Creating an Action Learning Pathway

 
My Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design will involved creating ten different designs using Permaculture Design as their basis. The first of these designs will be the creation of my own Action Learning Pathway which will form the basis of my whole Diploma and the learning upon which I am about to embark.

The design framework that I have decided to use to develop this design is SADIM - which stands for Survey, Assess, Design, Implement, Maintain. For simplicity and consistency this is the same framework that I will be using for all of my designs throughout my Diploma.

Using SADIM the first stage of the design process is to Survey the background and context to the design which I am focussing upon. In this case that means observation of my own aspirations and desires as I being my Diploma, in order to develop a design which will allow me to fulfill these objectives. On a more complex project this could mean a site survey, or interviews aith a number of partners and stakeholders. Fortunately for my first design the necessary observation is much simpler than that.

The first thing that I did within my survey was to consider my own context and heritage with relation to my diploma. This was relatively straightforward to investigate and can be summarised as follows:

• I completed my Permaculture Design Course with Angus Soutar in Lancaster and Chorley in February 2012.
• I have a longstanding personal interest in Permaculture as a discipline and have been developing my knowledge in the subject in informal ways over the last five years.
• I have a professional background in developing creative community engagement and development projects which have come to involve some aspects of Permaculture Design in their creation over recent years.

Following this I went on to consider what I wanted to achieve through engagement in my Diploma:

• A development of my Permaculture Learning within the structure and support that the Diploma offers.
• A way to create a cohesive framework within which I can further integrate Permaculture into my creative and professional practice.
• The opportunity to develop a range of land and non-land based designs that reflect my interest and practice but that also push me out of my comfort zones in terms of the work that I am used to doing.
• Increase my learning around Permaculture Design within urban contexts.

Now that I have outlined this context the next stage of my design process will be to Assess these observations in order to consider how to create a functional learning design which will meet these aspirations