CAP OP 4: Project Outcomes

             I was able to determine how my professors created their questions by breaking the course down into simple, big picture aspects:  the major assumption(s), the primary themes, the concepts and the natural processes.  My goal was to imply these in the questions I created           The major assumption is that “our consumptive lifestyles have led us to the very brink of annihilation”.  The primary themes include philosophy, ethics and design.  The concepts include concepts and themes in design (ch2), methods of design (ch3), pattern understanding (ch4), earthworks and earth resources (ch9), the humid tropics (ch10), dry land strategies (ch11), humid cool to cold climates (ch12), and aquaculture strategies (ch13).  The natural processes include climatic factors (ch5), trees and their energy transactions (ch6), water (ch7), and soils (ch8).  Now that I was able to organize the course into these elements I was able to formulate questions to reflect these elements and help engage the students into learning more about each one and how they all interconnect.    

            So the way these exams work is that the student creates outlines of each question.  The student is to utilize the text, Permaculture:  A Designer’s Manual by Bill Mollison and the 72-hour curriculum, to find information to demonstrate their understanding of the questions.  Once they have created outlines that demonstrate their understanding of the subject matter and the 72-hour curriculum, they are ready to write an essay on it and create their graphic presentation. 

1. List and describe the 3 primary themes of permaculture as highlighted by Mollison in the introduction of the PDM.  First, demonstrate how they relate to at least 6 elements: 1) concepts and themes in design 2) Methods of design 3) Pattern(s) understanding 4) Earthworks and earth resources 5) The Humid Tropics 6) Dry land Strategies7) Humid cool to Cold Climates 8) Aquaculture 9) Strategies for an alternative global Nation and second, 3 processes: 1) Climatic factors 2) Trees and their Energy Transactions 3) Water 4) Soils.  Assess at least 2 integrative strategies that address the major assumption of the Permaculture Design Manual. 
2. List in rank order at least 10 barriers to the philosophy, ethics, and design of permaculture today.  Demonstrate your understanding of how permaculture concepts can effect or be effected by natural processes.  Assess and demonstrate how your understanding can help create strategies that address the barriers you’ve identified. 
3. Describe and critically evaluate at least 5 significant agents of change that have led us to the primary themes of Permaculture: Philosophy, ethics, and design.  Using permaculture concepts and natural processes create an integrative matrix that demonstrates good design.
4. Compare and Contrast the Philosophy, ethics, and design of permaculture against standard practices today.  Evaluate how these primary themes of permaculture come together to produce a movement that looks for solutions for the many problems that plague our planet and our society.  Assess the potential for success when all three, Philosophy, ethics, and design, are in balance. 
5. “The environmental crisis is real and of a magnitude that will certainly transform modern global industrial society beyond recognition.  In the process, the well-being and even the survival of the world’s expanding population is directly threatened.” – Bill Mollison. Create an outline that demonstrates solutions to social and environmental crisis.  Describe how your solutions embrace the primary themes of Permaculture, Philosophy, ethics and design.  Evaluate the strategic leverage of your solutions in context of the current situation. 

   Graphic Presentation (Permaculture Design)

               Find a piece of land to design, it can be your own or a clients.  Create a permaculture design utilizing the Methods of Design (CH 3). Create a base map with at least 4 overlays to demonstrate your understanding of the methods of design.  Demonstrate through your design your understanding of the assumption of Permaculture, the primary themes, concepts and natural processes. 

Here are some questions I had to answer before designing it.

So now that I have a set of exam questions how do I go about getting students to take it?  Fortunately, I have some students willing to do a test run with me.  I’ll proceed with making it more public when I feel that it worked well on the first run and I make any adjustments to increase its effectiveness.  My next step will be to reach out to my colleagues and community members who have showed interest in Permaculture.  I will be continually redesigning the course to increase the effectiveness of it. 

Will it be ready for the masses?

            I’m not so sure yet.  This is a very unique approach to a PDC.  I want to work out any bugs and design it to work very well.  I’ll know more after I do a test run.

Do I need to revise it still?     

