Orientación: Diplomado de Diseño de Permacultura Aplicada

05/03/2011 - 18:00
12/03/2011 - 18:00

Caminos de Aprendizaje en Acción

¿Qué debo hacer después de mi curso de diseño de permacultura? ¿Dónde puedo obtener asesoramiento y apoyo en mis proyectos de diseño? ¿Cómo puedo permanecer conectado a la red de permacultura y continuar mi viaje de aprendizaje?

Bienvenido al Diploma de Diseño de Permacultura Aplicada (DDPA).

Detalles

Cuando: 5 - 12 Marzo 2011. Necesitas llegar a El Manzano el Viernes 4 en la tarde/noche o el sabado en la madrugada!!

Donde: En El Manzano, BioBio, Chile

Formato: 

Taller de Orientación de 8 días intensivos para comenzar y luego 2 años de aprendizaje autodirigido con el apoyo de un mentor. Además dos talleres de tres días al finalizar el primer año (marzo 2012) y al  finalizar el segundo año (marzo 2013).

Adhesión: El costo se divide en dos partes:

1. Matricula: E3 $200,000 - E2 $250,000 - E1 $335,000 (Chilean Pesos).

2. Camino de aprendizaje E3 $650,000.00 E2 $740,000.00 E1 $890,000 (pesos chilenos)  por los 2 años.

Costo incluye los tres talleres y los dos años de tu camino de aprendizaje. 

Forma de Pago: Matrícula antes del 1 de Marzo 2011. Camino de aprendizaje en 4 cuotas semestrales de E3$162.500  E2$185.000  E3$222.500. Bienvenidos intercambio de servicios y capacidades!

Trueques: el 50% del total del costo del camino de aprendizaje del DDPA puede ser truequeado directamente con tu mentor de proceso. La matricula debe ser cancelada en $ antes del 1 de marzo 2011.

Contacto: Javiera Carrión

Telephono: +56-43-1972262 o +56-9-2292398

Red de Trabajo: Ecoescuela

Inscripciones: Aquí

Que es la DDPA?

El DDPA es un sistema de apoyo para la comunidad internacional de permacultura diseñado para apoyar su desarrollo como diseñador de permacultura, profesor, gestión de proyectos o el área en que desees aplicar las eticas y los principios de la permacultura.  Esta versión del diplomado se basa en las versiones internacionales anteriores actualizadas para la era digital.

Diplomado de Diseño de Permacultura Aplicada Chile 2011- 2013
Después de tomar el Curso de Diseño de Permacultura o el Curso de Diseño de Ecoaldeas puedes tomar el Diplomado de Diseño  Permacultura Aplicada. 

El primer paso es tomar el Taller de Orientación, donde te entregaremos las herramientas y capacidades necesarias para tu camino de aprendizaje de dos años.

Durante el primer año desarrollaremos el certificado de Aprendizaje en Acción, que durará los primeros 7 meses de tu camino de aprendizaje, donde recibirás material e información sobre los 7 ámbito de la permacultura. Date el tiempo para explorar en profundidad diversas áreas de trabajo y formas de aplicar la permacultura en tu vida, trabajo y educación. 

Durante el segundo año tendrás la oportunidad de elegir una de las áreas de acción y desarrollarla mas en profundidad con el ppayo de tu mentor.

Si ya tienes un poryecto en mente o en acción, te apoyaremos en el desarrollo e implementación de este!!

Además durante los dos años tendremos numerosos talleres de variado temas donde podrás asistir solo cubriendo tus gastos de alojamiento y alimentación en tres Centros de Permacultura a lo largo de Chile:Ecoescuela El Manzano en la VIII /Pachamrita en la RM /Centro Arca en Pucón. Calendario de eventos DDPA 2011 aqui. 

Metodología

En este programa de diplomado de 2 años se involucra a los estudiantes en la práctica activa de los fundamentos de diseño de permacultura a través de situaciones de la vida real. Esta metodología, denominada "aprendizaja en acción", permite a los estudiantes aprender habilidades profesionales de diseño7 gestion de proyectos y técnicas de documentación mediante la realización de tus poryecto de elección. Mantendrás un contacto regular con tus mentores y compañeros de aprendizaje.

