Associate Name: James Edwards
Main Advisor and OP Reviewer: Jennifer Dauksha-English Morgan

Output Packet #:  5		Year: Capstone MSc
Date Submitted: January 13th, 2020
Date Reviewed: January 14th, 2020
Mark: 80
Grade: A
Self Review Grade: 82
Time Spent on Review: 5 hrs + draft reviews

Dear James,

Such a journey this has been! Congratulations on this very successful experiment of completing an OP in less than a months time, while traveling in Kenya and then Spain. Amazing outcomes! You accomplished so much. I hope that your accelerated production pace allowed for some deep un/learning reflection - I’m certain it will continue to unfold. I enjoyed looking back on this past year of your Capstone Phase. You’re projects are very strategic and are certainly at MSc quality of high competence and attention. Lovely how you were able to go from acquiring knowledge in Pre Cap to applied knowledge.

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

Required next step: 
- Once I formally approve your thematic proposal, you’ll need to add this into your supporting evidence section of OP 5. Let’s be sure this gets included before your final presentation in February.
- Add evidence of approved content workshop, I would suggest you do the Advisor Training and include a map for completion. Due before End-of-Phase Presentation in February. I realize that this is pending because of a technical issue with access inside Gaia U platform.

Recommended next step:
- I encourage you to read over these notes and make any final changes to your portfolio by January 20th, for external review. Be sure to always note inside the specification if you made changes after Pro Review.
- The cumulative self review comments and tracking is not very effective. If you have time I would suggest you add more depth of reflection.
- Would love to see a graphical timeline and even better a comparative timeline - what was your LIPD versus what happened.

So grateful to be your Advisor! It’s been fun checking in with you every few days! I have a lot of respect for the work you do in this world and how you navigate life. 

Let me know if you have any questions about this review!

Cheers,
Jennifer

OP REVIEW-------------------------

1. EVALUATION FORM-------------------- 

(attached)

2. COMMENTS PER SECTION---------------

Commentary
- I like the formatting. The table of contents looks excellent. 
- Navigation is copied and pasted from OP 4. It says two core report pages, yet there are four. Take out the mention of appendices. I will assume you will update this first paragraph before you submit the portfolio. ((This was updated on 1-14))
- Updated word count. Since it’s over, I would suggest being more explicit with reviewer on what to prioritize.
- Yes, make your pathway reflection, participation records, and digiphon all cumulative.
- On the Pathway Reflection section, yes, I agree - astonishing! I am viewing this as you are approving of the stringency of Gaia U standards and self-evaluation. I would be interested in hearing the most significant outcome of this process reflection.
- On summaries of each OP under Pathway Reflection: what is the purpose of this section? It does not seem to be clearly stated or concluded. Is it just sharing highlights?
- Glad you appreciate the LCR personal reflection. I agree that change must start from within. There are far too many poor design choices taken due to a misunderstanding of self. Lovely overview of some of your core cultural demographics/world views. Love this statement: "Far from Utopian, I find this vision imminently practical:  Living within ecological boundaries while providing the basic necessities of life for all humans, including a sense of belonging and purpose, are well within our know-how and the only viable future we have."
-  Continuing within this section, now on to LIPD. I was not your Advisor when you submitted Pre-Capstone LIPD. Interesting shift between phases. More focus. And a better understanding of your strengths and challenges. Did Gaia U have anything to do with these changes? 
You often miss coma's with the word and. x, x, and.
- It seems like there is an extra paragraph space under OP 2.
- In looking at these, I think it would be valuable to have the title of each OP next to the number.
- In OP 2, glad to hear you became more disciplined in citing outside sources and triangulating references to compare theories. It would be helpful if you give an example - like state the theories you compared without going into detail. I agree with you, OP 2 is significantly more mature in breadth/depth of content, and definitely in writing style/presentation.
- Glad to hear you've gained such confidence. I appreciate the example of a conviction (quote on evolving beyond capitalism). I do see you as an architect of transition. 
- In OP 3, I appreciate the holistic focus, using Design as a lens for all areas of your life. Specifically, a design process that mimics nature. When you speak about this OP as your full maturing into an ecosocial designer, and educator, explain why. Explain briefly what shifted. Why did this work generate confidence as a professional?
- I love the complex layering of OP 4. Why did you emerge from the experience feeling accomplished? Give a reason.
- In OP 5, perhaps say on vacation in Kenya and maybe mention spending days on safari and mornings and nights on the computer. Sounds so adventurous! I'll await updates.
- Having looked over this section, I'm wondering if this is the bulk of your OP reflection, or is there more to come? Because the OP is essentially ALL pathway reflection, you might want to consider a different title for this section. I was anticipating the section including an update on how you managed your OP creation since OP 4, and cumulatively. Perhaps call the section, Pathway Output Packets At A Glance. Saying this because there is so much more to your pathway than just the OPs.
- Digiphon - I would like a cumulative statement.
- Participation Records - great! It’s been wonderful having you in the community. Did you add the participation to the Advisor Training? and any Advising calls?
- Self Review - make sure it's OP 5 specific and cumulative also. There’s not much reflection on how you evolved in each skill set.
- Peer Reviews - Uploaded. I read over both your feedback docs uploaded for Jorge's OP 5. I appreciate that you took the time to use a stream-of-consciousness note style, plus the PoDAPO peer review.  You did an excellent job of giving him feedback on what you appreciate. I agree with your feedback on his need for more editing, to insert a section on OP design, and to wrap up his skills tracking. I also appreciate you call him out on being more succinct and in adding photography and examples of his art, especially as he references it himself. Good work. I have yet to see your reviews for your students - and I do hope that they are more extensive - this works for a peer review, in any case. Thank you for providing him useful feedback, despite his lack of feedback in your OP 4.

