looking for PC home study/distance learning course

Discussion in 'Jobs, projects, courses, training, WWOOFing, volun' started by nasarean, Dec 7, 2007.

  1. nasarean

    nasarean Guest

    Hi, I'm looking for a good home study permaculture course if one exists, and put together by expert permaculturists. I know that it takes practice as well as theory to learn something truly and I plan to take a real course in the future. I"m also not expecting to get design certification from the home study course. i'm living at an intentional community ecovilliage so I have a chance to practice what I learn. Also I'm going to be helping a person develop a piece of land so I really need a lot more information than I ever have before. i'm located in mid south coastal california (ventura stanta barbara area- actually the ojai valley)

    email or reply to this post if you know of any good reasonably priced courses. ryanpotato at yahoo.com is my email or gryan1882 at yahoo.com thanks!

    jerry
     
  2. Fern O.

    Fern O. Junior Member

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    email April at permaculturevisions.com
    and check out her website.
     
  3. Soleil.Lunar

    Soleil.Lunar Junior Member

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  4. newcroft

    newcroft Junior Member

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    Hi Soleil,

    Do you mind posting a review for this course? It looks quite interesting.

    Thanks
     
  5. danielr

    danielr Junior Member

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    I'd like that aswell I'm guessing i might need to work out now if thats the one for me though, 6 years !
     
  6. Soleil.Lunar

    Soleil.Lunar Junior Member

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    Ecological Agriculture Degree at CSU

    The course is aimed at people who can see themselves managing a farming enterprise or who already run a farm it wish to give it an ecological focus.

    You need to complete 14 core subjects which range from management (boring to me), plus plenty of ecology, plant and soil subjects which I love. You also complete 10 additional subjects with the opportunity to study:
    Organic Agriculture and Horticulture
    Biodynamic Agriculture
    Permaculture
    With plenty of Horticulture and Agronomy subjects.
    For a detailed list of subjects I suggest you check out the website https://www.csu.edu.au/courses/undergraduate/ecological_agriculture/

    You will learn all the science, management and technical aspects of agriculture that I assume you would get in other agricultural courses (however the emphasis in this course is on small/medium scale rather than large scale farming practices). What I think makes this course special is the philosophical element, it makes the topics more human and less technical. The philosophical study in the course is really making me think about agriculture on a world scale at the same time highlighting how the decisions I make affect the environment locally.

    Full time study takes 3 years of to complete. (Part timers need to finish with in 10 years to receive the degree). Each unit so far has required around four major assignments and no exams, with many requiring a residential school component (this involves attending the uni at its Orange Campus in NSW Australia for about 3 days for each unit to complete practical work and lectures)

    You'll need to be able to put together a decent essay, enjoy reading about agriculture and ecology topics and be able to collect and collate technical data for reports to get through the course.
    I would recommend studying the Unit - Introduction to Ecological Agriculture first. It sets up the whole tone of the course and gives you an idea of the minimum standard of work required to pass. It's also very interesting.
     
  7. Cornonthecob

    Cornonthecob Junior Member

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    Know a few people who have started an online PDC with permaculturevisions.com

    None of them have anything good to say about it or April.
     
  8. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    G'day Corn, been a long time since you were here...I hope you've been well.

    IMO, April's a very good person, a good designer and a good teacher. Like any study, you get out of it what you put into it. All the Permaculture Institute courses are based around Permaculture: A Designers Manual, so if (for whatever reason) a person is not capable of reading this text and getting much out of it, then IMO, they're perhaps not going to get much out of any PDC - particularly an online one where the course delivery is almost entirely in text and ends up being more reading than the original manual itself.

    The Permaculture Visions course is designed for people who can't attend a PDC in person. It goes without saying that for these people, it's a very fine thing compared to not being able to do a PDC at all. And please, let's not forget that people learn best a variety of different ways. Textual learning is not best for everyone, but also, the standard teaching of a face to face PDC is not the best way for everyone to learn either because a lot of it is oral learning.

    Besides the distance education bonus and the fact you have whatever time you need to complete the course, IMO, the Permaculture Visions course has several advantages over a face to face PDC:

    It's much more affordable.

