[Sdpg] Ten Years of Permaculture Design Courses Online

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

Elfin Permaculture Celebrates
10th Annual Online Course 

Elfin Permaculture's 10th Annual Permaculture Design Course Online, which 
begins Sept. 18, 2005, culminates a decade of the online courses and nearly a 
quarter century of teaching permaculture.   

To recognize this milestone, for this course cycle only, Elfin Permaculture: 
o extends the deadline for scholarships from Aug. 1 to Sept. 1;
o increases the number of slots for fully paid scholarships from 1 to 5 
(almost entirely for students from countries where US exchange is scarce or 
impossible to obtain by grass roots workers); and
o decreases the cost of the course CD for self-study or monitoring from $250 
to $200. 

The certificate course runs six months and includes the following learning 
approaches:
o   extensive reading in books, papers, both in print and on the course 
CD-ROM;
o 21 modules of at least one week, mainly presented on the CD, representing 
the formal presentations of course instructors; 
o   at least four reports from each student, including a full permaculture 
design report;
o   class discussion via email of readings and reports, as well as questions 
and issues raised by students or instructors;
o   the opportunity to participate in student study groups where interested 
students can pursue any agreed-upon topic as long as they wish; 
o support for students by three instructors: Dan Hemenway (USA), course 
designer and discussion leader; Cynthia Hemenway CNM (USA), designer and discussion 
leader for a special week on Design for Health, and Dr. Willem Smuts (South 
Africa), an earth scientist who has contributed to each of the previous course 
cycle, currently as assistant instructor. Dr. Smuts is expected to take over 
as discussion leader of this course after cycle 10, with Dan Hemenway 
continuing to review design work and evaluate total student work where certification is 
sought. Cynthia Hemenway will continue to lead the Design for Health module 
and serve as Dan's back-up.

Registration is limited because of the time required to review and critique 
individual designs.

The online course consists of three consecutive sections, plus work on a 
permaculture design which students undertake throughout the cycle in which they 
are registered. Samples of design work are included in the course CD.

Content of the course sections follow:

     Section 1:   Introduction and Basic Principles
          a)   World ecological problems and interrelationships.
          b)   Principles of natural design.
          c)   Permaculture design concepts.
          d)   Classical landscapes.
          e)   Patterning, edges, edge effects.
          f)   The Permaculture Design Report
g)     Principles of transformation (Unique to Elfin Permaculture courses.).

     Section 2:  Appropriate Technologies in Permaculture Design   
          a)   Energy--solar, wind, hydro, biomass, etc.
          b)   Nutrient cycles--soil, microclimates, gardening methods, 
perennials, tree crops, food parks, composting toilets, livestock, "pest" 
management, food storage, seed saving, cultivated systems, forests,   etc.
          c)   Water--impoundments, aquaculture, conservation, etc.
          d)    Shelter/buildings and access.
e)     Design for Health (NEW in 2000) 

     Section 3:   Social permaculture.   Design Report.
          a)   Design for catastrophe.
          b)   Urban permaculture.
          c)   Bioregionalism.
          d)   Alternative economics.
          e)   Village development.
          f)   Final design reports and critiques.
          g)   Final evaluation.

Online course participants have come from every continent on Earth and a 
number of island countries, from latitudes spanning the equatorial tropics to 
sub-arctic, and a comparable range of elevations, etc.. The course is suited to 
beginning permaculture design students, people seeking support in producing a 
permaculture design for their own homes, and, by special arrangement, people 
with some permaculture experience who wish work in advanced areas. Successful 
students receive certification as entry-level permaculturists. Advanced students 
pay no extra, but are expected to be additional resources to the regular 
students.
 
To review information about the course methodology, content, certification 
requirements, tuition & fees, registration process, scholarship policies, 
reading list & cost, and assignment schedule, request the latest Course 
Preregistration Package from BarkingFrogsPC at aol.com This is sent as a pdf attachment.

>From the same address, prospective students may request a copy of the Course 
CD Contents Table. The course CD includes more than 300 separate items, 
including papers, data bases, weekly teaching modules, samples of design work, and 
other resources. 

Donations are needed to support additional scholarships and to provide 
reading materials to scholarship students. (We cannot include these in our 
scholarships.) Inquire at BarkingFrogsPC at aol.com or send contributions to Barking Frogs 
Permaculture Center, PO Box 52, Sparr FL 32192-0052 USA. Please include the 
term “permaculture” in the subject field when send email to us.

Elfin Permaculture is a project of Barking Frogs Permaculture Center operated 
by Dan and Cynthia Hemenway.

# # #

To Editors:   Permaculture publications, media, and closely allied 
publications may request a review copy the latest version (4.x) of the course CD for 
self-study by sending an email to Dan Hemenway at Permacltur at aol.com This version 
is substantially enlarged and refined from the review version we distributed 
at the beginning of this course.   The self-study version omits a few files 
restricted to certificate course students, but is substantially the same 
otherwise.
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