Documentación y diseño de Paquetes

A lo largo de su camino de aprendizaje documentarás tu pensamiento y práctica del diseño con narraciones, texto, fotos, vídeo, etc. Usted no sólo se concentra en lo que hace, sino cómo hacerlo, y cómo se aprende a través del proceso.

Esta información se recopila en un paquete de diseño que muestra el diseño final, el proceso de diseño, sus reflexiones de aprendizaje y la autoevaluación de su trabajo. Estos paquetes se publican en línea en un espacio de trabajo compartido para que todos puedan verse el trabajo de otros, y aprender de nuestra comunidad de aprendizaje.

Los mentores le darán información y asesoramiento que le ayuda a mejorar su trabajo y sus paquetes de diseño.

Durante los 2 años deberán crear 12 paquetes de diseño:

Fechas de Entrega del primer año 2011 - 2012

OP1 18-abril 2011
OP2 15-junio 2011
OP3 13-agosto 2011
OP4 12-octubre 2011
OP5 10-diciembre 2011
OP6 07-febrero 2012

Temas para Investigaciones

Diseño de Permacultura no se limita a los jardines o paisajes agrícolas. Usted puede aplicar la permacultura en casi cualquier tipode proyecto. Aquí hay una lista básica de los posibles proyectos. Se le invita a explorar una o una mezcla de estas áreas.

  • Diseño Avanzado
  • Implementación de Diseños.
  • Diseño Profesional y Consultorías.
  • Educación
  • Investigación en Acción
  • Proyecto de Gestión y Administración
  • Agricultura
  • Economías Alternativas y Solidarias
  • Medios & Comunicación
  • Arte y Cultura
  • Desarrollo Comunitario
  • Habilidades de Facilitación
  • Planificación Iniciativas de Transición
  • Medio Ambiente
  • Salud y Bienestar
  • Otros

Oportunidades de Empleo

Esta calificación proporcionará capacitación en permacultura para aquellos que trabajan como administradores de proyecto en proyectos de desarrollo de la comunidad de permacultura, y aquellos que buscan convertirse end iseñadores de sistemas de permacultura y / o consultores, y trabajan como facilitadores y consultores para la consulta de la comunidad y los procesos de planificación. También está diseñado para aquellos que están tratando de desarrollar habilidades de gestión y nivel de conocimientos a través de la capacitación en su lugar de trabajo.

El DDPA está diseñado para satisfacer las necesidades de los profesionales en cualquier disciplina. Los estudiantes tienen la oportunidad de desarrollar habilidades básicas en la aplicación de proyectos relacionados con la sostenibilidad. Ya sea que la intención sea de trabajar para el gobierno, el sector privado, la organización no gubernamental, o en su propia empresa el DDPA proporcionará una base de administración del proyecto, documentación y presentación de informes, el pensamiento crítico, el pensamiento sistémico de diseño, planificación y acción.

Educación Superior

Cuando haya completado su Diploamdo usted tendrá la oportunidad de avanzar en los programas de nivel universitario y acreditar su diplomado con Universidad Gaia y optar por un MSc o BSc . Si su camino en el diplomado ha sid exitoso tendrá la posibilidad de recibir un MSc en 1 año. Para mas info sobre Ugaia aqui.

Requisitos

Curso de Diseños de Permacultura o Curso de Diseño de Ecoaldeas

 

Hay una gran diversidad de formatos de CDP (Curso de Diseño de Permacultura). El CDP es una introducción al diseño de permacultura, una invitación a una larga jornada de aprendizaje de por vida. El CDP puede ser visto como una pieza pequeña - la chispa inicial de la inspiración, la excitación y la energía positiva del marco de diseño de permacultura. Sin embargo, un permacultor surge del resto de la jornada de aprendizaje.

