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Elements of Global Citizenship:
The Science of Connecting
With the Web of Life
The Art of Thinking With Nature
PRE POSTING SCHEDULE
The more effort you put into preparing for the course before
it begins, the more you will get out of doing the activities.
Give yourself the time for this as there is a lot to absorb in
the beginning. Test your wings in the nest before you jump to
catch the currents!
Background Readings:
During or after you have completed the Prerequsite Requirements
and Course Instructions, if time permits in the week prior
to posting, please read through the following Pre-posting
sections listed below- They will familiarize you with what Project
NatureConnect is about. Please ignore the material on these pages
that repeats information on other pages or was sent to you in
the letter that starts the course. If this information is useful
to you, please make a note or how you may again find it.
http://www.pacificrim.net/~nature/mjcohen.html about Mike
Cohen:· welcome introduction
www.rockisland.com/~process/5grnch.html
about Natural Systems Thinking Process
www.rockisland.com/~process/5grnchapnc.html
course descriptions
The Growth Measurement Indicator
Option
It is often useful to have a means to measure how far we have
progressed or grown in an area of interest that is new to us.
For this reason, with reference to the course material , you
may optionally measure changes in your knowledge of it by applying
the Growth Measurement Indicator
now and again at the end of the course, too. It may be helpful
in you determining what you've learned and discovering new directions
and areas to concentrate on.
Preparing for Active Course
Participation:
· A special button/pin is used in an activity at the
end of this course. You should have the button by the time you
do that activity 2-3 weeks from now. You may obtain the button
by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Button Fulfillment,
PO Box 1605, Friday Harbor, WA 98250·
Be sure to have ordered the optional course textbook, "Reconnecting
With Nature", if, as an option, you want to use it. The
cost of the book and postage is $18.95. You may save money by
purchasing RWN in conjunction
with our other textbooks. Send your postal mailing address
with a request for the RWN book to nature@pacificrim.net or call 1-360-378-6313. If you are getting
the book, request that the button (above) is sent with it. The
book is required in the Degree Program and the Introductory Course
that follows this course.
The Introductory Course will start shortly after the Orientation
Course is completed, for those interested in continuing. At your
earliest convenience, please let us know if you are going to
take that course so we may hold a place for you. Either way,
the book will let you continue your growth in what you learn
here.·
IMPORTANT: Please let us know now if you will not be doing
the particular section of the course that you have been asigned
to. Another section will start in about 2 weeks.·
LAST MINUTE REMINDERS:
Preparing to Post:
Make a Batch/Group Mailing List: It's sometimes called an
"Alias" "nicknames" or "multiple accounts".
It is one address that will reach all the members of the address
list. Each email program has instructions on how to do this but
may have different names for it and different ways to set it
up. If you do not have this feature on your e-mail, work out
a convenient way of copying and pasting the interact group of
addresses on your mail. This email should should contain all
the addresses in the address. NOTE: Since you are a member of
the group, if you keep your address on the list, you will get
your own letters back every time. This is helpfully reflective
and a way to reference and store what you have written.
You may reach all course members by using one correctly addressed
email as a template. Then all you do is duplicate it, and the
duplicate should have all the addresses on it. You can then erase
old messages and write new ones on the templated duplicate and
send it. ·
NOTE: Address all email to all participants at all times,
using the batch address. Most often you reply to the group as
a whole by simply selecting "RETURN MESSAGE TO ALL"
or a similar email command.
Contacting the total group and facilitator with questions
and comments allows us to learn from each other. We have found
that, at times, private communications/discussions between members
has sapped some very worthwhile learning experiences from the
group. Note that I am one of the people on your list and you
may write me directly with questions. Time permitting, I'll get
back to you. Please note that unless I consent to do otherwise,
I or the facilitator will repost your questions, postings, and
my responses back to your interact group and sometimes the total
course and student cooperative or professional list so they may
consider them and learn from them.
