Output Packet Pro Review

Main Advisor and OP Reviewer: Laura Kaestele
Associate Name: Carolina-Therese Winter
Output Packet #: 1A
Phase/ALC: PreCAP-ALC1
Date Submitted: February 14th 2016
Date Reviewed: March 6th 2016
Mark: 1
Grade: Pass
Time Spent on Review: 2 hrs + 0.5 for review forms

Dear Carolina,

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to read your Output Packet and learn more about your life story and personal development. It is inspiring to see your learning pathway unfold driven by the love and care for nature and all living beings. Thanks for authentically sharing about these transitions and your commitment to living more sustainable and in harmony with planet earth!

My review is broken into these sections:
1. PoDAPO Evaluation Form
2. Comments Per Section

Required next step: None

Recommended next step: 
�	Use and articulate a (simple) design process and methods for both project work and Output Packet creation
�	Write a description of who you are in the “about me” section of your Mahara profile and clearly share your LCR (no need to post all the OP template pages)

I respect your integrity in managing your pathway. I'm glad to be your advisor!

Cheers,
Laura

OP REVIEW

1. PoDAPO EVALUATION FORM (attached)

2. COMMENTS PER SECTION (see below)

COMMENTS PER SECTION

Specification
Great table of content providing an overview of the entire report, just the fact that the numbers are not matching the pages is slightly confusing – also the two long headlines could be more concise
Love the photos at the start as a beautiful and personal look into your life
Nice summary of the OP content and outcomes of this report describing your upbringing, life development and thinking - how these influences shaped the person you are now and your visions for the future
Awesome guidelines for readers to navigate the content and pages of the OP with ease – I was missing instructions for technology and media used and how to view them (for readers unfamiliar to GaiaU’s technology)
Enjoy the short un/learning and livelihood history, but could add a little description or context for those two sections next time in order to embed it into the reading flow and give it more meaning

Family Background LCR
Introduction with wide world context offering a cultural perspective of your own life and dreams in relation to the reality on the planet of nature destruction and disconnection, nice way to start your story and yet it could be better integrated and linked within the report
Family background – I would recommend to share some basic information about who you are and what this story is about (content overview, process, purpose) first as part of the introduction to give context before diving into story specifics	
Interesting to read about your deeper family history and how worldviews unfolded over three generations – I appreciate the focus on thought/patrix patterns and following certain themes, like helping people in need, as a golden thread through your family history and writing
Powerful cultural learning experience through travels and daily life with a foreign girl and how that brought more awareness, sense of equality and creative ways of communication

Again beautiful photos illustrating the content in a wonderful quality and bringing your words visually alive 
Long stories about your sisters and family members - more focus on your own life would be great as the text gets a bit lengthy at times
Please describe what the patrix is for all readers who are not familiar with this GaiaU specific term
Well done for reflecting on and sharing those hard stories and transformative events of family dramas and how they influenced your perspective on life and highlighting the lessons learned
Interesting conclusions at the end – sounds like you went through quite a life initiation in those teenage years – wonderful!

Personal Development LCR
Interesting to read about your love for animals and nature connection leading to a vegetarian diet, interest in farming and more natural lifestyle different from mainstream culture as well as how being a teenager was a more adaptive (not rebellious) period in your life
Seeing how the pain of nature destruction fuelled the interest in environmental protection and sustainable agriculture is inspirational – and to see how you follow your passions and heart desires by creating your personal learning and life path despite and in fact through challenging circumstances
How did you feel about environmental destruction and where did you directly witness or experience it in you life? How did you worldview and life change?
Love your positive and simple attitude to life – the adaptability to what life brings and resilience in following your own heart path at the same time

