permaculture

[Claudia Joseph <permie@earthlink.net>]

Hi Toby,
I understand what you are saying here.  Ten hours is really a lot of  
time to ask people to pay attention.
I got overloaded during my first PDC and took an afternoon off for a  
swim in the pond.
The material can be overwhelming even with the regular 14 day format.

I wonder what the psychological effect is though of spreading out the  
classes.
Once a month seems stretched to me.  Connecting the dots from session  
to session would be harder than in a more compressed format.

The pattern I use has both some stretching and some bunching.  And  
there is time in-between for participants to mull over the material  
and relate it to their own living experience.
There is also the opportunity for more questioning, explanation and  
discussion between sessions.  Since I am mostly focused on the course  
during the intense part I am available to the class all week long.   
There was e-mail and information passed through the group during these  
in between times.

I like the traditional format.  I think sharing meals together and the  
social experience of hanging out  has a value we can't measure.
There is more happening in a PDC than book learning, although many  
teachers I have talked with discount that aspect.
How to function in community seems like one of the harder practices to  
develop, partly because of our history as Americans.
I appreciate your perspective and as usual I am thinking about this a  
lot.  This might be my last 9 unit course if it sets a bad precedent  
for others.

I can't help thinking of the infamous Bill Mollison PDC where  (I was  
told) he parked a chair in front of the ocean and talked for 2 days  
straight.  That was a PDC.
I have serious questions about the all lecture format.  Particularly  
for folks who have no experience getting dirty.  Bill is Bill and now  
we have to figure out how to assist that body of knowledge to be carry  
forward.

Thanks for your patience and understanding,
Claudia


On May 8, 2008, at 7:16 PM, Toby Hemenway wrote:
> A bit belatedly, my thoughts on a 9-day PDC:
>
> I guest-taught at a 10-day PDC once, and then Doug Bullock and I  
> taught
> one in Washington State. All those involved in teaching both courses
> decided "Never again." Sure, we did 10-hour days and had well over the
> 72 hours. But we were able to cover much less material than a 12 or 14
> day course allows (since those are always 10-hour days, too). By the
> book, the PDC covers 72 hours. In reality, any 12 or more day course
> covers about double that, and even those feel rushed and I can never
> cover the material I really feel is essential. The 10-day course  
> struck
> me as inadequate; it was greatly impoverished compared to 12-14 days,
> and the students clearly didn't get the same experience that the usual
> course offers. Design projects were rushed and not up to the usual
> caliber. So my own take is that although you can fit 72 hours of class
> into a shorter format, it is nowhere near as effective as the full  
> PDC.
> Yes, 72 hours is the "legal" number of hours in a PDC, and you could
> theoretically cram it into 9, 8 or even 7 days. But shrinking the  
> course
> to only include 72 hours really only covers about half the material  
> that
> the usual course covers. I won't ever teach a 10-day course again; I
> think it's an inadequate substitute for the traditional PDC.
>
> If people cannot attend the traditional 12 or 14 day intensive, then  
> the
> weekend format is a great alternative. I've taught or helped at  
> numerous
> 6-weekend courses, spread out over 3 to 6 months or longer, and many
> extremely busy professional people have been able to attend. They
> clearly get the full design course experience. So IMO there's no  
> need to
> shrink the course below 12 days.
>
> Toby
> http://patternliteracy.com
>
>
>
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