What does the New Teaching / Learning Paradigm look like?

''Learning is change, is sustainability. Learning about learning about learning'' Sterling

Transformative Action Learning

Have you ever pondered what the new teaching and learning paradigm might look like, or what kind of learning experiences are transformative, what kind of institutions are equipping the leaders of today and tomorrow, or how we 'teach' for sustainbility literacy?

During the workshop we will seek to answer these questions and many more.

In El Manzano, BioBio, Chile

With Liora Adler & Andy Langford

Apply Now: The Orientation Workshop may be taken as part of a Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design pathway.

• To apply for admission to a Diploma of Applied Permaculture Design pathway click here.

How Much: The workshop price for Diploma students is based on a Sliding Scale which is income dependant. The price Includes all food, accomodation and resources. Click here for the Workshop Prices. Click here for our Discount Deals.

To talk to a real person contact Javiera Carrión by email or phone +56-43-1972262. Javiera will help you with the application process.

• What skills will I learn?

• What is the Orientation Workshop Program?

• More about the Orientation Workshop

• What kind of people should attend?

• Why in El Manzano BioBio Chile?

An Action Learning Event

It is our experience that a potent dose of select content offered in the context of residential intensives gives our associates the inspiration and guidance they need to proactively and constructively engage with their independent action learning work. With the support of their advisors, and 'just in time' learning, associates seek out the additional content for their work to proceed vigorously. 

Gaia University residential intensives are times of community building, deep sharing, strategic planning and concentrated information transfer.

''For me, there is no separation between my private and work life, my life and my learning. These delineations within conventional universities feel like an artificial framework to me. Within the Gaia University system...your entire life becomes your area of study.'' Valerie Seitz (Gaia Associate)

Starting Point for a Lifelong Learning Pathway 

Orientations are the starting point of every Permaculture Diploma associates learning journey. This consists of an opening workshop of a week's duration, with an additional advising day.

The orientation introduces new associates to:

• the streams of thinking that most directly inform Gaia University’s philosophy, systems and methodologies.
• specific content and theory as part of a "common language" of world change shared in Gaia U.
• the nuts and bolts of Gaia University’s organizational and program designs.
• the advising support network and review processes.
• training in the use of our eLearning (GEL) site and documentation requirements.
• the many ways collaborative alliances can be formed with fellow associates.

Facilitators

The Gaia University facilitation team consists of a transdisciplinary collective of individuals many sectors who have come together to find solutions to the economic, environmental and social challenges of the day in Latin America and the world.

Through an international network of grassroots organizations, participatory design, and inclusive democracy we are working with local communities all over the planet to develop sustainable solutions.

Below are the biographies of our lead facilitators for the 2011 Chile workshops.

Liora Adler

Liora Adler is a visionary social activist, consensus facilitator, psychologist, holistic nutritionist, event organizer, photographer and dancer.

Liora has been a global leader in the ecovillage movement and was an executive board member of the Global Ecovillage Network from 1999 - 2003. She currently serves on its International Advisory Board and as a representative to the United Nations. She is also an advisory board member of the and vice-president of The Global Village Institute for Appropriate Technology.

Liora has helped to create ecovillage and permaculture networks in Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, South Africa, China and Cuba. As co-founder and co-president of Gaia University, Liora has been intimately involved with its design and development from the outset. She oversees operations, teaches programs for associates developing new regional organizing circles, and has been known to lead salsa classes when the mood strikes.

Andy Langford

Andrew is an unusualist, a possibilist and a lover of small-scale living associated with large-scale thinking. Andrew was an early adopter of permaculture design thinking when it first spread through Europe in the 1980’s.

He soon became the first permaculture design teacher in Britain, and had a successful business designing at garden and farm scale for private clients, and designing urban retrofits for local governments. In 1993, Andrew designed and implemented the Diploma in Applied Permaculture system, an action learning worknet for the development of professional permaculture designers that has become a basis for capacity building operations in several northern European countries.

Andrew is a strong advocate for participatory learning and decision-making and is skilled in a variety of facilitation methods, including Future Search and Open Space Technology. He is the author of Designing Productive Meetings and Events, a field manual for UN Agenda 21 facilitators, and a recognized teacher of Re-evaluation Counseling, which promotes the discharge of internal distress and resolution of rigid, patterned thinking as primary routes towards the emergence of healthy, intelligent human cultures.

How Much

US$428–752.5. The Sliding Scale is income dependant. Those with a higher ability to pay contribute more, and are effectively subsidising lower income earners. So if you earn  up to US$10,000 per year you pay the E3 price, US$20,000 the E2, and US$30,000+ you pay the full E1 price.

Unwaged people may apply for a limited number of part scholarships and/or professional trade.

Please refer to the following table to define your payment. If you are confused please contact us.   