Specification
- Love the succinct opening statement and clean look of this page. So easy to navigate.
- Maybe consider adding a goal of making this portfolio a living compendium of your work. Meaning, it's ok to add more to it after you submit to Lee for External Review.
- When you share your goals, how about stating how you came to these conclusions and your intentions around tracking/evaluating their progress? As they are now, it's shared as a list without much context/follow-up.
- Are you tracking the completion of these OP goals - I don't see them in the OP Process Reflection section.
- On OP design, I'm glad you found a process that has worked so smoothly for you, which enabled in this situation for you to apply it in an expedited manner. What were the adaptations you made?
- You mention three design frameworks as acronyms, yet explain none of them, or even spell them out. Can you at least provide hyperlinks? What is Aranya, P.23? I like how you created your own model, which you explain and then provide simple examples of your process. GsSADPER!
- On goals, you say what you want to accomplish by undertaking this task - perhaps in goals part of the Design, and there would be a few iterations - as in the first version, one might not be clear on the actual task per se. 
- I like that in the survey you mention requirements, so many forget this detail. Generally speaking, I always include surveying who has a stake in this project, and what are their needs/requirements? This might even include unique parts of myself. Because my professional self may have different needs than my personal self.
- I like how you're sharing these GsSADPER steps as if you're teaching. Every once and a while, you mention something specific about Gaia University. I would encourage you to state the general pattern in one font and then italicize or use a unique font for how the step applied to your specific Gaia U project. In general, this is a pattern I encourage in all writing. Make it applicable to yourself outside of this specific use, thus making it applicable for the reader/others. On that same note, I'd like to know if this is a design process you've applied elsewhere in your life, or does it show up only when you complete OP designs? Likewise, this is a cumulative OP, so I'm hoping to see more of a cumulative reflection on your OP design.
- In OP process reflection, you share your journey in managing a very tight timeline. I'm astonished that you found out December 24th that you had 13 days to submit for accreditation, yet managed to pull it together so smoothly.  I do want to note that the review processes that you mention taking two weeks generally take 2-3 months - so we are rushing on our side too.
- I do think that you have significantly refined your design process, and thus were able to amplify and accelerate your speed in moving through steps that were very familiar.
- On outcomes, you mention having files that weren't accessible while you were traveling. You're welcome to upload images and files as you wish, as long as you note in the specification that you made changes after pro review.
- I would love to see you include a feedback tracker here - reflect on the feedback received from Jorge and I. Because this is OP 5, you'll also need a cumulative reflection on feedback. I would suggest placing that on this page or CR1.

