The Learning Village
To help you maintain and deepen your learning and relationships with peers and mentors throughout your time with Gaia RDI, we steward and encourage a large and dynamic "learning village." Our GaiaU programs are nested within this greater learning village. As part of the RDI greater learning village, you will have opportunities to "cross pollinate" with members in those programs. There are central meeting places where the entire village can converge, akin to the village square, as well as many offerings unique to each program at RDI.
RDI Community Web Site. Participants and alumni of RDI programs are encouraged to be active in our RDI Facebook fan page. It is a place for sharing comments, cross pollinating with other programs, posting photos and videos and keeping up on what's happening in the RDI community. It is our RDI social network.
RDI Programs. There are many opportunities for you to participate in RDI programs and special projects. As an associate of Gaia RDI, we offer a discount for Permaculture Design Certification, Ecology of Leadership, and Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness courses. We also seek qualified associates to participate in special local and international programs as volunteers and staff. RDI is a robust institution with many facets and we hope you will immerse yourself in the full breadth and depth of the programs we host.
Mentoring and Collaboration
We do our best to ensure that you are fully engaged and supported in your action-learning studies through a plethora of face-to-face and online mentoring and collaboration.
Buddy System. At your orientation you will choose a peer to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with, a friend to call upon for support along the journey, to check in with for peer review and more. We've found this to work extremely well.
Main Advisor (MA). At your orientation you will meet one of the Gaia RDI advising staff who will work closely with you throughout the year. This person will meet with you approximately 1.5 hours per month to support your personal, professional and project development, help connect you with additional mentors, review and grade your GaiaU work and more.
Skill Flex Advisors (SFA). We use the term 'skill flex' instead of 'skill set' to denote that our skills are not 'set' - they are flexible and dynamic. Skill Flex Advisors are members of the Gaia University International community who assist with your development of specific skills you and your main advisor have identified as valuable for your growth. For example, if you are launching a permaculture design business you may work with a SFA for deepening your permaculture design skills and client interviews, and a SFA on business planning and marketing. Or if you are writing a book you might seek an SFA to assist with finding your best ways of accessing your creativity, finding appropriate editors and publishing. SFAs are specialists in their fields within the GaiaU community.
Project Mentor. During the capstone year you will work on a project(s) of your own choosing. You will need to identify a local person(s) who is prepared to undertake a project mentoring role in the capstone year. This person may well be a client who commissions and specifies the project.
Learning Support Budget. You have a small fund allocated from your tuition of $300-$500 per year for additional learning support beyond your MA and SFA. This budget is intended for hiring support from specialists outside of the GaiaU community, additional support from members within the GaiaU community (including other associates if you wish), for select workshops and training and anything you and your main advisor agree would be strategically beneficial for your growth.
Action Learning Guild(s). If you are passionate about a topic, we can set up interactive conference calls with breakout groups through maestroconference.com for dynamic group learning experiences. This is a new development for us and we are excited to see what happens when a group of people from around the world connect on a regular basis around topics that they care deeply about using this technology. We are also working on a GaiaU Radio and will post details here as soon as this comes online.
Counseling Community
Have you ever found it difficult to focus when you are concerned about your future, feeling unhealthy, just separated from your partner or feeling stressed? We do not want you to suppress these challenges to focus on your academic work. Instead, we encourage you to release the strains and stresses so that you can focus on your work from a more calm, clear thinking, centered and grounded place.
Gaia University International endorses Re-evaluation Counseling (RC) as a way to release stresses, old hurts and patterns which are preventing you from being fully joyful, engaged, aware and productive. Many GaiaU learners and advisors are trained in RC and can have sessions or 'swap time' with you.
Gaia RDI also encourages you to check out the Ecology of Leadership, the Landmark Forum and Non-Violent Communication (NVC) as powerful ways for working towards your healing, personal empowerment and problem solving.
