Start: 4 October 2021 (Duration: 8 weeks)
Registrations open until Monday, 11 October 2021.
About this course
In this online course, you will gain the understanding and skills to become a confident changemaker in social issues of sustainability.
The aim of this programme is to give you a better understanding of the true meaning of social equity and participatory action and to enable participants to apply transformative tools that align us with more resilient social systems. Our relationship with others is too dear to let it default to old domineering paradigms.
After completing this course, you will have learned practical and effective ways to create the change we all seek. Our distinct programme is your chance to learn about the different ways to participate in this (r)evolutionary shift in paradigms.
Many of us feel that our current social system is no longer sustainable and that more compassionate and just ways of organising are possible, but what are the alternatives? How can we consciously re-invent cooperative and harmonious ways of living and working together?
If you have been part of a group, you already know that one of the most common reasons for failure of group projects is conflict. Conflict is a structural issue in the formation of groups so propagating successful group projects will necessarily entail a healing process in which we step out of the cycles of pain and violence that have run through human history and take responsibility for initiating new patterns.
Rebuilding human community is an endeavour whose immense challenges should not be underestimated.
Course Content
Module 1:Building Community and Embracing Diversity
Introduces the basics of building community and some of the values that help foster an atmosphere of trust. We also explore engaging the energy of conflict toward generating meaningful actions and social systems that work for all.
In Module 1 you will learn to:
- Appraise the immense power for social change that lies in the building of community
- Describe common elements for starting a community, including organising a core group, forging a common vision, creating community glue, and instilling an atmosphere of trust and goodwill
- Relate issues of “interbeing,” the intrinsic value of all life in community building
- Combine qualities of compassion, empathy, and reconciliation in our relationships
- Defend diversity and difference and the richness they bring to community life
Module 2: Communication Skills and Decision-Making
Continues our journey into learning about group dynamics and the art of collaborative decision making.
In Module 2 you will learn to:
- Evaluate the range of definitions of “consensus” and why consensus is the decision-making process preferred by sustainability organizations
- Describe the role of the facilitator in participatory processes and how it differs from traditional, autocratic leadership
- Relate the basics of conflict and compassionate communication
- Specify the relationship between planning, feedback, reflection and evaluation in community building
- Practice the making of a facilitated, consensus decision
Module 3: Leadership and Empowerment
Module 3 offers lessons in distinguishing between “power from within” and “power over” as well as developing leadership skills that serve the group and the world. We also look at the impact of privilege, power, and oppression on individuals and social systems.
In Module 3 you will learn to:
- Recognize the differences between ‘repressive power’ and ‘creative power’
- Develop the concept of empowerment and the empowerment of others
- Determine how a group of powerful individuals can work together in organic patterns of shared and interdependent responsibility
- Indicate awareness around the issues of rank, power, and privilege
- Demonstrate leadership in groups: integration of leadership skills
Module 4: – Art, Ritual, and Social Transformation
Reminds us that in the individual and collective expression of creativity there is a re-unification with the source of all creativity, and a recognition of our deeper selves as expressions of the beauty and complexity of the world.
In Module 4 you will learn to:
- Create Art as a wonderful medium for personal growth, healing, and transformation that can be used by people of all skill levels
- Relate the reclaiming of unbounded creativity as our true nature, as a flow from a universal source, as natural as the blossoming of a flower
- Arrange beautiful and stimulating environments in which inspiration and intuition are enhanced, and in which creativity may flow unencumbered
- Design community celebrations as an expression of group Art, and the experience that living in community allows members to develop a shared culture of celebration
- Propose that the highest form of creativity, both individually and in community, is for our lives to become works of Art
Module 5: Education, Social Networks, and Activism
Broadens our perspective and investigates the value of networking, teaching one another, and taking direct action to shape our world. We look at the threads that connect us to past and future generations, as well as to local and regional communities all around the globe.
In Module 5 you will learn to:
- Indicate respect for the community of life across generations; those that have lived before, those that live now, and those that will live later
- Manage to build friendly relationships with neighbours
- Design for social ecology; balancing public and private space
- Formulate ways of catalysing sustainability in our bioregion
- Broaden our scope for change on a global level: networking, knowledge exchange, education initiatives, and solidarity
You can also learn more about the content of the Social Dimension in the Social Key book ‘Beyond You and Me‘ of the 4 Keys book series.
Start and Registration
- The next Social Design course will start next year on 12 October 2020 and runs for 8 weeks (including an orientation period).
- We suggest you dedicate a minimum of 10 hours a week to receive maximum benefit from this programme.
- If you register early, you are able to get a discount. The full price of this programme is £350 GBP.
- For further information, please email: elearning@gaiaeducation.org
The Social dimension can be taken as a stand-alone programme or as the starting point for our 10-month online Design for Sustainability certificate course.
After completing the Social dimension, you will be equipped with the understanding and skills to become a confident change maker in social issues of sustainability.
Graduates of our programmes have gone on to contribute to sustainability projects, build communities, become social entrepreneurs, partake in permaculture projects and bio-dynamic farming, support transition movements and much more.
What you will receive
- a downloadable course book with the latest research and additional resources (also
available as an online e-book) - a student handbook with all the important information concerning the course
- a Student Guide: description of each dimension’s learning outcomes, objectives and timeline, plus a set of activities for each module of the learning journey
- access to the virtual campus, where you join our classrooms, forums, design teams, have direct communication with tutors, with access to sample and all learning materials and activities for certification, as well as social media related to the course
- orientation to the virtual campus, e-learning tools and the Moodle platform
- full technical and academic support to navigate the virtual course and achieve all the learning outcomes
- a Certificate of Completion from Gaia Education
- earn credits to continue to our flagship certificated programme in Sustainability and Design
- the ability and practical skills to take active steps in the strategic area of Design for Sustainability
- paving the way of joining the Gaia Education Learning Journey
Your Investment
- We suggest you dedicate circa 10 hours a week to receive maximum benefit from this programme.
- If you register early, you are able to get a discount. The full price for this 8-week programme is £350 GBP. Payment in instalments is available.
- For further information, please email elearning@gaiaeducation.org
More Information about the Social Dimension
Learn more about our full 10-month Design for Sustainability programme here.
