Diploma in Action for Resilience

Home | About Us | Contact Us | Store

2008, Living Mandala
creative services by: 360 Degrees

In Association With

Gaia University

Diploma in Action for Resilience - Overview

This Diploma program provides support, encouragement and qualification credits to people engaging in constructive action towards the goals of personal, community and global resilience. It commences with our comprehensive online orientation comprised of four course modules: Learning Online with Gaia U, Life and Career Review, Learning Intentions and Pathway Design, and the full Transformative Action Learning Certificate.

Following these orientations we move into a design process in which you thoroughly survey your intended community of action to establish who else is on the case for action for resilience. These people will likely include local permaculture designers, Transition Town activists, Food Sovereignty advocates and more. You may well be able to augment the efforts of these people and yet you may need to start your own, fresh projects. If you are already engaged in a project, taking a Diploma program will significantly raise its strategic value and give you access to mentors who will support you to strengthen your project and time management skills, entrepreneurial acumen, organizational design and more.

Learning Design & Curriculum Components

Integrative EcoSocial Design

•Integrative: to emphasize a process and direction (rather than 'integrated', a claim too bold, or 'integral' which is rather like a branding)
•Ecosocial: to indicate a balance between ecology, land-use and all social and economic aspects of human society
•Design: to underline our primary goal of bringing as many people as possible to a place of empowerment from which they can notice that the behavior, structures and institutions of societies and the people within them are the products of human thinking and efforts. Thus all these aspects of culture are amenable to deconstruction and redesign.

Transformative Action Learning Certificate (TALC)

The TALC is designed to provide a broad outline of the core threads that are required to weave a flexible fabric of purposeful, ecosocially-oriented, life-long learning pathways that are generally not available elsewhere. The material is drawn from the many members of the Gaia University community, has been thoroughly tested in live situations and now makes its debut online. The TALC is an independent certificate as well a foundational course required for all other Diploma and Degree programs with Gaia U. The Learning Online with Gaia U course is a prerequisite to enrolling in the TALC.

Core Elements of Transformative Action Learning

Below are the core elements of the Transformative Action Learning Certificate, which is the foundation to all degree and diploma programs as well.

1.Design Thinking
2.Learning and Unlearning
3.Managing Time, Managing Promises
4.Thinking About Worldviews
5.Growing Leaderful Communities
6.Appraising the Current Culture, Making Space for the Future

Using these common patterns has some key benefits of which the most substantial is that successful certificate and diploma associates arrive at the end of their program fully prepared to apply for a capstone degree program with Gaia University. Depending on age and experience, this may be either a full Bachelors or Masters degree in Integrative Ecosocial Design or Open Topic.

After the orientation course new associates will begin their journey on their Gaia University degree project work, and have regular contact with their main advisor, peer support group.

Living Systems Flexibility - Setting Your Own Pace

Recognizing that life and learning unfolds in a unique way and timeline for everyone, you can pursue the Diploma in Action for Resilience at a pace determined by you. There is no limit to how long you can take to complete a program. With this style a program year may extend to over 2 or 3 calendar years, or happen more quickly. This approach suits busy world changers, nomads, international travelers, professionals and barefoot permaculture people alike.

You can pay your tuition and review in Pay-as-You-Go mode, only engaging when you have the time, motivation and internet access. Even when not 'on-program' you can buy mentoring sessions to support you in developing a successful permaculture livelihood and/or practice.

Alternatively you can scrum down and barrel through the program in a traditional non-stop style in which case a program year corresponds to a calendar year and the Diploma takes a minimum of 2 years. Discounts apply for this approach. You can also switch from one track to another by arrangement.

About Gaia University

Gaia University is a university without walls, a university across borders, an un-institution intent on fostering a zestful, purposeful, global community of thoughtful learners and unlearners focused on ecological regeneration and social justice. We start from the perspective that it is your life, your passions, your projects, your vision – and the rapidly changing contexts in which they are emerging – that best give rise to what you need to learn and how you need to learn it.

Gaia University offers a unique and flexible model for learning and unlearning based on self-directed, project-based pathways. With a minimum of required courses set by us, you devote the major part of your energy towards the design, implementation and documentation of real-world projects. We provide a multidimensional support web of advisers and mentors who assist you in the practical development of your projects and encourage you to develop your capacity to think critically about your work and inner processes.

More Information

For questions and more information e-mail: registrar@gaiauniversity.org

To Enroll for the Diploma in Action for Resilience Click Here.

Tuition & Fees - Economies of Scale

Gaia University is committed to offering scholarships and lower cost tuition options to students from parts of the world where funding is less available. The fee structure for Gaia University International programs has three basic levels:

Economy 1 (E1): for those coming from countries with relatively high access to funding (USA, most countries of Europe, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and others)

Economy 2 (E2): for those coming from countries of medium access to funding (most countries in Latin America, some countries in Eastern Europe and Asia)

Economy 3 (E3): for those coming from countries with low access to funding (many countries in Africa and Asia).

