Methodology

This methodology uses Bryce Taylor’s book “Whole Person Learning” as an important source of inspiration.  He works with cooperative inquiry and action learning with people like John Heron and Peter Reason, and now runs the Oasis School for Human Relationships, which was involved in creating the Global Leadership Programme.  Whole Person Learning is not a trademarked approach, and Bryce Taylor uses it as a name for something that he sees a lot of people doing in different styles and ways already – a natural evolution of action learning that transcends and includes what has come before.  So this approach fits into this broad umbrella.

We suggest each student to go over the diagram above in order to create a learning spiral, giving order to the methodology/process that will be used to navigate through the different components of the programme. There are four main components of the GEDS learning process- Content, Design, Reflection and Immersion.

The spiral starts with ‘Content’ and what is currently headed ‘documentation’ — refers to the content of the 20 modules within the four dimensions of the curriculum.  Each dimension of the curriculum has about 50 pages of content to be studied and numerous links and references to be researched.  Content includes ‘activities’ like reading, connecting thoughts and concepts, practicing, assimilating through interactions with other students in the virtual classrooms.  The learning will be deepened by the assignment of each student to a specific project or ‘case study’, brought by themselves or provided by the teachers (ie transforming a suburb of Guatemala City, or building an ecovillage/education centre in Costa Rica…). Students will work in small groups in their case studies, using the curriculum as a guideline for the complexity of issues involved, and working with the scenario in as much detail as possible.  Students will practice how to ask the right questions and the skills needed to deal with, both, the big picture and its synergies, and the detail of specific areas.

From there the learning spiral moves to ‘Design’ which will invite students to join a virtual learning group, working with a specific case study selected by the learning group with the support of the tutor.  The students will be asked to ‘design for transition to sustainable systems’ using the case studies as a platform of application of the design skills. The ‘implementation of the content into case studies’ is where we begin to apply information and thereby turn information into knowledge and begin building skills through paying attention to effective strategies and methodologies. Students are constantly reminded that they are collectively creating the depth of their own learning experience and are collectively responsible for how much they will get out of their participation in this programme. Part of the design process will also include the ‘activities’ (collecting and analysing data and sorting it by relevance for the project’s success; and practicing skills like the creation of project timelines, strategic plans, and diagrams that depict both the process of implementation and the physical outcomes of the implemented designs).

The next stage in the learning spiral is ‘Reflection’.  This will take place on a variety of levels.  The learning group will be asked to evaluate what they have achieved and how have they achieved it.  Students would debrief through the perspective of the “task – process – relationship” triangle and look at where their focus as a learning community was and how they could have improved all three aspects of the triangle.  Recording and reporting this process will be part of the ‘activities’. Students will be asked to keep a short reflective diary on the learning process and their engagement in the team-work with the case studies.  This reflection and debriefing stage will give students an opportunity to use conference ‘skype’ or chat groups to practice NVC and open and inclusive communication and dialogue. Examples of questions that can guide the students through their reflection stage are listed in the diagram.

The ‘Immersion’ part of the learning spiral will ideally provide students with a chance to apply whatever knowledge and skills they have gained from being exposed to the curriculum content and the ‘case studies’ and group work to a real world project in their own local community. They may not be able to apply all of it, but having been introduced to a holistic curriculum on sustainable community design will hopefully inform their specific work on one or more aspects (modules) of the curriculum as applied to a real world scenario.  Again, this should be documented in a diary and reflected upon through a series of short reflection papers.  Ideally students will use their virtual case study groups as learning communities which can provide them with advice and feedback on their ‘ Immersion Project.’