El DDPA es para aquellos que quieren ir más allá y ofrece un buen diseño de 2 años de apoyo de mentores en los que realmente pueden aprender diseño de permacultura.

Estamos buscando personas que hayan completado los estudios básicos de la permacultura, aquellos que buscan trabajo en programas de desarrollo comunitario, incluidas las basadas en las comunidades indígenas, y aquellos involucrados en ecoaldeas y desarrollo de la comunidad intencional. Los resultados incluyen las opciones de formación continua, el empleo como gerente de proyecto o consultor a través de la permacultura, la agricultura, la horticultura o industrias de gestión de la tierra.

Version 3 del Diplomado

El DDPA es diferente a los sistemas de diploma de otros ofrecidos en todo el mundo. Reúne a los aprendizajes de todos los sistemas anteriores y las actualizaciones de todo el sistema para la era digital. Apoyamos y fomentamos el desarrollo continuo de todos los sistemas de diplomado de permacultura.

El nuevo Diplomado se basa en el sistema ya bien establecido del Diplomado en Diseño de Permacultura Aplicada de la Asociación de Permacultura(Gran Bretaña), que durante quince años ha proporcionado a los diseñadores de permacultura europeos en formación, el apoyo de mentorías en vivo de profesionales calificados. El nuevo DDPA sigue trabajando en el contexto de aprendizaje en acción,  pero ahora se suma una plataforma de e-portafolios de libre acceso y un bajo costo. 

What does the New Teaching / Learning Paradigm look like?

spiral roof

Modeling the processes of experiential and discovery learning, you will learn the basic systems, tools and philosophy of a new learning paradigm as the basis of the Diploma system, as well as models for global and integrative thinking.

''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.

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.

An Action Learning Event

orientation circleIt 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.

''Gaia U supports my work in the field of ecosocial regeneration through a dynamic mentoring system and a thriving global network. I have experienced nothing like it for collaborative learning, integrative design training, and the passionate deepening of our connection to natural systems and each other''. Ethan Roland (Gaia Associate)

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 BirdE1 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.
''Gaia University has enabled me to sharpen my skills as a regenerative designer. With the support of an international community, a project is developing that is my own living thesis of permaculture practice. This began by asking, 'How can I act in a way that empowers others to organize for sustainability?'' Grifen Hope (Gaia Associate)

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.
''At Gaia University we are creating a new profession: "world-changer". We hold a safe space for people to learn and to develop their potential to change the world. The future of this planet depends on people learning to act as self-directed, self-responsible members of the community ‘Earth’, with open minds and open hearts.''. Katarina Weber (Gaia Associate)

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

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Am I aligned with the mission and ethics of Gaia University?
  • Am I a self-directed learner who is open to unlearning as well as learning?
  • Do I believe in the importance of hands-on project work in addition to theoretical learning and academic research?
  • Can I thrive in an environment in which I have a good deal of freedom within a supportive structure?
  • Am I willing to devote a minimum of 15-20 hours per week to my project and documentation work?
  • Am I willing to spend enough time on my computer to fulfill Gaia University's output packet, advising, and peer guild and peer review requirements?
  • Do I want to collaborate with others to make a positive difference in the world?

If you have answered, "Yes!" to these questions – if you want to make a powerful contribution to a more regenerative, just and peaceful planet, then Gaia University may very well be for you. Take the orientation to find out.

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:

  • 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

spiral of hands

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

coco gardeningEl 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

jay ma working at laptop

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

jamie and merton with laptopUpon entering the Diploma systemy, each associate is designated a space on the Permaculture eLearning (PEL) site where they will create and develop a personal ePortfolio of their work. Associate ePortfolios are an ever-expanding collection of digital documentation packages, known as output packets, in which associates chronicle the evolution of their learning journey and project outcomes.

Sharing portfolio outcomes is a key part of the global collaboration and peer review necessary for the de-marginalization of the subjugated knowledge fields in which we work.

