CONTINUING EDUCATION COURSES

Table of Contents:

Power-based Standardization in Electrofishing

Course Date/Times

Course Description

How to have More Productive Meetings- CANCELED**

Instructors: Margo Matthews and Teri Arnold

Don’t waste another minute of your valuable time in unproductive or unnecessary meetings! This course will give you tools and techniques to avoid the common pitfalls of bad meetings and to make your meetings more productive, efficient, effective, and even enjoyable! It will be taught by Margo Matthews and Teri Arnold, both formerly of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. While at ADF&G, Margo and Teri delved deeply into meeting management and facilitation, organizational development, and public participation. They will share with you their hard-won knowledge of how to successfully conduct and participate in meetings of all types – something that, like it or not, is a part of all our jobs. The course will cover the elements of effective meetings, how to keep on track, effective decision-making, effective problem solving, use of facilitation, how to deal with problem behaviors, how to implement meeting results to produce real change or action, and public meetings. The course has been compressed to a half-day format especially for this conference, but still contains all the information in their full-day agency course. Participants will receive a take-home notebook chock-full of helpful information and resources.

**Margo Matthews and Teri Arnold are available to teach a half-day or full-day version of this course during fall/winter 2009/2010, at your worksite and tailored to your agency needs. Please contact the Continuing Education committee, Jan Conitz (465-4125; jan.conitz@alaska.gov) or Tammy Hoem (796-5460; tammyhoem@yahoo.com) for more information.

Fisheries Education Tips and Techniques- CANCELED**

Instructors: Laurel Devaney and Erik Anderson 

This 4-hour workshop is tailored specifically to the biologist who wants to share their knowledge with youth. You will receive specific tips and tools to help you develop school presentations and outdoor activities for children of all ages. 

Many benefits can be derived from developing fisheries education activities for youth. Creating awareness and excitement about aquatic resources can help build a sense of stewardship in the population who will be the next generation of resource managers and decision makers. Working with area youth can also help you open lines of communication with their parents and improve community awareness and acceptance of your projects and agency. You can also recruit a body of enthusiastic assistants who can help you accomplish more work than you can achieve on your own.

 Distilling your message for a younger audience, developing the materials for an activity, or including youth in your field work can seem like an impossible addition to your already full workload. This workshop will introduce you to some existing kits and curricula available for your use and demonstrate some activities that you can do. You will receive tips on working with teachers and students in a school setting including tailoring your message to fit different age groups. We will also highlight some successful fisheries education programs and discuss ideas for including students in your field work.

Genetics basics for Alaska Fishery Professionals

Instructors: Bill Templin and Chris Habicht

An overview of genetics applications as used in Alaska with a review section on genetics to provide a basic understanding of how and where this information can be helpful.

Power-based Standardization in Electrofishing

Instructor: Jim Reynolds

The recent AFS book, "Standard Methods for Sampling North American Freshwater Fish", emphasizes the growing importance of sampling standardization in fisheries science and management. Standardization of electrofishing, a common sampling method, requires an understanding of electrical principles, particularly power transfer theory. This half-day course will be presented in three 70-minute sessions with two intervening 15-minute breaks. Basic electrical principles, including power transfer, will be covered in the first session; elements of power-based standardization in the second; and development of standardized power charts in the third. The course will give participants an overview of the proper approach to the standardization of electrofishing, regardless of method (e.g., boat, backpack).

Cross-cultural Communication and Alaska Native Perspectives on Fishery Resources

Instructor: Judy Daxootsu Ramos and Elaine Abraham

Part 1 - Introduction to Alaska Native People. “There is no such thing as an Alaska Native.” This part will cover the different Native languages and Cultures of the Aboriginal people of Alaska. What do we mean when we say "lower 48" or "outside Indian".

Part 2 - Introduction to Alaska Native people politics. “How many governments are there?” An introduction to Native political organizations.

Part 3 - Native and non-native communication styles. “Different styles, different communities.” Each culture has different communications styles. What are some of these differences?

Part 4 - Native spirituality and relationship to their environment. “I talk to the universe.” Native people believe everything has a spirit, how does this affect how they manage their "resources".