogon) Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians.
A unique approach
From the start, Nicolet and WIEA took a unique approach. What most refer to as “prior learning,” Nicolet College termed “many ways of knowing.” This is a distinct perspective on the value of learning that occurs outside of classrooms. “Many ways of knowing” honors the knowledge, experience and wisdom that has been passed down through many generations of the tribes.
But it goes beyond terminology. Honoring tribal knowledge has required the college to broaden its educational lens beyond the Euro-Western model. Nicolet has embraced indigenous pedagogy, recognized tribal leaders as content experts, and adjusted its approach.
When meeting with tribal leaders and experts, Native traditions take priority and cultural protocols are observed and respected. The concept of time, which is understood differently in Native communities, is adjusted to meet the needs of tribal leaders. Two-hour meetings may go for four hours or longer, embracing a concept of fluidity and flexibility unfamiliar to many. Meeting location matters: some meetings are on tribal land and a future convening may be in a teaching lodge, which is out in nature with an open fire.
Strong relationships
Relationship-building with tribal leaders is essential. Two Nicolet team leaders, Susan Crazy Thunder, the tribal outreach coordinator, and Brandon Thoms, the project specialist for the All Learning Counts grant, are Native community members. With long-established relationships, they are guiding Nicolet on how to engage tribal leaders while training faculty and staff on tribal knowledge, the importance of listening, respect for elders, and other tribal social norms. The training was so well-received that additional sessions will be offered.
While Nicolet College provides the structure, logistical support, and quality assurance for the work, it defers to tribal leaders to guide planning on curriculum development and implementation. Tribal experts identify competencies for tribal language, history, sovereignty, governance, and culture. Nicolet ensures the program meets accreditation requirements and will be eligible for transfer to other institutions. “Nicolet’s job is to make it work in the academic community,” says Laura Wind-Norton, dean of university transfer and liberal arts and a Nicolet project leader.
By all estimates, the project was off to a strong start this year before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With limited internet in the Native communities and no cultural protocols for meeting virtually, the Nicolet team had to adjust their approach. Today, they are making progress through virtual convenings and additional faculty professional development.
Nicolet College, WIEA, and their Native partners have a shared mission — to honor what Native learners bring with them, create a degree that incorporates that learning, and give students a true sense of belonging with the help of Native educators. “It was unreasonable for our society to expect Native Americans to pursue postsecondary credentials in systems that by and large do not recognize or value their unique cultural identities; where they do not see themselves,” said Susan Crazy Thunder. This project, through All Learning Counts, aims to work with post-high school institutions to fix that.
[ Julie Johnson is the founder and principal of StrategyForward Advisors, a higher education policy and strategy consultancy in Washington D.C. She is Lumina Foundation’s project consultant for All Learning Counts. Haley Glover is a strategy director at Lumina Foundation, leading mobilization strategies focused on communities and institutions of higher education. Our thanks to Susan Crazy Thunder, Brandon Thoms and Laura Wind-Norton for their contributions to this project and this article.]
