- ED 593: Integrating Culture, Community and the Curriculum
Spring 2015
Course Description
The course will focus on the salient issues involved with the development of educationally sound and culturally appropriate programs of instruction in schools, including foundational design, conceptual models, organizational strategies, technical skills, current issues and trends, and their application to the educational environment in rural Alaska. - Cultural and Intellectual Property Rights - Spring 2015
Course Goals: Students will develop an understanding of the cultural and intellectual property rights of Indigenous peoples, recognize the current issues regarding the recognition of these rights, and gain an understanding of the strategies currently used to protect the cultural and intellectual property rights of Indigenous peoples on a local, statewide, national, and international level.
- Traditional Ecological Knowledge - Spring 2015
This course examines the acquisition and utilization of knowledge associated with the long-term habitation of particular ecological systems and the adaptations that arise from the accumulation of such knowledge. Attention will be given to the contemporary significance of traditional ecological knowledge as a complement to academic disciplinary fields of study. Intimate knowledge of place—culturally, spiritually, nutritionally, and economically for viability—is traditional ecological knowledge. - Education and Socio-Economic Change
The course will examine educational issues as they relate to social change processes, particularly in the context of the development of new institutional forms and the resulting impact on different ways of knowing. Emphasis is placed on the dynamics of education and schooling in a social and economic development milieu. - Small School Curriculum Design
The course will focus on the salient issues involved with the development of educationally sound and culturally appropriate programs of instruction in small schools, including foundational design, conceptual models, organizational strategies, technical skills, current issues and trends, and their implications and application to the environment of rural Alaska. - PSY 606: Native Ways of Healing Spring 2015
Course Description: The course covers the appropriate and valid ways of describing and explaining human behavior by using the social context, culture, and history of Indigenous groups. Emphasis includes Indigenous approaches to values, health, the interconnection of family, extended family, and community; the essential nature of spirituality and Indigenous healing; and the importance of elders and spiritual healers as transmitters of cultural knowledge. - Alaska Native Education
School systems historically serving Native people, current efforts toward local control, and the cross-cultural nature of this education.