CR1
- Again, appreciating the very succinct opening context that anchors the reader into being present with what you're about to share.
- In the introduction, you mention LIPD, spell out the acronym the first time you use it on this page.
- I like how you're utilizing passages from your LIPD to highlight the energy and intent of your original pathway intentions. Lovely how you narrow the focus down to creating a regenerative future. I would love to hear how present moment awareness ties into this very broad guiding light. 
- You then choose projects based on high leverage, yet don't mention how this amount of leverage was determined. You do say that each topic has a determining influence to shape culture. I'm still interested in knowing what drew you to this realization? Personal life experience? Research? 
- Essentially the focus of your OP is cultural change.
- The specification is very similar to the OP; maybe you don't need both.  Did you engage with the LIPD to assess whether or not you met the initial goals you proposed? What about a timeline comparison? Original LIPD versus what happened? And finally, how about some reflection on the Acceleration review? What was asked of you/required - and did you meet those requests? Lastly, this would be a great place to include a cumulative reflection/tracker on time/transitions, managing time/tasks, participation, and incorporation of feedback.
- Skillflex - though I can empathize with your desire to simplify skillful tracking into a non-numerical rating system, I will note that throughout every OP, I mentioned a need to see you apply some (ANY) type of numerical tracking. I view a student's skill flexing within the same light as the Gaia University PoDAPO form, which is a numerical tracking system itself. Thank you for explaining your determining process. 
- Wait, so you did add numerical tracking. It's in tab two. I was confused by your statement, "I abandon the numerical rating system."
- Ok in reading further, I do see you made a numerical comparison. I'm glad you incorporated this as it enables the reader to view your attention on a pattern level. I like to think of LIPD skill flexes as similarly weighted criteria to the PoDAPO evaluation form Gaia University uses for grading. It's the student's own set of self criteria. My only suggestion for your future use would be to consider adding goals for these skill flex areas for 2020 and beyond. It's great you have a tab with the skills described. I wonder what it would look like if you also qualified the types of engagement or competency one might need to refine such skillsets? I would also be fascinated to see where you were before your PreCap.
- In the 5P section, an excellent job in describing the P's and spelling out the acronym of SMART as a framework. Your description of the two sheets wasn't apparent to me at first. Upon looking at both, I see that the one embedded inside Mahara has the goals and specific outcomes, whereas the google sheet has the SMART analysis. Makes sense. 
- You salsa! I am such a lover of dance. I do ballroom improve fusion.  Gets my heart beating!
- You are such a beautiful, well-rounded, holistic, and thoughtful human being. I just love seeing these 5-P's as such an integral representation of your approach to living. Very inspiring. You seem to be a beautiful balance of thinking/feeling (maybe a bit heavier on thinking;) and so very thoughtful of how you show up in the world. The SMART assessment works great. Beautiful qualitative reflections with some detailed examples. On time-bound, you note that you will evaluate progress at the end of the capstone phase. Does that mean you'll be updating this? Or do you mean after you graduate?
- I appreciate that you included a little wrap-up summary at the end to integrate the assessment and outcomes. 

CR2
- A nice reminder of your guiding focus. On page one, you highlighted cultural change, which is what you share here, with more words. Just a suggestion to reiterate that language (including a further description, as you noted here and elsewhere). Repetition, I think, creates amplification, which, for me, leads to manifestation.
- Under topics, the link to the LIPD document doesn't allow me access. ((Fixed 1-14))
- Great that you included these descriptions of the field! This looks like you harvested these words from your thematic proposal submitted in 2019. Which I loved. I'm grateful I got to be the person to complete your acceleration review, provide feedback on your portfolio and this thematic, and end up serving as your Advisor for the duration of the Capstone cycle! What an impressive journey! 
- Might be helpful to turn the OPs (past and present) into a graphical image. Maybe show how one flows into the next and new content was created. These definitions of the fields you engaged within are great - they provide a lot of context for your work, and what it means to you specifically. I hope you can get that link uploaded, as your full proposal is a worthy repost. I'm wondering if you intend to change/update the thematic at all or if it still works? Seems as though your pathway unfolded closely to how you anticipated. Topic-wise.
- In my feedback above on overall pathway tracking, i shared that I wanted to see more on your goals, proposed OPs, pathway management, and timeline from original LIPD to this Learning Review. I see here that you do include an overview and comparison of proposed OPs to those implemented. Great.
- Very succinct summary of each proposed OP with a statement on the outcome. Clear navigational pointers to the upcoming section on OP's generated. You did a really wonderful job navigating this process. You accomplished your goals for all of the OP's even despite a shift in focus for OP 4. It made more sense for you to encapsulate your work with cultures of dignity rather than diving into finishing the advisor and mentor training. I was hoping to see at least some reflection on the training mentioned in this OP, as it was none-the-less a large part of your capstone cycle. Perhaps it will be highlighted inside the Content Workshop requirement?
- What drove you to Gaia U included the question - what comes after capitalism? Love it! OP 2 was phenomenal! Content-wise, I think it was my favorite of your OPs. I like how in this overview you explain the four very distinct sections you included and why. You did a lot of critical thinking in this OP - well done.
- OP 3 was to me, your best effort at designing/writing/documenting your work. I love the updates on Theory U.
- OP 4 impressed me because the material was so fresh, from the summer and autumn of 2019 and with only a few weeks to create the OP!
- In this OP, I appreciate your succinctness, ability to provide context, and integration of key threads that you're highlighting as important pathway factors - an area that needed improvement in previous OPs - so well done. I think streamlining the OP production process helped you to simplify your thinking and focus on "what am I saying?" - "am I following up with delivering what I'm saying?"
- This page ends with OP 4. Here would be a keen place to add a summary of what you achieved with OP 5 and a cumulative reflection on OP design.

