Is this legit? Bill and Geoff's PDC

I came across this PDC and it appears to be by Bill Mollison or his publisher/estate.

https://www.udemy.com/course/permaculture-design-course/

Is this legit? Has anyone done it?



I'm considering this or Paul's. I'd like a certificate ideally, but I don't have the time to go to Montana. If Paul's online PDC is head and shoulders above Bill's, then I would probably do that instead. Bill's PDC is also shorter, at 54.5 hours instead of Paul's being 100 or 177 with the ATC.

My goals are gardening and permaculture knowledge and how to plan a farm and actually do it.  

I know about Geoff Lawton's PDC but our climates are different and it is much more expensive. My climate probably resembles Paul's more than other options, but more temperate.

If anyone knows another option it would be welcome, especially if you have done it yourself.

Funny, I just read about that here:

Leigh said, "I recently finished this course online, made available by Tagari Publications and hosted by Udemy.com (https://www.udemy.com/course/permaculture-design-course/). If you sign up for the course, Tagari will give you a 25% discount on Bill's Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. I believe the course was recorded in 2005. This is a lecture only series, so there is no hands on training. Udemy does offer a certificate, but it's just a Udemy certificate of completion.

The course is absolutely excellent, and I learned a lot from both Bill and Geoff. That being said, it's not a course for anyone wanting to move into a consultation or designer career, because it won't give you the practical training. Even so, for those of us wanting to understand and learn more about permaculture, it's an excellent option. Udemy frequently runs specials for its courses, so you can get it for under 20 USD. That includes all the handouts that can be downloaded and printed, plus lifetime access to the video lectures. And Bill's stories are priceless.

I think it's fantastic that Lisa Mollison made this available. Highly recommended.

https://permies.com/t/7760/permaculture-design-certificate-dvd-collection#1362002

If you are still having doubts contact the publisher of the Book:

https://permies.com/wiki/20210/Permaculture-Designer-Manual-Bill-Mollison

I would take Leigh's suggestion if I could.

Sounds like a great deal right now. I considered impulse buying, but if I did I would throw my energy into that, and unfortunately I need to focus on other things right now. The lifetime availability is attractive though... Yet I'm skeptical of those guarantees considering I know of almost zero websites that have been on the Internet as long as I have... maybe debian linux's home page... nope I was there before them, I just checked.

Nevertheless, 20ish bucks for the material for a PDC is a steal.

Yes, this Udemy course is absolutely legit! I found it on the Tagari book website, when I was looking for Bill Mollison's permaculture design book. I signed up and have to say that it really helped me pull together my understanding of what permaculture is. And Bill's stories are priceless.

It's a full PDC by both Bill and Geoff co-teaching. So it covers all climates, with many, many examples from these different climates. The goal of the course is to prepare the learner to become a permaculture designer, prepared for all areas.

Udemy is a fantastic learning platform. Yes, the courses cost money, but they are well done, include handouts to download, and let you add personal notes anywhere in any of the lessons. No trolls or spam in the comments! You get lifetime access to all the courses you take.

So I say, go for it!

Edit for P.S. Udemy regularly puts courses on sale, so keep your eye on it. I got this course for about 20 USD.

P.P.S. When you sign up for the course, Tagari sends you a coupon code for a discount on Bill's book.

I just followed the link and found it to be $20 right now. I figured that has to be worth it, so I bought it. It'll be a while before I can  set aside the time to really dig in, but I'll try to remember to report back here with my evaluation of the course.

Leigh Tate wrote:Yes, this Udemy course is absolutely legit! I found it on the Tagari book website, when I was looking for Bill Mollison's permaculture design book. I signed up and have to say that it really helped me pull together my understanding of what permaculture is. And Bill's stories are priceless.

It's a full PDC by both Bill and Geoff co-teaching. So it covers all climates, with many, many examples from these different climates. The goal of the course is to prepare the learner to become a permaculture designer, prepared for all areas.

Udemy is a fantastic learning platform. Yes, the courses cost money, but they are well done, include handouts to download, and let you add personal notes anywhere in any of the lessons. No trolls or spam in the comments! You get lifetime access to all the courses you take.

So I say, go for it!

Edit for P.S. Udemy regularly puts courses on sale, so keep your eye on it. I got this course for about 20 USD.

P.P.S. When you sign up for the course, Tagari sends you a coupon code for a discount on Bill's book.

