This online Permaculture Design Certificate Course focusses on the Permaculture design system: it's fundamental tools and strategies that can be applied at scales from the home garden to city block to village to farm. Although rooted in horticulture and agriculture, Permaculture design is interdisciplinary, touching on a wide range of subjects including regional planning, ecology, animal husbandry, appropriate technology, architecture, and international development.

The combined Hort 285 & 286 certificate course takes students on a journey to design the site of their choice, where the curriculum and assignments all build towards the creation of an integrated site design.

The course consists of narrated slide shows by experienced Permaculture instructors, educational video tours with knowledgable guides, and interactive assignments, working towards the completion of a Permaculture site design.

Students present their work on individual blogs, which are visible for other students to comment on, and through discussion boards the community of learning is encouraged.

Oregon State University’s online Permaculture course can be taken as an introduction to Permaculture (Hort 285) or as the full internationally recognized Permaculture Design Certificate Course (Hort 285 + Hort 286).

Lead instructors Andrew Millison and Marisha Auerbach have a combined 30 years of experience working in the Permaculture world. Other teachers who have contributed content to the course through presentations or video clips include Heiko Koester, Erik Blender, Josho Somine, Tom Ward and others.