CR3
-  Ahh! I so resonate with what you share here about doing work you value for less money. Then years later, see society finally catch on, and money becomes available for that effort - but you don't get a direct benefit because you were in the field before it was fiscally viable. I have the same story. In 1999 I was doing nature education and what I then called sustainability life coaching. Then I goto into permaculture and ecovillage design work, then community organizing (social permaculture), and throughout alternative transformative education. I made a living but I was never thriving, always slightly struggling to make ends meet financially.
- Congratulations on stepping up your game in generating a living wage for yourself! 
- Great to see this Ikigai framework for designing your business plan. Please state the origin of the model. Even though it's described in OP 2 - I think it needs to be here as well. So it's a hybrid Canvas essentially.
- I like the list you added to this chart. Interesting that you did not include leadership (project management) or coaching to the list of what you can generate money from. Intentional? I do see it pop back up in the summary statement at the end (which by the way - well done on once again adding an integrative conclusion to the section).
- Excellent Lean Canvas - I do think you met your most basic LIPD/OP 2 goal of generating a business plan. Anything more than this is necessary only for seeking funding from grants or investors, or in recruiting a team - what you have here is a perfect foundation.
- I'm a yes to you getting paid for all your services identified in this canvas. All the power to you. Its clear to me that you have the skills in line with these career goals
- I love the bit on solving problems the way nature would.  Have you considered doing a SWOC also - strengths, weakness, opportunities, and constraints?
- Great start to the website. I like the image you selected a lot. It really shows engagement with the people around you - a lot of positive facial expressions!
- I'm going to skip giving feedback on the website outline, as it's out of the scope and timeframe of my review process. Glad to see you have a plan.
- Helpful closing comments are wrapping up the section. Have you considered a timeline? Love the chart on livelihood goals - this is precisely the type of tracking (along with metric-based skillflex tracker) that I felt was missing - so thank you for making it such a big part of this OP. I like that you include a description of how your valuing each category in the spreadsheet. Once again, effective use of SMART assessment.
- Lol, your degree timeline was a catastrophe, you say? You sure pulled it off, though, since this summer! 

CR4
- This page needs a micro introduction! Beautiful quote, though.
- On Evolution as a designer, I'm glad to hear that you gained a lot as a designer via Gaia U, and I hope I've helped with that a bit.  Great opening context about the field.  I think you would benefit from making a new paragraph as you being to talk about your favorites. 
- You're mentioning these design models with very little explanation or comparison. Just because you explained them in a previous OP doesn't mean they deserve no explanation here. At least note their founders and how much history you have with the model. A one-sentence description of the model would be beneficial. Your description of disruptive Design is so very vague.
- I certainly agree with you that Design is very adaptable - agile - but this is not how all people apply it. There's a massive gap between those who use Predict and Control style design and Agile or even Emergent Design. Do you feel you're familiar with Design as a field, at large? Would you be able to have a conversation on different types of design theory if one of your students enquired?
- Spell check this section once more - some errors. 
- I like how you share the pros and cons of these three design models - it's not exactly what I was imagining, yet it will suffice. Your spreadsheet is more what I was looking for. Good work in mapping these out. 
- Lovely overview with your history over the last thirty-some year as a designer.
- Very good to see this final reflection on outcomes. 
- Happy to see your summary on benefits to the field and dissipation. I definitely think your work is strategically at Capstone quality for an MSc, and am happy to get this summarized reflection on impact - who and how many people were served by your work. I respect that you're in a more internal phase of development (leaving a more media-rich phase) and accept this level of intentional engagement/outreach. I just needed you to summarize it - give it the critical intention it deserves. 
- Rich with professional development - fantastic!
- I like that you end with personal development - as in many ways - this is where it all begins too. Well done.

Support
- Cumulative resource review - Wonderful list of resources and succinct annotations. I would encourage you to add a paragraph on your research approach and critical thinking.
- Skill Assessment - check.
- Portfolio - Great that you added these links. Maybe name the support one can find inside each OP.
- Livelihood goals - add a statement of what this is and why you included it.
- Certificates and trainings - impressive!
- Be sure to add attendance to a content workshop - your choice - anything in person or on-line that you attended for +16 hrs. Include it's name, dates, hrs attended, itinerary and/or description, and journal entry on your experience/learning. Perhaps you're using the Social Permaculture Design Course or the Advisor Training? Either choice is fine. Just evidence at least 16 hrs. This can be completed after external review.
- Add thematic proposal approval once received.