Re: PDC's- E correspondence & weekend

[rick valley <bamboogrove@cmug.com>]

Replying to Pacific Edge's comments on design courses...
>We teach weekend PDC's in Sydney and have had great success doing so. Many
>of our students are still active, even years later.

For me, that's a very important evaluation point!

>Regarding weekend courses, we have found that-
>- students get to know each other well over the 18 to 19 days (mainly
>Sundays) of the course and have formed friendships, meeting socially (the
>course are longer than the usual 14 days because we have more in them and
>because we have found that the 14 day courses are too rushed, allow too
>little student interaction and groupwork and do not acquaint students with
>critical skills such as group skills and project management concepts)
>
>- participants meet in non-course time, during the week, to work on their
>group assignments which are a required part of course assessment
>
>- the outcome appears to be sound in an educational sense.

So it appears your weekend courses are longer than those given in the US-
which are usually 10 to 12 days only. Too rushed by far! I think it was just
determined by some that it was physically possible to get people to sit still
for 72 hours in that length of time.
Do you include group meals in your weekend courses?

How do you work the social factors into E correspondence courses?
And thanks for a very complete and informative reply.

-Rick

Rick Valley Northern Groves
PO Box 1236, Philomath, OR 97370
Mobile-(541)602-1315, hm.& msg. (541)929-7152  Bamboo catalog $3 or at
<http://www.teleport.com/~dbrooks/bamboo.html>
"Useful Bamboos and other plants‹ Permaculture education‹ Ecological design &
consultation centering on water,landform and horticultural systems"