Diploma in Action for Resilience Tuition

Tuition for the Diploma in Action for Resiliency may be paid quarterly, annually, or bi-annually, with slight incentives given for paying annually. Tuition costs for E1, E2, and E3 are outlined below.

Ei: Total Cost (2 yrs) - $4,500.00

Annual $2,200.00

Bi-Annual $1,125.00

Quarterly $575.00

E2: Total Cost (2 yrs)- $3,850.00

Annual $1,885.00

Bi-Annual $962.50

Quarterly $495.00

E3: Total Cost (2 yrs) - $1,980.00

Annual $975.00

Bi-Annual $495.00

Quarterly $255.00

To Register for the Action for Resilience Diploma Click Here.

Overview of Diploma Offerings

Diplomas are a lighter, more flexible and lower cost way to gather and practice skill-flexes than full degrees. Meanwhile they provide many similar advantages such as the opportunity to explore and develop your competencies in the world of real projects. Diplomas, due to their relative lightness, can realistically be stacked together to make up a very broad portfolio. So, for example, the permaculture designer with a deep interest in social development can first hone their permaculture design skills through the International Diploma of Permaculture Design (IDPD) and then add a Diploma in Action for Resilience to extend their repertoire. There is no limit to the expansions that can be made through this plug-in approach.

On-Line Courses & Certificates

It is our experience that a potent dose of select content offered in the context of exciting and participatory online courses gives our associates the inspiration and guidance they need to proactively and constructively engage with their independent action learning work. With the support of their advisors, and 'just in time' learning, associates seek out the additional content for their work to proceed vigorously.

Gaia University online courses are times of community building, deep sharing, strategic planning and concentrated information transfer. The required courses for all programs are:

•an initial Learning with Gaia U program
•followed by two consecutive modules: the Life & Career Review and the Learning Intentions and Pathway Design courses supporting the production of your first output packet (OP)
•a six to twelve week transformative action learning certificate course (TALC) supporting the production of your second OP

Learning On-line With Gaia University

Throughout your time with Gaia University you will make frequent use of the Gaia eLearning (GEL) site – a dynamic web-based ecology powered by a collection of open source and free software. Orientation workshops which we call "Learning Online with Gaia U" are the starting point of every Gaia University associates learning journey.

The Orientation introduces new associates to:

•The streams of thinking that most directly inform Gaia University’s philosophy, systems and methodologies
•The nuts and bolts of Gaia University’s organizational and program designs
•The advising support network and review processes
•Training in the use of our eLearning (GEL) site and documentation requirements
•The many ways collaborative alliances can be formed with fellow associates

The two elements which take place over 4 weeks are stimulating, fun and highly participatory, consisting of webinars, readings and forum discussions. We believe in the development of whole people, discovery learning and skill-flex development.

Life Review & Learning Design

These two Certificate course modules start with a thorough look backwards to your life and career so far (Life & Career Review). During this phase your story is outlined through a variety of methods such as 'critical incident review' and 'themed stories' some of which are generated through peer to peer interviews.

In the second module you create your goals and learning intentions that will form a core, guiding template for your following pathway work (Learning Intentions & Pathway Design). We use several life-coaching tools for this work.

Working through these 2 modules will produce all the materials you need to create your first Output Packet and, as this work will be delivered and reviewed online, will also enhance your online and documentation skills.

Build Your Professional ePortfolio

One of the benefits of the Diploma in Action for Resiliency is that it provides a structured, guided journey to build and showcase your project work as a world changer. Throughout your Learning Journey you will be developing an online ePortfolio to showcase your work.

Your ePortfolio is developed on the same platform (Mahara) that is used across Gaia University, and you will have access to all Diploma and Degree associates for social networking and collaborative group working. Mahara includes an easy-to-use export function that means you can, at any time, export your entire portfolio ready for upload to any content management system of your choice.

A Web of World Changers

Gaia University was founded to contribute significantly to growing a coherent global worknet of action-learning, open professionals working in full-spectrum guilds as integrative ecosocial designers, facilitators, and managers who are leaderfully engaged in a supported, synergistic web of all-scale, all-quadrant projects designed for human transformation towards ecological regeneration and social justice.

A primary goal for Gaia University is to co-create, with myriad partners, a thriving ecosocial economy in which millions can make their livings independent of the current ecosocially destructive dominant culture. Additionally, Gaia University is working to support generators and keepers of both non-conventional and conventional knowledge focused on ecosocial regeneration.

Gaia University Degrees & Diplomas

Gaia University is currently offerring the following degree programs, pathways, diplomas,

•Bachlor’s of Science (BSc)
•Integrative Ecosocial Design
•Master’s of Science (MSc)
•Integrative Ecosocial Design
•Open Topic
•Post-Graduate Diploma
•Integrative Ecosocial Design
•Open Topic
•Diplomas
•International Diploma of Permaculture Design
•Diploma in Action for Resilience

How to Enroll

To register in the Diploma in Action for Resilience you must fill out the on-line application form as well as pay your fees. Upon acceptance into the program, you will be advised of the date of the next Learning online with Gaia U program in an enrollment letter. Register Here.