Full Price US$ – E1 752.50 · E2 595.00 · E3 428.00

Early Bird – E1 677.25 · E2 535.50 · E3 385.00

Discounts & Deals

Pay in full before Feb 4th 2011 and pay the Early Bird price. E3 people bring a friend and pay only US$385.00. E1 people bring a friend and pay only the E2 price US$535.00 each.

Please note: if you book more than one of the Gaia University Chile summer program workshops, we will offer you a package deal price reduction. Please ask us for more information.

Acá el formulario que debes completar para postular a las becas.

''I heard about Gaia University in 2004 and I was immediately hooked. In 2006 I was initiated as an advisor and began to develop Gaia Southeast. My skills and experiences with fair share and earth, people, and self care, help me with my advising and conscious designing. This broad tool kit enables me to take an integrative approach to supporting associates.'' Jennifer English (Gaia Associate)

Learning Outcomes

This learning experience will provide opportunities for participants to develop a broad range of values, knowledge, and skills for creating their own regenerative projects in their own communities. Participants will leave with a wealth of inspiration and materials that enable them to start working for change in their own projects and organisations.

Skill-flex development may include:

• Project management skills – time management, costs and resource needs analysis, proposals, contracts, negotiation skills.

• Overview of the most current, useful software applications for design and documentation work

• How to effectively communicate one’s project ideas and learning processes.

• An introduction to the skills needed for generating superior output packets – journaling, media capture, media editing, ePortfolio production and management.

• How to utilize pattern languages, systems thinking and mind-mapping to design and develop project plans.

• How to make professional, artful design presentations.

• How to recover and/or activate ones multiple intelligences.

• How to function as a support person for others and how to ask for the support one needs.

• Peer counseling and review in the context of peer guilds.

Throughout the workshops we will explore the core sustainability literacy areas of;

• Grounded economic awareness – the ability to drive sustainability improvements in the workplace · the business case for sustainability · life cycle costing · basic business knowledge · transforming business · more adequate local economic models · financial viability.

• Working with Systems – the ability to recognize inter-connections within and between systems · manage complex sustainability problems.

• Strategic and futures thinking – the ability to create positive visions for the future · strategic thinking and planning.

• Effective communication skills – the ability to expose discourses that undermine sustainability and resist them · how to influence change inside and outside the organisation · new media literacy · marketing strategies.

• Finding like-minded people for cooperative efforts – organisational skills · problem solving · adaptability · consensus building · inspiring and motivating others · design leadership · team building· effective collaboration · establishing and managing priorities · project management.

What kind of people should come?

This event is suitable for a wide range of students and professionals in the government, non-government and private sectors wanting to improve their practice in sustainability and move their own organisations forward.

The many faces of a world changer.

We recommend the following people attend;

• Local Government staff in Chile or Latin America.

• Teachers and educators or staff from education ministeries of central governments wanting to learn about education for sustainability, action learning, experiential learning etc.
  

• NGO staff in Chile working for inclusive business and entrepreneurial innovation.

• Business people commercial engineer exploring ways of doing green business, transforming business.

• University staff.

• Young professionals seeking a career as a sustainability professional.

• Central government staff seeking to understand sustainability And How to apply it.

• Presidents of Junta Vecinos.

• Gaia University graduates wanting to extend their competency.

• Permaculture Design Certificate holders seeking career pathways in regenerative design.

• Permaculture Diploma students. 

• Permaculture designers seeking to understand regenerative design.

• Ecovillage network members seeking to revitalise their efforts.

• Transition Town planners looking for innovative solutions for their own projects.

Is the Diploma of Applied Permaculture Design right for me? Considerations

What is the format and educational style?

This is a participatory design workshop, offered as an experiential learning event in a collaborative working environment.

The workshop is participant centred. We will be utilizing the knowledge and skills of participants working in design teams in the development of real projects.

A General Programme

Either before or after the orientation, the new associate completes a 'Life and Career Review' according to guidelines posted on our eLearning (GEL) site. During the orientation, this review of their past learning and unlearning leads to the visioning of their future learning intentions for the coming year and the design of projects and experiences that will enable them to meet these self-designed goals. 

The classroom component of the orientation offers a balance of theory, discovery learning and skill-flex development.  Our goal is for this to be a fun and inspiring week in which associates have an opportunity to interact as whole people. We draw from such disparate fields as Theater of the Oppressed and Theory U for our inspiration and delight.

