OK, not strictly
permaculture design, but I've just signed up for a 'Massive Open Online Course', aka MOOC, about the basics of design.
From the blurb...
"Design your own world. Are you ready?
Design 101 is a journey into contemporary design in which you will transform yourself and your everyday life into 101 projects.
For three months, you will develop basic design attitudes that will allow you to thrive in today’s world, while restoring your understanding of its mechanics. We live in a global community where the physical bits are slowly (and not so slowly) overlapped by social media. Design has become #design. Indeed, the use of new technologies has changed the teaching and, by the same token, the nature of the past; the past is being renewed. Herein lies the conceptual hinge of Design 101:
a new way to learn a new design.
To do so, we will collectively explore the tools of today (such as this MOOC platform) to step into a fantastic voyage through time and space, in which we are all absolute beginners."
Dates
The course will officially start on October 28, 2013 and end on January 29, 2014.
Content of the course/journey:
The various things to do (so-called “hands-on” activities) will be divided into 14 units, one per week.
Intro: Acquaint yourself with the course’s dynamics.
My diary: Learn about the design process by creating a very simple object.
Kitchen Stories: Become an expert at something and develop basic social skills.
It’s alive: Design as a garden.
Voyage into my room: Understand interior spaces, plans and measures.
Zoom out (the city): Observe the public space in a new way (and map it).
Making things: Get familiar with shapes, colors, materials. Plan a series.
Telling stories: Form doesn’t follow function. Form follows fiction.
Christmas break: Lots of greetings + some more.
Dressing people: Understand what “custom-made” really means.
I lie, therefore I am: Form follows fiction goes forward.
Road to nowhere: Learn to become self-sufficient.
Ready to show? Ready to exhibit?
P.S.: Three extra days (to reach 101!).
I've no idea what the projects are, but as it's totally free, and online, I'm going to give it a go to see what it's like.
They are also offering various other courses, all completely free -
The Fascination of Crystals and Symmetry
(I signed up for this one, too, as it looks absolutely fascinating).
The DO School Start-Up Lab
"Have a plan for changing the world? It's time to learn how to DO it! Taking your great ideas and making them a reality is never easy. The Start-Up Lab helps you stop dreaming and start DOing, introducing you to the crucial steps necessary to get moving. "
Public Privacy:Cyber Security and Human Rights
Monte Carlo Methods in Finance
The Future of Storytelling
The European Union in Global Governance
Changemaker MOOC - Social Entrepreneurship
DNA - From Ftructure to Therapy
Contemporary Architecture
Political Philosophy - an Introduction
Dark Matter in Galaxies - the Last Mystery
Vehicle Dynamics I: Accelerating and Braking
Vehicle Dynamics II: Cornering
Vehicle Dynamics III: Vertical Oscillations
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