NS/EPEC 145: Applied Sustainable Agriculture

Course contract, by Chris Kawecki, September 16, 1996

Personal Goals

My main goal is to develop my skill of helping students to develop their skill of consciousness. Skill of consciousness means acting on one's curiosity and values, by research using books or people, by experimentation, and by working for a new way of doing things in one's own life and communities. I believe this kind of personal growth can only happen in a context. In this case, I will work towards this goal by valuing the complementary and concurrent learning by students of agricultural expertise and skill of consciousness. I plan to use individualized homework assignments, course contracts, and individual/small-group projects in sustainability to achieve this goal. I believe another key concept in helping students develop this skill is for myself as teacher to be responsible to, but not for, course participants (giving them a great deal of responsibility for themselves).

Another goal I have is to see whether extensive field work may provide a meaningful basis for learning about the scientific literature. This extensive field work will include working at the Hampshire Farm Center and many field trips.

Contract with Course Members:

I will I have already been an orientation leader, providing some students an experimental introduction to this course. I will be at all class meetings, unless I arrange otherwise beforehand. I will get to class within 5 minutes of 2, unless something {\em really} pressing delays me. I will try to remember to put up a note on the Thorpe House door if we leave Thorpe house. I will be available as a resource for all members of NS 145 in pursuing their individual projects, and in clarifying the individualized homework assignments during class time, at the end of class, and out of class. I will meet with Brian Schultz by mid-October, to go over each student contract to insure that its completion will count as a ``pass'' in NS (with the student if the student desires). At the end of the semester, I will will write an evaluation for each class member together with Brian Schultz. It will be based on my notes, my memory, and any other materials (writings, presentation notes, self-evaluations...?) provided to me by class members at the end of the semester. The evaluations will make clear what the student intended to learn, and what the student did learn (if there is any disagreement, the evaluation will clearly explain what what I think the student learned, what Brian thinks the student learned, and what the student thinks the student learned).

I will not: I will not be responsible for making sure that class members: are in class, are working on projects or homework out of class, turn in contracts, or turn in self-evaluations. I will be patient and available, except that I am not responsible for explaining anythings to people because they were late.

Method of My Evaluation

I am writing about a paragraph after each class meeting, to record what we did and learned. Because this course is part of my division 3, there will also be some reflective writing there. I will write an evaluation for myself together with Brian Schultz; This evaluation will be based on my main goal, and the materials considered will be the self-evaluations of the students, together with the supporting materials each student provides for his or her own evaluation at the end of the term.

ckawecki@hampshire.edu

Last modified: Mon Nov 11 11:48:01 1996