It seems like we need the right tool.
Introducing: http://nowthepathforward.us
NOW the Path Forward is an educational website based on Moodle (http://moodle.org). It’s purpose is to grow solutions under an open source umbrella and use the educational tools such as wikis for collaboration. In this scenario, the teachers are actually teacher/moderators and the students are student/collaborators. Do not think of the courses in a traditional sense, but rather as work space. Participants can contribute at any level they prefer. Lurking is allowed.
Suggested course titles are: Alternative Gardening, Rituals for Daily Living, Hosting a Stone Soup Event, Hosting a Houtenanny Event, Repurposing Used Clothing/Linens, Repurposing Furniture, Repurposing Miscellaneous Stuff, Harvesting Rain Water, Creating a Conversion Kit for Vehicles from Gas to Electric, Solar Water Heaters, Foraging for Food – What Food Grows Wild in Your Area?, Preserving Food – What Works for You?, Shipping Container Living Space, Alternative Affordable Living Space, Using Solar, Wind, and Batteries for Sustainable Energy, Bringing Soil Back to Life, Dyslexic, Introverted, and Color-Blind Students in Education, Growing Artistic Endeavors in Education, Taking Competition out of Wellness in Education, Cooking What You Grow, Cooking From Scratch, Bartering Systems, Families Raising Chickens, Families Raising Dairy Goats, Families Raising Dairy Cows, Families Raising Beef Cattle, Sustainable Hunting as a Primary Meat Source, Creating a Food Forest, Nesting: Making Your Home Welcoming Inexpensively, Families Raising Alternative Livestock and Fowl, Families Raising Pork, How to Stop Buying Stuff and Start Making Stuff, Discovering History, Creating Alternative Internet Networks, Reading Club: Classic Books at http://www.gutenberg.org/, Listening Book Club: Classic Audio Books at https://librivox.org/, Restoring Manufactured Housing, Running for Public Office, Creative Recycling, Discovering Poetry, How to Help People, Good Living With Little Money, Encompassing Grieving, How to Stage a Safe and Peaceful Protest, PTSD Veterans – Bringing Them Back to Life, Family Stories as History, The Virtues of Generosity Gratitude Kindness and Compassion, Humility.
The first class called, Alternative Gardening Methods: Round Bales, Raised Beds, Etc.. is set up in a topics format and scheduled to last for ten years. (Do you suppose we will figure everything out by then?) So far, there are three assignments posted. The first is a forum for participants to post their gardening histories. The second is a wiki for the class to collaborate on a math project to answer the question, “how much do you have to grow to feed your family for a year?” The third is comprised of twenty-two wikis to identify the best crops per hardiness zone and soil type.
To join Alternative Gardening, email marilyn@nowthepathforward.us
To start your own class, email admin@nowthepathforward.us
Many thanks to JtC, our administrator, for logging in and giving great advice.