''Through this innovative educational process of action learning – mapping my process and documenting my projects – I have been able to deepen the relationship between my inner process and the work I do in the world. This is the educational system of the future.'' Penny Livingston-Stark (Gaia Associate) 

Specific theory may include:

• The action learning model of education

• The power of unlearning

• Established and emergent ecosocial design methodologies

• The nature of integrative design, including permaculture, ecovillage and organizational design 

• Strategies for increased influence and effectiveness as ecosocial designers and activists

• The dynamics of working on a design team

• Social organization – the consensus model, decision-making methods, meeting methods, leadership issues

• An introduction to regenerative economics

• Andrew Langford’s patrix hypothesis

• The latest thinking about the socio-technical evolution of human societies, including historical perspectives

• Understanding the 'second tier' competence and attention model from Spiral Dynamics

Orientation Workshop

The orientation is the first residential workshop. You will interact intensively with your peer support group.  As you prepare to begin the project work leading to your first pieces of documentation, you will learn how to use your portfolio space on our e-Learning site and lay the foundations of your work over the course of the coming year. A meeting with your main advisor will take place either in person or virtually. Orientations are designed to be fun and inspiring, challenging and invigorating, creating lasting communities of support.

Action Learning

“Knowledge without wisdom is a pile of books on the back of an ass” (Japanese proverb). And wisdom, we believe here at Gaia University, comes from a combination of hands-on engagement with people and projects in all their messy realities, inspired mentoring from fellow actionists, deep self-reflection and critical thinking. This combination of interpenetrating catalysts for learning and growth is rarely found in the conventional Academy and is usually deferred for 'real life', something that comes later.

While this deferred-life model may suit stable cultures with time on their hands and a tendency to extend infantilization to young adulthood it is inappropriate, even dangerous, for living on planet Eaarth.

What's needed now, to cope with the long emergency and to enable broad scale transitions to ecosocially regenerative cultures, is a super flexible, purposeful, action-based approach to learning and unlearning that draws on progressive ideas such as learning by experience, transformative learning, just-in-time learning, learning through discourse with others in similar boats, emergent curriculum, reflexive documentation, critical thinking and more.

At Gaia University we call this process action learning and we think of it as a double-loop process that often includes a deep diving 'U' of self-transformation. Using our own, extensive experience as action learners we mentor, advise and support you to work with this eclectic wisdom-generating process as it challenges you to do thoughtful, informed, purposeful work in the world.

In Gaia University you get to choose and design your projects – real projects in real communities – and we support you to be effective, furnish you with valuable lessons and help you build your skill-flexes. We help you stay alert to the intended and unintended opportunities for learning and unlearning arising from your project work, as you proceed with zestful intention, documenting the entire process.

Through the unique blend of action and learning, you get to transform the world as you transform yourself. You can mix earning and learning so that your work is your learning studio rather than just a means to make ends meet. Also, with careful design, you can avoid the all-too-common and compromising higher education debt trap.

With Gaia University you learn to take charge of your own learning and to value your own intelligences and judgment. Action learning is a life-changing learning strategy that brings you into your own power and a life-long investment in yourself and the viable future of human cultures.

Why in El Manzano

El Manzano is a regional centre of Gaia University in development. As a farm, school and community this living university is a working demonstration of sustainable living, of beginning the transition step by step towards sustainability.

In El Manzano the intrepid visitor will find a broad array of tools and techniques for sustainable living that encompass the spiritual, ecological, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions of sustainability. From native restoration to sustainable forestry, broad acre cultivation and orchards, to intensive gardens and hand made homes, here is a place of genuine wealth, abundance and resilience.

As part of a regional, national and international learning community El Manzano provides transformative action learning pathways that enable people to develop the values, knowledge and skills needed to create sustainable human settlements, organisations and businesses.   

The El Manzano initiative exists as a think and do tank, incubating and supporting regenerative enterprises through a regional network of mentors and advisors. We are here to foster participatory design for green businesses that can address the needs of the local community in a sustainable way. The El Manzano project is a living example of regenerative patterns that can provide inspiration, support and guidance to other initiatives in Latin America and around the world. By collaborating we can network with other existing movements and add new voices and wisdom to the collective movement towards resilient human communities.

Sign up for the Orientation and add your voice to the conversation. Help us to create a catalytic learning experience that empowers a network of people in Chile and Latin America to engage in outrageously successful project design.

Our eLearning Environment

The Gaia eLearning (GEL) Site

Throughout your time with Gaia University you will make frequent use of the Permacultura eLearning (PEL) site – a dynamic web-based ecology powered by a collection of predominantly open source software, including the learning management platform, Moodle (Modular Object Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment), the social networking ePortfolio platform, Mahara, the project management tool, Feng Office, and a complementary currency exchange using CES software.

Associates are expected to engage with the GEL site on a regular basis as it is the primary tool for all intra-university communication and networking, resource sharing and data transfer. Additionally, the GEL site houses all associate ePortfolios.

You will need regular access to a stable internet connection during your program. A high-speed connection is better, but not essential. Reliable internet access is an important consideration when designing your projects and determining project locations. Remote locations are sometimes challenging with regard to access to the internet. You should expect to find a means to log on to the GEL site at least once a week to download essential news, connect to your network of colleagues and advisers and upload your own work.

If you would like to explore the GEL site, you may do so here by logging on as a guest through the Guest Portal.

E-Portfolios