I also repost interesting observations and experiences from
this course to other courses, the list, the newsletter and vice
versa. We have found this an excellent way to learn from experiences
of others. We only post contributions using your first name or
no name so that you won't be flooded by excessive mail and can
remain anonymous. Giving your consent for this to occur is one
of the requirements for taking the course. If do not want a certain
message to be sent to all, be sure to contact the facilitators
and explain why in detail.·
Only send your postings via email, NOT by attachments to emails
as many attachments do not interface with other computers and
they are quite time consuming as well. Please use lower case
when possible as UPPER CASE IS HARDER TO READ AND IT COMES ACROSS
LIKE WE ARE SHOUTING.·
· ADDRESS ALL EMAIL PROPERLY: You should create a separate
email file folder (if you can) in which to save all postings
for future reference. Use the following format in the "subject
heading" of all postings to ensure all email is easy to
track/identify. We often work with up to 11 groups at a time.·
YOUR GROUP'S NAME : ______________'s Activity _______
eg: Seagulls: Susan's Introduction
eg:Barnacles: John's Part 4
For Posting on Day 1 (Sunday): Prerequsite
Material
REGISTRATION STATEMENT: On the Friday before the first post,
send out your registration statement as a test message to your
batch email address to be sure you are in contact with all participants.
Use "reply all" to acknowledge receipt of each members'
test email, and type in a short note - eg: "message received",
"got it", "hello", etc. We work out any communication
snags over the next two days so that everything will run smoothly
when we proceed with the course by posting on Sunday.
The course officially begins AFTER you have prepared the prerequisites
and posted them on the first Sunday of the course, the date of
which you have been sent by email. In order to help the course
go smoothly and not take an excessive amount of time to complete,
we may not admit participants to the course until they have completed
these Prerequisite Requirements. If you cannot complete the prerequisites
by the starting date, please let us know. Please continue to
work on them and make arrangements to participate in this section,
or the next course section which will begin in about two weeks.
Upon our receipt of your prerequisite paragraphs you will be
placed on the active course participant list.
Post the prequsite material introduction and survey attraction
on the Start Date. As you receive the posts of others, use the
"reply all" function we spoke of earlier to greet your
coursemates. Respond to and comment on that which attracts you
in their posts. In this way, we begin to "web" with
each other and build trust and group cohesion. The more trust
and cohesion, the more the group and each member in it will grow
from the course. Treat others as you expect to be treated. When
you post to the course interact group, briefly indicate the subject
and/or person that you are responding to. For example: "Jill
writes that she wondered about the rock's color.".........and
then continue with your thought, feeling or reaction. Who, where
and what you are experiencing, are essential facts of life and
an important ingrediant for responsible growth. As you act to
produce responsible long term effects, you shape every aspect
of society that touches you.
Interpersonal Commitment
Before the course begins, I would like participants to be
aware of the following letter:
June 4, 1995
Dear Mike,
Having finally completed the Reconnecting With Nature course,
I consider it very valuable to me and I'm glad I did it. As you
know, I had to do it twice because some of the eight participants
in my first interact group had little respect for each others
needs with regard to taking the course. Even though they had
good intentions, they knew that some of us were taking the course
for credit or needed it for professional or personal reasons,
yet they did not hold up to their end of the bargain very well
-some not at all. Some did not keep up with assignments, so it
became difficult to continue because I did not receive reactions
to my postings to the group, or their assignments were so late
that they made things confusing. Two people just quit the course
without saying anything, and one did not follow the guidelines
and quoted authors all the time instead of sharing what happened
when he did the activities, if he ever did them.
Isn't there some way that you can screen those who say they
want to take the course so that those that take it keep their
participation commitment to the group? I think it was right for
Erica, Dan and me to decide to start over with a new group. The
second course was terrific, we all learned a lot and had a great
time. We still write each other and Morgan actually visited me.
I'm really happy things worked out for the best. Actually, I
might have had to postpone my graduation if the course did not
work out.
It seems to me that you should emphasize that on the course,
as in nature, each individual depends upon the cooperation of
the others to sustain the E-mail group community. Our lives are
usually so disconnected and out of our control that we often
lose sight of the importance of what we can contribute and how
much we gain from doing it. Also it might be better if the groups
were smaller. Our second group of six worked well.
Thanks for offering the course. I'm looking forward to helping
guide the next group and taking the second part of the program.
Perhaps I'll send the new group a copy of this letter so they
have some idea of what is needed to make the course work well.
In Friendship,
Ricki Forbes
Please note that this course is an outreach program of the
Institute of Global Education, Department of Integrated Ecology
and is subsidized by Project NatureConnect, past course participants
and myself.
We welcome your support and suggestions for making this course
available internationally.
At this point you have completed the "Pre-posting
Schedule" section of the course.
You are now prepared to start the course schedule.
Please proceed to the Base Camp.
Project NatureConnect Website
Links:
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PROJECT NATURECONNECT
..........ALTERNATIVES