            I’m sure I do.  At least the questions may need revising to make sure students engage themselves with all of the major primary themes, assumptions, concepts, and natural processes and at the same time understand the 72-hour curriculum.  Perhaps I should have fewer questions to help students spend more time on the design and create more of the exam around the actual design.  But how do I get them to make the connections I think are important?  Also, it may be too much to ask students to do so many exam questions and also do a graphic presentation.  I will seek feedback on this when I do a test run.  I’m also interested in getting feedback from someone that has already taken a PDC.  I’m awaiting some feedback now from a colleague that I took Permaculture Teacher Training with, Steve Whitman.  I’ll see if he wants to try out the exam through correspondence. 

Do I need some practice in teaching in a Socratic manner?

            Seemingly yes.  However over the course of several years I was a student in about 10 different college classes taught with the Socratic method.  I assume I will feel a little lost at first but my job as a teacher is to help encourage conversation and discoveries within the subject matter without lecturing.  I’ve practiced a bit in workshops by engaging my audience to participate in the discussion.  Leading a Permaculture Principles in Practice workshop as I told people about each principle as told by Holmgren, I encouraged the audience to make their own connection to a specific principle as they were introduced to them.  I’ve led this workshop twice.  The first time was a great success and there was a lot of audience participation.  I helped out a few times when the audience was stumped.  The next time I led this workshop I had little participation and pretty much had to make the connections for all of Holmgren’s Permaculture principles myself.  Here is a link to a good article on the Socratic method.  I have also recently ordered this book The Art of Socratic Questioning to help me possibly update my exam questions and to pose questions to students during class time.  

How do I get this off the ground and have the confidence to teach it to anybody willing to engage with it?

            To promote this course I have to fully disclose what it is and what it isn’t.  The syllabus (available prior to enrollment) should reflect the way the course is taught and how much is expected from students.  This course is really only for those that are willing to put extra time into it, so I have to market it as either a very demanding PDC or an advanced PDC.  The performance level expected will be a little higher than most PDCs, but being held over the course of several weeks to months, it will give students ample time to research and create high quality work. 

            Following are some guidelines I found when searching the Critical Thinking Community.  I found the article ‘An Overview of How to Design Instruction Using Critical Thinking Concepts’and found some important concepts for teaching well.    Having never been formerly taught how to be a teacher except in the Permaculture Teacher Training course I took, I figured I’d better work on that foundation a bit more.  Their suggestion is that “there are five defining dimensions you should carefully think through.  Here they are:

Five Important Structural Determinations
That Set the Stage for Everything Else – from the Critical Thinking Community

1- your concept of the course,

2- the general plan for implementing that concept

3- the requirements the students must meet,

4- the grading policies in the course (when applicable)

5- performance profiles (that correlate with the grade levels).

Here are my takes on these:

1-This is a permaculture design course that engages the student(s) in the subject of permaculture as deep as they want to go (giving the time permitted).  Students will make their own connections to demonstrate their own understanding of Permaculture philosophy, ethics and design.

2- I will hold class time for discussion on the exam questions and then hold hands on workshops in an even manner to give students a chance to make connections both academically and physically.  There will be a time frame for getting things done and a class/workshop schedule that helps give students experience in implementing permaculture design. 

3- Students must outline each question and answer one question in an essay format.  To accompany that, the student must create a permaculture design graphic. 

4- Grading will generally be based upon each individual’s knowledge and abilities to perform.  There will be no grading but generally passing individuals, providing they fulfill the requirements of the course.  Unsatisfactory performances will be provided with support to accomplish finishing the requirements.

5- Depending on whether it becomes a standard PDC or and advanced PDC a range of abilities will be accepted as long as students can demonstrate their understanding of the subject.

So now that I have determined the structure I can incorporate the exam I have created into that structure.  I have designed the exam to engage students to explore the text and make many of these connections in the context of the exam. The standard PDC is based on ‘Permaculture:  A Designer’s Manual (PDM) and the 72 hour course curriculum that accompanies it, so is my PDC.

            I need to have a course syllabus created so students know what to expect in my course.  When I look at my former professors’ general syllabus (click on the link for the .PDF) it is void of any subject matter but instead informs students more of the type of learning that is encouraged for this course.  They call it a high demand x high support course and describe what that means.  When I look at several syllabi of different PDCs I see more subject specific syllabi that leads the students through everything that is wanted of them to learn.  This is great because it is full of all kinds of awesome permaculture design.  But I’m wondering if this style of leading one through a subject helps engage the student on a deeper level.  I’m looking to encourage students into making their own connections. I want students to make connections of common permaculture projects such as herb spirals, swales, food forests, water catchments and the like to the bigger ideas. 

