Covid19, Coping, Community
An interview with San Diego area professor and Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone native Kiana Maillet
Kiana Maillet is a member of the Lone Pine Paiute-Shoshone Tribe where she is a Tribal ICWA Representative and part of the Cultural Resource Protection Committee. Maillet holds Masters Degrees in Social Work (MSW) and Public Administration (MPA), Bachelors Degrees in Psychology and Child Development, and she is currently a doctoral student in a joint program through UC San Diego and CSU San Marcos studying Educational Leadership. Professionally, Kiana is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and an Adjunct Professor. She has extensive volunteer and work experience working with youth, families, and communities in need.
Indian Voices: Can you tell us about some of the challenges you see people dealing with regarding distance education during the Covid19 quarantine in your community?
Kiana Maillet: People are experiencing so much stress right now. A lot of people don't have the equipment for online learning, and if they have the equipment they often don't have the knowledge of how to use it and all the different programs that are needed. That goes for the students as well as the teachers. Many of the teachers themselves are learning how to do online teaching for the first time, which is a lot of hard work. I've taught online for 6 years, and online teaching is at minimum, twice the work. A lot of students may not have access to the internet and at the same time, with their families at home, they may not have a quiet place to do their studies. Everyone's situation is different. You're talking about laptops, tablets, P.C.s and getting online. Then on top of that you have people faced with this trauma. It's hard for students to focus. There's so much anxiety out there, a lot of worry, and learning online takes focus and good time management skills.
