Published Jul 27, 2023 by Shondiin Mayo

Indigenous people in the state of Alaska not only have strong ties to their culture, but also to the land.

Most recently, a group of Inupiaq observers, also known as the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub, have contributed their knowledge in the form of observation. These land based scholars are now published in the Journal Arctic Science.

At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the International Arctic Research Center has partnered with several coastal communities to uplift their indigenous knowledge in a recently published paper titled Nunaaqqit Savaqatigivlugich. The paper includes local observation and weather conditions to provide a broad-scale view of changing coastal conditions. Dr. Donna Hauser, a research assistant/professor at the International Arctic Research Center shares that this paper is much different than what you would usually see.

This paper shares the Inupiaq language and also serves to highlight the importance of community based solutions. Glenn shares, “If we want to think about how the Arctic environment is changing and think about solutions for the people who are living there. We should listen to the people who have been living in the Arctic for thousands of years and have a really deep understanding of what’s going on and what should be done about it.”

Published Jul 27, 2023 by https://fm.kuac.org/people/robyne

The 2-part workshop on Working with Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education will be August 17 and 18 from 10 AM to 12 PM.

As the Alaska school year begins next month, there will be a lot more conversations in classrooms about artificially- intelligent tools, especially at the college level, where students are expected to learn about the latest technology, and how they might use it in life.

University of Alaska Fairbanks has an instructional design office to help faculty keep up with developments in teaching.

“Our philosophy here is to adopt a best practice -- something that's gonna lend itself toward really good teaching and good learning.”

Dan LaSota is an instructional designer, and he’s been writing teaching tips about artificially- intelligent tools for UAF’s Center for Teaching and Learning. He says after the natural language processing tool, ChatGPT was launched, professors and instructors started to see its use in student assignments. (ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, an AI and research company. The company launched ChatGPT on November 30, 2022.)

 “It was new to both teachers and students, and so we started seeing some complaints bubble up, and then people were looking for us for answers. Like, what do we do about this? How do we respond?” LaSota said.

LaSota says for a student to ask a chatbot to write an assignment for them is plagiarism, and the university already has a student code of conduct that requires honesty.

“We don't need to do anything differently as far as academic integrity regulations go, because the language is broad, but precise enough, where it says all forms of academic dishonesty are prohibited and there's consequences,” LaSota said.

But ChatGPT is just one natural language processing AI tool, (there is also Google Bard, Microsoft's Bing Chat, and there's even talk of a possible AppleGPT) And there are tools that do arithmetic, higher math and some draw pictures from instructions given to them. New tools are being developed everyday, even in the research departments on the UAF campus.

LaSota says some of these tools can be used to help tutor students, and some can enhance what the teacher wants the student to know.

To help instructors sort out which tools can help and which are just cheating, the Center for Teaching and Learning is offering a two-day workshop next month.

Published Jul 27, 2023 by Caden Wassmann photo

The final performances of “Romeo and Juliet,” produced by the Fairbanks Shakespeare Theatre, are 7:30 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday, at Jack Townshend Point on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus. The outdoor stage and theater is located in a wooded area behind the University of Alaska Museum of the North. The director is Courtland Weaver, and assistant director is Emily Yates. Tickets are available in advance at www.fairbanksshakespeare.org or at the box office before showtime.

Published Jul 27, 2023 by Suzanne Downing

Former Anchorage School District Superintendent Deena Bishop was named the new commissioner for the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development on Wednesday.

Bishop served on the University of Alaska Board of Regents and has been an educator in Alaska since 1991. She served as a teacher, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and the superintendent of the Mat-Su Borough School District. Recently, she has been a top education adviser to Gov. Mike Dunleavy. In 2021, she was a finalist for chancellor of University of Alaska Anchorage.

Bishop holds a bachelor of science degree in education with a specialization in bilingual education, a master of education degree in administration, and a doctor of education degree in learning assessment and system performance. She is a graduate of the American Association of School Administrators National Superintendents Certification two-year program.

Published Jul 27, 2023

“Kings tend to spawn in really big rivers. That’s where the big king populations are,” said Erik Shoen, a fisheries biologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The Yukon, for instance, has all kinds of conditions along its 1,982 miles, but every fish that spawns there has to go through the lower river.

“So if that lower main stem is unfavorable,” he said, “or if the Bering Sea just went through a heatwave and they have to make it into the lower main stem with less gas in the tank than they need to swim 1,000 miles plus — they’re in trouble.”

By comparison, the sockeye population of Bristol Bay thrive in the ocean and have multiple shorter rivers to climb, with more cool spots to take refuge in.

The Kuskokwim, like the Yukon, is a big river enduring a multi-year crash of chinook. Chum salmon are also in crisis. But there are more sockeye returning to it than ever before.

Published Jul 26, 2023

Wanda Wahl is the new director of the Bristol Bay Campus in Dillingham, Alaska, and Minnie Naylor was named director of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Chukchi Campus in Kotzebue.

Two women have been appointed to lead regional campuses of the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The regional campuses are federally designated Alaska Native-serving institutions that are part of the university’s College of Rural and Community Development. They offer two-year degree programs, as well as ways for students to complete bachelor’s degrees through distance-delivered courses and programs from the University of Alaska system.