Example-

Herb Spiral-

This design includes pattern understanding (concept), design (primary theme), and making the choice to take responsibility (major assumption), to incorporate the primary themes into the concepts of permaculture and the natural processes that are affected and affect them.

            Students are encouraged to know that this isn’t a lecture style course.  It is designed to engage the student in the subject matter.  The student’s participation in discussions is required.  The questions have been developed so you (the student) will be engaged with the subject matter of the book, Permaculture- A Designer’s Manual, as you research the book to demonstrate your understanding of its contents.  Class time will be used for the student to confirm their understandings of the questions and how best to answer them.  Lecture will not be held, but rather class discussions.  Some of class time will be used to work on site-specific projects.  When participating in hands on projects you will be encouraged to make connections to your exam, and your design.    

What is expected-? 

Outlines of each of your exam questions are required to get to the next step of completing your exam and your graphic presentation.  Outlines are due ¾ into the course (date provided in class schedule).  Once you have demonstrated your understanding of the questions by completing detailed outlines of each one you can choose the question you want to write your exam about. There is no word limit but it is encouraged to have between 1500 and 3000 words written.  Being concise is highly encouraged.  The graphic presentation is a Permaculture design.  You are encouraged to utilize your discoveries in your exam in your graphic presentation.  Your exam and graphic presentation should be finished by the last week of the course.    You will then give a presentation on the design you created.  Once completed you receive a Permaculture Design Certificate.       

Course schedule

TBA- depending on the time of year the schedule of the course is subject to change.  Check for updates

            My goal here is to have at least two people that have taken other courses from the same professors I’ve spoken of, to test out the exam to see how it works out for engaging students with the subject matter. 

Working with Joshua Bridges (my brother) and Micalah Frey (my girlfriend) would be easy to work with and find time to have class.  We all live on the same property so we could schedule a meeting easily one day a week for 3-4 hours.  I will work on the effectiveness of guiding the discussions towards student discoveries.  Adjustments will be made on the questions if needed.

            This is harder to determine.  This process of teaching and learning works well when the student has time to research the subject matter and therefore help shape the discussion of the class time.  When working with the time frame of the standard 72-hour design curriculum, it could take 9 8 hour classes which is far too long, or a more reasonable 18 4 hour classes, or even 12 6 hour classes, which could easily be broken into class discussion time and hands on experience time.  I would prefer to have a weekend course taught over the course of several months.  This would give students time to do more research in between class times.  The range of schedule lengths I’ve listed is from 2- 4 months.  Having the course over several months would give students ample time to create deep understanding of permaculture and a robust permaculture design.  This time length may lend well to marketing to more local participants.  If I wanted students to come from further away I’d have to run the whole course in the 2-week format.  For now I will design the course to take place over several months. 

            I had started to think that I could offer this course as an online course.  By making the exam available online I could give feedback on each students work and encourage them to finish each outline for choice in their final exam question and give feedback for their design.  However, students may have to learn digital media programs to create digital designs.  Here are a couple of “online” PDC courses that I looked at for comparison to the course I am designing.  Andrew Millison writes about the case for online permaculture courses here.  He talks about Geoff Lawton’s recently released online permaculture course and also discusses how he has been doing it for some time at Oregon State University and has had great success with an online PDC.  Geoff Lawton’s course has recently been released in 2013.  I’ve actually had a bit of trouble getting to the registration page for this course.  The link they provide is the wrong one.  This would be trouble I might run into if I try to make it an online course.  I’d have to hire a webpage designer and determine how to facilitate a Socratic version online.  Something I’m not quite prepared to do, but not ruling it out for the future.  I’d need to hone my course more for that kind of learning environment.  I would have to also coordinate conference calls to facilitate student and teacher interaction.         

            After reading more about the Socratic method I believe that face-to-face interaction is where this truly shines.  By having class time discussions that can be influenced by the students, students are able to exchange ideas and are able to test their ideas with a group.  As of now I’m dropping the online aspect of it.  If I were going to make it available online, I’d like to work out any kinks, revise the course syllabus, and redesign the whole exam to fit in an online venue.  I would stay away from making videos and other content but would use the Internet for personal interaction amongst the students and the teacher, as well as a place to share each other’s work.