Enrolled Student Study-Groups:

Study Groups are Our new type of tuition based on our ethics of
Care of People and Self-directed Learning.

The group uses our comprehensive course notes (each individual is supplied with notes)
The group need to meet to discuss the homework notes and responses. This is not designed for virtual groups, but people living in close proximity to one another and able to engage in group activites such as tutors to local farms and gardens, workshops, working bees. There is the chance to build a team and enjoy group dynamics.
Students are encouraged to work in small teams (3-14 seems ideal) and build co-operative skills.
A group facilitator is appointed and he/she collates the course notes into one homework response reflecting the diversity of responses.
The group is allocated a tutor at Permaculture Visions who responds to the group homework and their special interests.
The group is encouraged to work harmonious, show respect for their diversity (i.e. agree not ridicule a view until it has been fully explored, not to discuss one particular view until all have been offered). Some of the best groups write their own agreement along these lines and sign it. It also helps the facilitator to remind the group of their aim to build a peaceful, non-stressful learning environment.
There is the option for individual students to withdraw from the group. They may leave the group and then re-enrol as an individual at a discounted rate if the group option does not meet their expectations. So, if the group stops working for some reason, the individuals do not miss out.

Why Groups?

Some people are motivated by a group learning experience. The group gives them ideas and a broader learning experience than individual study. There is social momentum in a group and this can help an individual stick to their committment to learn about Permaculture. They may form a group to enrol and study this course together.

How the Group Experience Can Help

If you are part of a group here are some ideas to help keep the group moving together. For your first group meeting you could conduct a getting to know each other session if this has not been done. Try to build a team spirit. You may like to suggest an informal psychological agreement in that each of you will respect each other’s views and allow equal contribution to ideas. Some people use a speaking stick (this works like a pretend microphone, or you could use a small microphone), the person with the speaking stick is the person allowed to speak, when they have spoken for a short time, they are to pass the stick on and only the person with the speaking stick is to speak, without interruptions. Each person is to have a turn of the speaking stick. Find what is culturally appropriate for your group. You need to set up a roster for the secretarial task of summarising and presenting ideas, this should not be carried by the one person all the time. If it is to be conducted by one appointed person, seriously consider renumerating them for the task (some groups pay for this person's fees).

How does the group communicate to the Permaculture Visions Tutor?

You send the summary sheet that results from your discussions, to us here (if you feel that it will help your group to maintain equal contribution of ideas, you can send individual responses also, as long as all the work is presented in one collection and organised per homework subject).

What Does the Study-Group Summary Sheet/s Look Like?

The summary submitted to Permaculture Visions can be hand written and mailed, or typed or even emailed, (emails are best as simple letters rather than attachments because of our system being cautious of attachments due to viral infections on the computer). Your notes may be in point form and contain diagrams of any level of artistic ability! You may like to submit maps or scanned work. If so ADOBE is good because we can scribble onto the picture directly and send it back to you with annotations too.

The summary sheet doesn't have to be fancy, you could write down a collection of ideas from the sessions. Here's a really simple example:

Topic- Energy- HOMEWORK [Ref: Transport ] : What solutions can you suggest to reduce the use of non-renewable energies for transportation?
Group Answers:

car pooling (suggested by Adam and Eve)
public transport (suggested by Doris, Matt and Dizzy)
horse and cart (suggested by Dizzy) - but this would mean having to have more paddocks and less intensive farming areas, in order to feed the horse. (suggested by Adam)
walking, by building more, and safer walking tracks (suggested by Adam, Doris and Eve)
cycling, - require speed cameras and better bike paths, more policing of speeding and unsafe drivers (unamimous)
putting heavy loads onto rail instead of in trucks, by subsidising rail companies. this makes the roads safer and less pitted by trucks and so more people can cycle. (suggested by Grant, Doris, Matt and Dizzy)
solar powered car (suggested by Eve) but doubted by Grant because when are in a solar challenged area.
biodiesel public transport (suggested by Doris and Eve) – “I have seen a biodiesel bus running to and from Tofino, Vancouver Island BC Canada.” (Adam)

How can Permaculture Visions be sure that all the members contributed to the notes?

We have to trust the group to let us know if members have become inactive. Permaculture is about empowerment; it would be unworkable and unethical for us not to trust the group.

The group sets up collaborative meetings where you rotate the position of topic-organiser then draw up and give out the agreed roster (soon after the meeting if not at the meeting).
You can plan your meeting dates with set topics (if someone has not done their homework, they may find they can still wing it, drawing on their experiences or previous reading. the idea is to make sure they turn up) these are listed in the file called About-The-Course
When someone misses a meeting they have a short time (your group specifies how long) in which to submit their work to the organiser of that topic., the work can then be added to the pool of ideas and the organiser submits the topic as one email to us here at permaculturevisions.com
If someone misses that topic, even when allowed the additional grace period, the organiser for that topic makes a note that this person was missing and did not submit work.
According to the rules set by the permaculture institute, a person may miss up to 20% of the course.
According to our rules (because we are distance educators we have our own accountability criteria), we expect each person to attempt one task from each topic AND a final design.
Here in the permaculturevisions office we will receive your group submissions with your record of who submitted the work, if we see someone is under their quota of contributions to the group we will contact that individual and offer them the choice to either talk to the group and rejoin them, submit work to the group to show they have worked to catch up OR they can pay the gap in fees between group rate and individual rate and then continue as an individual OR if they are in great financial need they can apply for a scholarship with permaculturevisions.

What if Someone Drops Out of the Group and Wants to Enrol as an Individual?

Anyone who finds that they can't continue in the group (there may be a wide range of reasons and you don't have to say why ranging from changed work arrangements to personaility conflicts) can have full advanced standing and credit for their previous work and fees. They then continue their study as an individual. There are the suggested times for a minimum summary discussion and colation of ideas only, not for collecting ideas and researching (which is done individually). You should allow at least double these times for researching ideas when working as an individual.

What if the Facilitator is Already Qualified? Do they have to Pay?

If there is someone joining the group who already has a PDC but is not a graduate of the PDC course with Permaculture Visions then they also need to pay the group rate for their own access to the course notes. If the member is well qualified (holds a PDC and has experience) in permaculture and you acknowledge she/he will be an asset (facilitator, mentor, leader) to the group, the group ought to consider contributing to their costs. If tne facilator already have a PDC or refresher with Permaculture Visions then they will not be expected to pay for access to course notes unless they are ordering a paper or cd copy which will incur costs in printing and postage. If you have a PDC and want to run group courses, we have designed the notes to be used in group face-to-face situations and will provide you support. see here for more information on Teaching using our Course Notes. To use our notes without prior permission is a breech of copyright. Student fees only support our teaching project by contributing financially to the costs of production and ongoing maintenance. There are no other support structures used by PermacultureVisions.com and the project is wholly dependent on ethical conduct of its students and graduates.

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