The first project for my Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design is to develop a learning pathway based on permaculture design principles and methodologies that will serve as guidance for the accreditation process.

To help illustrate the process of this initial design I created this mind map that shows how the various elements of this project fit together and support each other.

The first design project is comprised of the following elements:

Life Review Essay

The Life Review Essay is a 2000 – 3000 essay to help you reflect on your past and what brought you to where you are today. This is an opportunity to identify the things that can support you on your path forward through accreditation.

Diploma Goals Articulation

Articulating your goals is a very important part of Permaculture Design. This is an opportunity to apply the goals articulation process to your pathway to the diploma. What do you want to get out of the Diploma? Where do you want to be by the completion of the diploma? This section is comprised of the following sub-sections:

Powerful Questions

Long term goals

personal vision

Goals articulation is your look into the future. Where do you want to be after 2 years? 5 years? What is your vision of the ideal life?

Skill Flex

The Skill Flex section asks what skills you are looking to develop through the Permaculture Diploma. It may be skills you already have but would like to further hone, or skills you’ve always dreamed of developing but never had the motivation or opportunity.

What skills do you need to develop to achieve the goals and vision you articulated in the previous section?

Permaculture C.V.

The Permaculture C.V. is a snapshot of where you are today. Where the past has brought you and what skills your past experience has help you develop. No prior permaculture experience is required for the C.V. You might just consider this a chance to review your previous work and educational history in how it applies to permaculture.

Action Learning Pathway

All the above culminates in the Action Learning Pathway. In this section, you’ll expand on the skills you listed as wanting to develop from the Skills Flex section and provide more detail based on your goals and vision and your previous life experiences. As you expand on these skills you’ll begin to develop a pathway where you should be able to identify at least the first 5 projects of the total 10 you’ll need to complete your accreditation. Even if you are struggling with the last 5 projects it is important to make a plan for all 10 permaculture projects. The diploma is flexible and these projects may change as you progress, however listing all 10 projects will give you a clear vision of what to work toward. If things change, you’ll still have ideas about what directions to shift your learning pathway and still achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Appendix

The Appendix captures all the things that don’t fall under the above sections and provides a body of support for the richness of the information above. This section also provides a space for your assessment of the permaculture diploma project as well as your peer reviews. The appendix includes:

Time & Information Resources

Process Review / Reflection

Supporting evidence

Learning Journal Extracts

Peer Reviews

As the project develops and these pages get filled in the process will become more clear and should allow any self-motivated individual to design their own learning pathway.