The International Diploma of Permaculture Design (IDPD) is an Advanced Permaculture program which offers you a liberating support and documentation structure after you have completed your Permaculture Design Course.
Most people emerge with their PDC Certificate excited to put their newly-acquired permaculture skills into practice, only to find a void in the available support network. From our experience, the best opportunity for a freshly-minted Permaculture Designer to keep on a steep learning curve is to combine additional content information, hands-on project design with documentation, expert mentoring, and skillful feedback. The structure we have developed for the IDPD allows you to hone your Permaculture skills in a focused and productive way.
The International Diploma has been designed to meet these needs:
- providing advanced permaculture and ecosocial design content beyond the foundational content of the PDC
- serving permaculture learners (and unlearners!) who seek mentorship and constructive feedback for their project work and its documentation in an e-Portfolio, supporting them to bring their work to a more strategic level
- serving permaculture learners who are not in regions and zones that currently offer a functional pathway to the Diploma
- serving permaculture teachers who understand the benefits of a continued, supported progression in the Permaculture Design and Teaching community, and who appreciate the e-Portfolio systems and quality assurance oversight developed by Gaia U necessary for a coherent system
- gathering the work of permaculture learners and their mentors into a common e-Portfolio platform (open to the public) where peer and professional review can be facilitated according to clear criteria
- initiating another round of international cooperation between various Diploma nodes with a view to establishing a viable Credit Accumulation and Transfer System thus enabling graduates of all nodes to use their Diplomas as a common qualifier
- adding additional earning and work-exchange opportunities to the portfolio of experienced permaculture teachers and practitioners as they work at the essential process of mentoring permaculture learners
The learning design follows the generic pattern of all Diploma and Degree pathways at Gaia U, using a Transformative Action Learning methodology.
PATHWAY STRUCTURE:
In your first Action Learning Cycle (ALC1) you will be engaged in two Advanced Permaculture Certificate programs online with a cohort of approximately 25 other actionists from around the world. Following these two Certificate programs you will be designing the projects with which you will engage during the remainder of the Action Learning Cycle 1 and the Action Learning Cycle 2 phase of your program in which you will receive professional mentoring and advising as well as peer support. See below for further details.
Certificate in Ecosocial Design:
The Permaculture Diploma program begins with a series of 8 online courses consisting of readings, activities and live interactive webinars. Upon completing these courses you will be awarded our Certificate in Ecosocial Design.
The courses are:
- Creating Regenerative Livelihoods I (2 weeks)
- Creating Regenerative Livelihoods II (2 weeks)
- Managing Time, Managing Promises (2 weeks)
- Learning & Unlearning (2 weeks)
- Thinking About Worldviews (2 weeks)
- Growing Resilient Communities (2 weeks)
- Project & Design Thinking (2 weeks)
- Tracking Your Learning Journey (2 weeks)
Certificate in Auto-Ethnography and Learning Design:
The Certificate in Ecosocial Design is followed by 2 intensive learning experiences centered around work which is documented in an e-portfolio and supported by readings, activities, live interactive webinars, one-on-one mentoring and advising. Upon completion of this program you will be awarded a Certificate in Auto-Ethnography and Learning Design.
The two parts to this Certificate are:
- Life & Career Review (4 weeks) in which you reflect on and document what you have learned and unlearned in the past and how you did that.
- Learning Intentions & Pathway Design (4 weeks): in which you reflect on and document what you intend to learn and unlearn (over the next 6-12 months) and how you might do that.
These two certificate programs comprise the beginning of all of our Diploma and Degree programs. They can also be taken individually or together without enrolling in a full program.
For more information click here.
Project/Documentation/Mentoring Phase:
Following the content-rich 6-8 month Certificate programs, you will start focusing on your self-chosen project work, making a series of structured project reports that you will publish in your e-portfolio. Each report is reviewed by yourself, a peer, your Main Advisor, and your Permaculture Mentor. This results in comprehensive feedback on your work as you progress along your pathway.
What you decide to focus on for your projects is entirely up to you. Students have designed projects on research topics, businesses, volunteer/professional work, land-based designs, social and/or cultural designs, personal development, and more.
Please click here for an overview of the tuition fees for the Diploma program.