The sections seem kind of disconnected from each other, jumps from one topic to the next, at times it is challenging to follow your line of thoughts – links and connecting/summarizing statements would be great
Take a look at how to set up and write a paragraph including an introductory statement, overview/summary and conclusion at the end
Wow more cultural awareness and personal growth, impressive to have those expansive opportunities and experiences with different countries, lifestyles and educational systems
I can really witness your strong love for animals, nature, food and caring for the planet and people – keep walking that path :)
Fascinating to see your development and critical thinking about the eco-socio-economic system increasing and looking forward to seeing that expand and enrich your project and OP work in the future

After School
Tri-via pattern, again a GaiaU term that needs a description to be fully understood by readers, who have not gone through the online orientation
Awesome to continue the storyline of your education and interest in agriculture to find those two intertwined in one life path of learning dedicated to create and manage a self-sufficient farm
Cause and effect are not always clear in your writing and the topics could be woven together more
Would have appreciated a timeline as an overview of your life and learning journey at the beginning of the report
Reference to the cynefin model and simple and complex domain, great to integrate that model, but lacking an explanation and concluding thoughts on why you applied it and how it helped you understand about university education

Two major transition processes after high school and then quitting conventional university – a brave step to follow your heart calling and interests and dare to find your own path and support system
What inner attitude and outer support helped you through these transitions?
These disruptions in life can truly be an eye opening moment, phase of reflection and change the direction of ones life path – happy to see you used these transition moments to consciously choose and grow
Experiencing what you don’t want can serve as a powerful catalyst to figure out what you care about and actually want – you share some great examples of that - I can see your strong character and rive for self-determination and sufficiency
Love how permaculture came into your life and you found opportunities to practically work and learn on farms
Inspirational to hear in the conclusion how you became aware of the planetary state and transformed that into your vision of leading a sustainable and self-sufficient life – excited to witness and be part of your learning journey

OP Reflection
Nice process reflections, really appreciate the perspective on different layers of your work, your way of intuitively “designing” the process, and the reflections directed towards various fields moving deeper and further inside as well as from past to present throughout the report
More details and depth on the OP creation process would be great next time, invitation to use the three questions as guidelines for this evaluation
What went well? What was challenging? What to do differently next time?

Résumé
Great overview of livelihood history and education – short professional section understandable considering your age – I encourage you to keep track of work experiences and build your portfolio/resume over time
Nice interest mindmap – what process did you use to create it?
I can see your focus on living in harmony with nature and building ecological human systems - clear and straightforward goals, might be helpful to sort them in short, medium and long-term goals and prioritize them to directly empower and inform your future actions
Appreciate the skills list and invite you to adapt it to a format that will allow you to track your skillflex improvement over the next year and present it in a graphical way – something to integrate in the next OP (LIPD)

Appendix
Awesome to see evidence of the peer interaction and active participation in the GaiaU support system – hope you really enjoy the conversations
Add a little note about language and your documentation being in German that makes navigation and understanding easy for (international) readers
Journal Entries - great to see those short journal entries tracking your work process and giving deeper insights, looks like a log book for the OP creation process,you could expand some more in the future 
Word count 300 words over the suggested number, try to respect the time for review and creatively work with these limits next time

Review Forms
Awesome to read through your thoughtful reflections filling out the self review form and how you have learned and grown in the process of creating this first OP
Yes, you are most welcome to use the provided OP templates on Mahara, but as long as you meet all content requirements and create a nice, professional presentation that is not required, but can be a great support especially at the start
I invite you to use the overall comments field after each criteria to reflect on highlights and learning edges in all five areas
Well done for working with and applying the PoDAPO criteria and review form, the details and depth will become clearer as your OP work and pathway unfolds 

I appreciate the time and attention you spend on the peer review and enjoy seeing the mostly appreciative and some constructive feedback you provided
Excellent first understanding of the PoDAPO criteria and well done for evaluating and making improvements suggestions in each of the areas
I like how you make clear references from the feedback to parts of the OP and how you articulate your own opinion versus the OP and PoDAPO requirements
Consider sharing some final comments at the end of the form to summarize your overall experience of the OP (what you enjoyed and where improvement is possible) and the review process next time