As a result of this digital documentation approach, associates emerge from Gaia University with an impressive online portfolio of project work that they can share with potential clients and employers. Our graduates have found their Diploma ePortfolios to be a significant asset as they have moved forward in their professional life.

Documentation and Output Packets

video documentationThe ability to effectively document your outer projects and inner process is one of the key skills you will develop over the course of your Gaia University studies. Throughout your enrollment, you will be expected to present your documentation in a digital package we call an "output packet", at intervals of approximately six weeks. After you complete each output packet, you will post it to your ePortfolio, where it will be viewed and reviewed by your peers and advisors. In our model, output packets are a core requirement – equivalent to 'coursework' – and the basis for the evaluation of your work.

Output packets document the two main areas of your work. The first is your progress in your projects. What outcomes have you achieved? What analysis have you done?  What research has been useful? The other is your learning journey. What have you learned and unlearned and through what processes? Recurrent, in-depth documentation serves as a barometer of measurable progress towards learning goals and project specifications and strongly supports the personal growth that arises through the conscious reflection and analysis of one’s learning process.

Although output packets are generally text based, you are invited to deliver your documentation in mixed media and/or multimedia formats. We actively encourage and assist you to further develop your technical and creative capacities as you proceed. Ultimately, the emphasis is less on the specific form your documentation takes and more on its potential to reveal new ways of thinking that can inform and inspire your future work, and the work of others.

The format/s and style in which you produce your output packets is limited only by your own creativity, but all output packets are built upon the same basic set of elements:

Output specification: A basic overview of the output packet and its connection to the learning intentions laid out in your pathway design.

Project specification: An overall description of the project: Who is doing what, where, how and why?

Report: This is the main part of the output packet. It includes in-depth documentation of research and action, reflections on what you have learned, conclusions and next steps.

Outcomes: Evidence of your project's outcomes and effects in the world.

Learning journal extracts: Examples of your 'everyday' learning documentation – your thoughts and reflections on your process.

Resource review: A briefly annotated list of resources you have used in your project and the creation of the output packet.

Digiphon: An explanation of the technical aspects of creating the output packet. What software did you use? What digital literacy was required? Did you find any resources particularly useful? Sharing this information contributes to the rapid growth of the entire Gaia U community.

Thoughtfully, artfully and holistically documenting your projects is an act of great service, not only to our community, but also to the greater world-change community. We see skillful documentation and online presentation as an essential means of networking and collaboration on a global scale. Through the documentation and sharing of your ideas, designs, experiments and outcomes, you transmit important information, open the possibility for receiving vital feedback, and create conditions for new alliances to be formed.

Unlearning

shadia at table with camerasThroughout our lives, we have all been plied with misinformation by the dominant culture, some of which has become internalized. Thus we have come to believe it to be true. "Men are more intelligent than women" or "Black people are less diligent than white people" are just two possible examples. These 'memes', or pieces of thinking that, like biological genes, have the capacity to reproduce from generation to generation, interfere with our capacity to emerge truly intelligent human cultures.

Indeed we have seen throughout history that even progressive projects designed to expose and eradicate sexist and racist memes are prone to deteriorate as these memes reassert themselves in times of stress, often with surprising vigor. It would seem that simply deciding that these beliefs are counter-productive is not enough to pull them out by their roots. Some far-reaching, deeper process that goes beyond mere thinking is required.

At Gaia University we actively encourage ourselves to uncover any dysfunctional memes we may have acquired, by whatever means, and then consciously and energetically see that they are uninstalled – deconstructed and unlearned – from our personal operating systems, so that we may recover our full intelligences for the benefit of the planet. We favor a process known as re-evaluation counseling and offer training courses in the fundamentals of this powerful and effective process.

Thus we each move towards a plasticity and quietness of mind from which a person is capable of flexing into a place of fresh thinking, appropriate to the unique circumstances of the moment. Bill Mollison, joint founder of the permaculture movement, describes this way of thinking in his book, Permaculture a Designer's Manual, as ‘vuja dé' – the complete certainty that you have never been in this situation ever before and therefore original thinking is required.