Curriculum

1. Arts/Humanities in the weaving/reweaving of the social fabric
   a) artistic creation and expression - creative writing about the humanity of the person in the social milieu - community and commons as text
   b) "reading" local and personal art
   c) issues as the "post modern" moves toward the "post-post-modern" (in search for a name)

2. Humanizing organizational issues
   a) systems thinking
   b) collaborative, integrative learning community
   c) community based needs/resource assesment
   d) new careers and 21st century human service
   e) conflict, its resolution, and "peace in the valley"

3. Humanizing the economics of development and stabilization
   a) community economic modeling
   b) appropriate technology and sustainability
   c) community banking
   d) community currencies
   e) cooperatives and interests in common

4. Personal issues in the midst of vast change
   a) personal roots, passions, learning, and centering
   b) personal economics in the meanings of the lifecycle
   c) conceptualizing and communicating "reality" through both artistic and academic expression
   d) students as co-researchers and collaborators

Planning

Content: Key themes in humanities/arts/social science

1. Four themes form the curriculum foundation for the course: (a) Arts/Humanities in the weaving/reweaving of the social fabric, (b) Humanizing organizational issues, (c) Humanizing the economics of development and stabilization, and (d) Personal issues in the midst of vast change. These themes and the sub-themes below will be introduced by the course's teachers during the early weeks of the course, in talks in each of the two local classrooms, in writing for the Web site, and in dialogue with students. Each student will choose his/her own primary interests to explore and report back to the others through the variety of methods of on-line and in-class expression. Process and outcome of students' inquiry will then begin to appear on the Web site in on-line dialogue and portfolios.

2. Among primary subthemes in "Arts/Humanities in the weaving/reweaving of the social fabric" are expected to be (a) artistic creation and expression - creative writing about the humanity of the person in the social milieu Community and commons as text, (b) "reading" local and personal art, and (c) issues as the post-modern moves toward the "post-post-modern" (in search of a name).

3. Among primary subthemes in "Humanizing organizational issues" are expected to be (a) Systems thinking, (b) collaborative, integrative learning community, (c) community based needs/resources assessment, (d) new careers and 21st century human service, (e) conflict, its resolution, and "peace in the valley."

4. Among primary subthemes in "Humanizing the economics of development and stabilization" are expected to be (a) community economic modeling, (b) appropriate technology and sustainability, (c) community banking, (d) community currencies, (e) cooperatives and interests in common.

5. Among "Personal issues in the midst of vast change" are expected to be (a) personal roots, passions, learning, and centering, (b) personal economics in the meanings of the lifecycle, (c) conceptualizing and communicating "reality" through both artistic and academic expression, (d) students as co-researchers and collaborators.

6. Teachers in this course will be expected to model their roles as co-learners in their own explorations of these themes and in their interactions (both local and virtual) among those choosing various among these themes for deeper study.