If anyone is looking to pick up a course on Udemy, the best time would probabaly be around black friday/cyber Monday time. This is also a good time to pick up most kinds of software, as they are typically deeply discounted.

I think I'll probably do both now that I've slept on it.

Thanks for the help Leigh!

Christopher Weeks wrote:I just followed the link and found it to be $20 right now. I figured that has to be worth it, so I bought it. It'll be a while before I can  set aside the time to really dig in, but I'll try to remember to report back here with my evaluation of the course.

If I end up doing either one I'll also try to remember to report back and give my review. Is there a central post of reviewing PDC's to make it easier to find reviews?

https://permies.com/wiki/66379/Permaculture-Design-Teacher-Notes-Tim

this may be a good resource for you guys

Vinnie Cappitani wrote:
If anyone is looking to pick up a course on Udemy, the best time would probabaly be around black friday/cyber Monday time. This is also a good time to pick up most kinds of software, as they are typically deeply discounted.

Just checked.  It's currently $13.99 for 54.5 hours of video and "19 articles + resources."  That price ends in a day.  Usually is $119.99, apparently.

https://www.udemy.com/course/permaculture-design-course/

More importantly, if you go and look at the freebie "Course Preview" video, you can see what Geoff Lawton used to look like with short hair and a moustache but no beard.  Woah.  I'm still feeling knowledge saturated, otherwise I'd bite at that price.

George Yacus wrote:

Vinnie Cappitani wrote:
If anyone is looking to pick up a course on Udemy, the best time would probabaly be around black friday/cyber Monday time. This is also a good time to pick up most kinds of software, as they are typically deeply discounted.

Just checked.  It's currently $13.99 for 54.5 hours of video and "19 articles + resources."  That price ends in a day.  Usually is $119.99, apparently.

https://www.udemy.com/course/permaculture-design-course/

More importantly, if you go and look at the freebie "Course Preview" video, you can see what Geoff Lawton used to look like with short hair and a moustache but no beard.  Woah.  I'm still feeling knowledge saturated, otherwise I'd bite at that price.

This course is a very good value, I got it and I am 8% done. I paid around 16 but I didn't want to wait. If anyone is on the fence, you should probably do it.

They also give free PDF notes of some of the main ideas for most of the sections. Some of the lessons from bills stories aren't covered in the notes and they are relevant to the education of the student. They are still quite useful.

It's too good to pass up... I bit. Hopefully I can make time for this... I gotta watch something until the next season of Mandalorian and Andor start showing... Hah!

Currently 21% done. I typically watch about 20-60 min in a sitting.

It's soooo exciting for me to watch. I don't mean like thrilling exciting, but like it makes me want to stop doing most of the other things I'm doing and re-think and re-design everything I have been doing.

I love the Bill and Geoff team. I think they are perfect counterparts. I don't know that everyone will get as much from them as me, but I feel like they are perfect instructors for me personally.

So far, this is probably on par or exceeding my introduction to linguistics course in changing how I see the world.

There are a few bits which I think are best taken with a grain of salt, and sometimes Bill Mollison makes me roll my eyes, but all in all I'm loving it. You can fact check anything you like these days and Bill's long gone now, so you can take what you want and leave the rest.

Very cool. I got my little mostly meaningless Udemy certificate this morning (not meaningless to me of course!)

Watching at 2x speed it takes about 27 hours of watching. I watched a lot in between work or while having my morning coffee.

Now I'm considering getting a copy of the big black book, as there is a discount for people who paid for the Udemy course.

I'm also interested in filling in the missing course work by doing a design of my currently unused mountain property.

I can tell there is a lot of practical information left out from the Udemy course, since it is only the lectures, but the short montage of the design activity gives an idea as to the kind of effort and group work that happened.

The other thing I realized through this is what a PDC curriculum typically covers and what it doesn't. And obviously as systems for designing ways of living and interacting there is only so much information that can be conveyed in a 72 hour period.

Huge amounts of very important information is left out, though I imagine a lot of what I'm thinking of IS in the big black book.

Things I find myself wanting to learn or observe after studying:
1. planting patterns of various gardens, orchards, guilds, etc.
2. specific earthwork designs for the steep contour and high rain area I'm in
3. the characteristics, habits, and functions of many many plants around me
4. lists of useful plants and creatures for my climate
5. planting calendars for all the above plants for my particular microclimate