    You can absorb the knowledge within at your own pace instead of (for some) feeling bombarded with a lot of info and concepts in a short space of time.

    You can play around with ideas in your own design space as you learn and can get quick feedback on them.

    You walk away at the end with all the course notes and all your homework, so you can forever refer back to them.

    The course teaches you how to find things out for yourself - lots of research questions which you have to go out and find the answers to. IMO, that's infinitely better than being hit with a million 'facts' - you have to use some of the tools to research, expand and update your knowledge yourself.

    ----------------------------------------------------

    April always asks for feedback and works hard to incorporate the knowledge of others so the course notes are a living, dynamic document which can be further enhanced by the participation of the students.

    If people have problems with the course they can actively improve it via feedback and their own contributions, and I'm sure April would be the first to say that if you don't like something, go ahead and make a suggestion about how it could be done better.
     
  9. Cornonthecob

    Cornonthecob Junior Member

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    G'day Jez, yeps am still alive annoying people :)

    I understand how Aprils course works, have spoken to her a number of times on the phone, and yes it's all taken from the 'manual'

    Those that have started their PDC with April all complain about the same thing....that the feedback, and most importantly, the time it takes to receive feedback, is extremely slow. I do believe they all chucked it in, or are thinking of doing so.

    As for providing feedback on the course she runs I have no idea if any of these people have raised their concerns with her...but their concerns are real nevertheless.

    I myself didn't do the course she offers for exactly the same reason.
     
  10. Jez

    Jez Junior Member

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    Hehe...that's the spirit mate! :D


    That's a shame, but April wears a lot of hats (being a mother the most important of them when all is said and done) and I know she does her best to give feedback ASAP. I'd imagine that it would take a bit of extra time working with some of the international students for whom English is not their main language. Nevertheless, if someone is stuck on something they can always move on to another unit...no need to be waiting for an answer, just move on and come back to it.


    If you are in contact with them, I'd recommend they do raise their concerns with her (perhaps by phone) and try to be patient. If these people are all having problems at the same time, there may well be a very simple explanation like computer problems at her end or a general lack of time due to unforeseen circumstances.
     
  11. dyllos

    dyllos Junior Member

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    Hi everyone, has anyone done a PDC with April (at Permaculture Visions) more recently and can write a review of the course please? There were complaints (indirectly) above that feedback can be slow - has this improved (now that perhaps the child(ren) are older)?

    Thanks
     
  12. abdullah

    abdullah Junior Member

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    get bill mollison's PDC course cd's from the 1980s
     
  13. pebble

    pebble Junior Member

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    Location:
    inland Otago, NZ
    Climate:
    Inland maritime/hot/dry/frosty
  14. SeuAntonio

    SeuAntonio New Member

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    Hey everyone,
    how are we?

    I am fresh from the boat on this .. but I guess nobody has mentioned this one yet
    Unfortunately I don't know anybody who has done this course, but that doesn't mean much .. as most of my friend are not relate to permaculture at all

    https://www.gaiauniversity.org/bachelor-science-degree-program-bsc

    gratidão
     
  15. dyllos

    dyllos Junior Member

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    Thank you - yes, there looks like there are some people posting there who are or have done the permaculturevisions PDC

    Best regards
     
  16. NGcomm

    NGcomm Junior Member

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    Hi dyllos, my wife and I are doing the permiculture visions PDC at the moment and find it to be very good. The tutor takes a week or so to respond but with our full on schedule that's fine. We get a discount for the two of us as we combine our homework responses which saves them time.

    For us it's very useful as we have been involved in PC for quite a number of years but just never done the PDC. So not only is it time but it allows us to have our plans for our farm reviewed as part of a formal learning process. I already had the design manual and Mollison/Lawtons DVD based course from a few years ago and thought I wouldn't learn a lot, I was wrong as I have leanrt so much more new things by doing the PDC with permaculture visions.

    Good luck
     
  17. dyllos

    dyllos Junior Member

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    Thank you for posting; glad to hear it is going well :)
     
  18. dyllos

    dyllos Junior Member

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    Have paid and started today.. :)
     

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