If you've taken a PDC by Geoff Lawton, how was it?

Hello every one,

i have a question for those who have an opinion or did the course itself!
how was it and what do you think about it?
is it worth to attend a permaculture course by lawton or there are other choices that you rather recommend?

best wishes,
Rafael.

Hi Rafael:

I'm going to assume you're referring to his online PDC (he also teaches in-person PDCs).

I was a student in his inaugural class. I already had a PDC from an excellent local instructor and have been developing my own property since that time (2008 ). Geoff's course built upon that knowledge and expanded my perceptions in ways I could not have imagined before the class. It was well worth the money! Plus there were no related travel expenses, no text book expenses (although we were offered a copy of the Designers Manual at a reduced rate - it was not a required text) and you could do the course when convenient for you. All that made it both cost effective and accessible.

In addition to the 72 hours of instruction, Geoff took all the questions students asked regarding the videos and made QA videos from them - I believe there were over 50 hrs of QA videos! Then for our class, he included a new Earthworks class that he'd been working on which was another 3 hours (don't know if this will be included in future courses).

The community-building that occurred was phenomenal. So many people have already gotten their projects off the ground, websites started, etc. I know for myself, I banded together with other urbanites, other drylanders, and people with disabilities practicing permaculture (quite a large and diverse group!). I will be meeting up with a couple of these people at Geoff's "Greening the Desert" site in Jordan next Oct/Nov to participate in an internship.

This class, even if you've never had a PDC before, is WELL worth it. You also get a video set of the lectures that you can watch at any time well after the class is over.

If you have further questions, just PM me and I will be happy to answer them.

Best,
Jen

You can also see more testimonials here from people who took the class: http://permaculturenews.org/2013/10/28/geoff-lawtons-online-permaculture-design-course-worth/

Jennifer, thank you for your information you shared with me and you keep on sharing via the private messages.
Rafael.

Jennifer Wadsworth wrote:Hi Rafael:

I'm going to assume you're referring to his online PDC (he also teaches in-person PDCs).

I was a student in his inaugural class. I already had a PDC from an excellent local instructor and have been developing my own property since that time (2008 ). Geoff's course built upon that knowledge and expanded my perceptions in ways I could not have imagined before the class. It was well worth the money! Plus there were no related travel expenses, no text book expenses (although we were offered a copy of the Designers Manual at a reduced rate - it was not a required text) and you could do the course when convenient for you. All that made it both cost effective and accessible.

In addition to the 72 hours of instruction, Geoff took all the questions students asked regarding the videos and made QA videos from them - I believe there were over 50 hrs of QA videos! Then for our class, he included a new Earthworks class that he'd been working on which was another 3 hours (don't know if this will be included in future courses).

The community-building that occurred was phenomenal. So many people have already gotten their projects off the ground, websites started, etc. I know for myself, I banded together with other urbanites, other drylanders, and people with disabilities practicing permaculture (quite a large and diverse group!). I will be meeting up with a couple of these people at Geoff's "Greening the Desert" site in Jordan next Oct/Nov to participate in an internship.

This class, even if you've never had a PDC before, is WELL worth it. You also get a video set of the lectures that you can watch at any time well after the class is over.

If you have further questions, just PM me and I will be happy to answer them.

Best,
Jen

Thanks for your opinions on the Lawton online PDC. I might be interested in taking it. I'm curious as to how much the charge for the course was. I was on his website and couldn't find that info. TIA, Elissa

Elissa:

The class was $997 Australian dollars - which back in May was about $1028 US dollars as I recall. However, right now the US$ are worth more than Australian $ so the cost would be a bit less - just go online and search "Australian dollar to us dollar". If you bought the class today, it would cost you $884 US. Currency changes all the time so it will probably be different when he actually opens up the class again.

When seeking to market my PD skills, I wonder if people seeking these services consider an online certification an equal education to classroom certification . Thoughts?

Hildegard Bogart wrote:When seeking to market my PD skills, I wonder if people seeking these services consider an online certification an equal education to classroom certification . Thoughts?

Hi Hildegard:

I actually hold 2 PDC certifications - one from 2008 from a local guy (the very talented Don Titmus) and one from this year (online with Geoff Lawton). The PDC is something that can effectively be taught online because a traditional class doesn't include hands-on activities, although several in-person classes do include them as an "extra". So I don't think it really makes that much difference whether it's online/in person.

For myself, what mattered was getting a certificate from a Permaculture Research Institute (PRI) approved instructor as this is the emerging "gold standard" of permaculture training. My original PDC did not have that. My goal for myself is to become a PRI approved PDC instructor and eventually set up an urban PRI Master Plan site. So there are steps to go through and I am following that process.

Many people take more than one PDC and I am truly grateful for the original PDC I took with Don - it got me to experiment and learn from my few successes but even more from my plentiful mistakes. So when I took Geoff's class, I was able to dive deeper into the material he presented. And I gained a bunch of new knowledge, had some of my own findings confirmed and some ah HA moments when Geoff provided a possible solution to something I'd been struggling to understand through my own project.

Note that Geoff is not the only PRI-certified instructor out there - he's just the most well-known. You may be able to find an in-person PRI-certified PDC near you if you want both.

You can find out more about PRI certification here: http://permaculturenews.org/2011/10/19/the-pri-restarts-the-permaculture-teacher-registry/

You can see what's involved in a Master Plan site in the video below:

I put both of my teenage sons through it to get the PRI certificate. It was well worth paying for it twice.

Yes, most of the information is out there on the internet (most of that is HERE) but it is organized in the class in such a way for you to understand how the pieces work together. Now they can watch a youtube video on one technique and understand how it fits in the big picture.

I don't know if they will take full-blown PDC's from others, but they will definitely be taking courses or interns with various permaculturists semi-locally to learn more hands-on.

Thanks, Jennifer.

I took his online course and thought it was Awesome!. It was my first PDC, and would like to take one in person in a few years maybe, but didn't have the time now, and the online made it possible. I felt it was very complete, and was happy, but I have nothing to compare against.

R Scott and others-

How do you think Geoff's PDC would work for a homeschool student? Would they just be able to watch it segment by segment, discussing material with me as they go? They wouldnt have to understand every detail for it to be valuable to their education. Any thoughts much appreciated.

Adam - I think it's the perfect set up for a homeschool student. There was a young man in our class - I believe he was around 10ish - he was INCREDIBLE - asked fascinating, thoughtful questions - I was so impressed.

You get a new section each week - each section is between 2-5 hrs long. There is a community section for discussions and a way to ask Geoff questions.

I'm sitting here visualizing having this class as a home school student - and I'm thinking WOW - what a gift!

Adam Klaus wrote:R Scott and others-

How do you think Geoff's PDC would work for a homeschool student? Would they just be able to watch it segment by segment, discussing material with me as they go? They wouldnt have to understand every detail for it to be valuable to their education. Any thoughts much appreciated.

That is exactly how we used it. They watched the segments, mom and I watched or listened when we could--and then we had discussions on them. Lots of dinner conversations around it. Having to do the project at the end was a good term-paper project. It is a very big time commitment, it put some of the other schoolwork on hold, but definitely worth it. I signed them up instead of me because I don't care about the PRI cert, I just wanted the learning, but they maybe be able to use it for careers.

They both used our land as the example and I intended to pick which was best in the end and use it. They both came up with VERY different designs and I couldn't pick a winner--I will be using portions of each as I get the $$ to do it.

I am looking for a complimentary online course for next year to again take as a family. Maybe botanical, maybe soil science--but I haven't found anything yet.

BTW: we are having a Book Club with Mollison's Designer's Manual on this site, starting in January.
Comment on that thread to keep posted.

My first reading (really a scan focusing on a few topics) was instructive but that book is so full of stuff I'm hoping the discussions will help me digest it better. This might be perfect for your own family discussions, too.

Thank you ALL for sharing your thoughts! ~hugs from Kansas

Jennifer Wadsworth wrote:back in May was about $1028 US dollars as I recall.

If you're a member of Jack Spirko's MSB there was a substantial discount. If not, and you signed up via Paul, he got a good commission, supporting him and this site.

And of course, the PDC was awesome.

This was my first PDC & changed how I view my surroundings forever in a most positive way. I'm extremely glad I spent the money & time. The positive remarks voiced already express my satisfaction & delight.
Cynthia
NE Kansas

I loved it. I study the materials constantly. I wanted the PRI PDC, as I think it adds a certain credibility to my professional Architectural services and gets me on to the site, not just the building.

I know nothing about this offering Link below), but it is 'flashy' and looks to offer similar content. I don't know anything about RLI, caveat emptor:

http://www.permaculturedesigntraining.com/?cctidx=fb-onlinepdc-la-1

Geoff's PDC program gave me tons of cd's that I use with clients as well as additional links to information and other designers.

BUT HERE'S MY PLUG FOR PAUL: THIS IS THE BEST SITE EVER FOR PERMACULTURE.

I had never taken a PDC and was readily opposed to doing it online because I feel that such a course NEEDS hands-on work to make it fully absorb. That being said, when I saw Geoff Lawton was offering a course online, I chose to take it. I figured, if it wasn't great, I hadn't spent much money and could still take a hands-on course later.

I was wrong. While I still feel I need the hands-on training to complete my education, I couldn't say enough good things about Geoff and his online PDC. This course was amazing! It followed the text of the PDM almost perfectly and the added value was the anecdotal content which Geoff was able to add from his 20+ years of experience all over the world. His methods are amazing and his teaching style was superb. I never felt like I was being left behind the way he described everything.

If you ever get a chance to take one of his online or in class offerings, just do it. Take out a loan if you can't afford it, it will pay for itself in no time! Geoff is awesome and his PDC was even better.

I too took the online PDCclass from Geoff. It was worth every penny even if I am not planning on teaching. I only wish I could get my hubby to watch all of the videos. With do much information it is hard to inpart/convince him that we need to do things differently. It would be great for homeschooling.

The course was great. The Q&A videos Geoff did were so far past what he could ever do in a live PDC it was ridiculous.

We home schooled when our kids were younger and this course would have been a home run. We always looked to bring as many subjects in to a topic as we could. I have to think the possibilities with a PDC would be almost endless... study some of the places and cultures Geoff cites where he has done restoration projects... math, math, math... science out the wazoo... it would be limited only by your imagination.