Blueprint 9: Educational Transformation
Purpose of the Blueprint
| Aspect | Explanation |
| Introduction | The purpose of this blueprint is to provide key recommendations and systemic guidelines for the transformative and enabling role of education for the design and implementation of a regenerative and distributive economy in the 21st Century. We are embarking on a year-long journey to research and prototype the key features, qualities and systemic conditions of transformative education for a regenerative and distributive economy. This work also includes recommendations for how to transform existing systemic barriers of mainstream educational systems for achieving the transition to a regenerative and distributive economy. Furthermore, an overview will be provided of leading initiatives of emerging Evolutionary Learning Ecosystems, and how to build on this to cultivate the evolutionary learning communities of practice at bioregional scales. Education in the context of this blueprint includes all relevant expressions of formal and informal learning.
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| Focus | The primary focus of this project will be to identify systemic guidelines and design pathways for the transformative and enabling role of education for the design and implementation of a regenerative and distributive economy in the 21st Century, with a bioregional place-based evolutionary learning focus. |
| Link to other r3.0 Blueprints |
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Areas the Blueprint will cover
| Aspect | Explanation |
| Evolutionary Learning and Development | Regenerative economies are evolutionary learning economies. This project will provide a foundational understanding of the generative aspects and conditions of evolutionary learning and development, and how to enhance and enable this for the transformation of our economic systems to become evolutionary coherent with the ecologies of life. |
| Mapping of Systemic Education Barriers | Mainstream education is currently not preparing people to develop the necessary future-creative competencies and evolutionary learning capabilities for enabling a regenerative and distributive economy. This project will provide an overview of some of the most persistent and widely occurring systemic barriers, and how to address and transform those. |
| Mapping of Regenerative Education | There are currently thousands of thematically related educational projects associated with the creation of a regenerative and distributive economy. We will create an epistemological framework for mapping and visualizing how they relate to each other. |
| Knowledge Synthesis and Translation into Action | The project will provide an integral framework for evolutionary cohering existing knowledge that is relevant to the focus of this project and how to synergize this into key actions for educational design and transformation. This includes recommendations of key strategies of regenerative design for place-based Evolutionary Learning Ecosystems. |
| Bioregional Regeneration | A key focus will be the development of ecological and cultural literacy through the design of evolutionary learning experiences in relation to ecological landscapes, like watersheds and coastal estuaries that biophysically constitute, and cultural interrelationships with these real-world human ecologies. Recommendation will be included for how to implement this in innovative design for evolutionary learning. |
| Resilient Life Systems Amidst Planetary Turmoil | Continuous learning across the full spectrum of life will be required to manage the complexities of accelerating global change. Key focus will be given to the formation of evolutionary coherent life systems in which people go about their work, raise their families, and seek resilience in their lives. |
| Integration of Finance and Ecological Restoration | Mobilization of resources for the regeneration of landscapes and cultivation of resilient communities will need to involve the educational activities that translate ideas into actions. Focus will be given to the creation of financial instruments that “de-risk” investments in regenerative projects so that more people can participate in them. |
| Capacities for Network Activation | Practical focus will be given to the weaving of key actors across educational offerings so that capacities increase for the activation of networks that seek to implement this Blueprint after it is created. |
| Recommendations to Relevant Constituencies | As with all r3.0 Blueprints, this Blueprint will provide Recommendations for filling the gaps identified in the report, geared toward specific relevant constituencies – for example, existing educational institutions, governmental departments of education, etc… |
Resources the Blueprint will build upon
| Resource | Explanation |
| SDG Transformation Forum | This is a network of research partners who design and implement transformation support systems to shape the evolution of social institutions, policy structures, and cultural values. |
| Global Education Futures | GEF has created valuable systemic mappings of key initiatives and systemic principles for Evolutionary Learning Ecosystems. |
| EARTHwise Centre Thrivability Education Resources | The PhD Dissertation “Into the Heart of Systems Change” by Dr Anneloes Smitsman of EARTHwise Centre includes peer-reviewed published research of recommendations for evolutionary learning and development, sustainability education, mapping of systemic barriers, systemic transformation in education, and design for Evolutionary Learning Ecosystems. |
| Meridian University | Meridian University is dedicated to enabling human development through wise transformative impact across multiple domains with global reach and local value. Meridian’s graduate degree programs in Business, Psychology, and Education enable students to combine passion with profession in service of larger social, cultural, ecological, and developmental goals. |
| Ubiquity University | Ubiquity University is an accredited global university designed for social impact. Supporting people to develop the soft and hard skills needed to solve pressing global problems that are threatening the planetary ecology and human society. |
| Kikori | Experiential education to transform the classroom. |
| Gaia Education | Gaia Education is an international NGO which provides students of all ages and cultural backgrounds with knowledge and skills to design a thriving society. |
| Wellbeing Economy Alliance | A repository of research and policy frameworks for health and wellbeing that inform how to envision the future humanity wants. |
| Earth Regenerators | A global network of practitioners and engaged learners seeking to build regenerative bioregional economies. This community is also incubating the birth of the Design Institute for Regenerating Earth that will offer prototypes, learning immersions, and opportunities to practice creating evolutionary learning ecosystems around the world. |
| Planet Drum Foundation | Decades of research and writings about bioregionalism and the decolonization of education in service to the emergence of sustainable communities. |
| Regenerative Communities Network | This Blueprint will tie into the work r3.0 is doing in collaboration with the Regenerative Communities Network, piloting this work in the Pioneer Valley Bioregional Collaborative in Massachusetts. |
| r3.0 Blueprints | The transformation of education in service to Earth regeneration weaves across all of the other blueprints in this series and will draw upon their reference materials to identify key measurement frameworks, emerging opportunities, and other related information. |
Expected outcomes of the Blueprint
| Outcome | Detail |
| Repository | Blueprints typically result in a repository of source materials numbering in the hundreds, compiled into a repository. |
| Infographics from virtual dialogue | Blueprint development typically involves a virtual dialogue on Currnt for each Exposure Draft, resulting in infographic reports. |
| Public comment | After vetting two Exposure Drafts with the Working Group of 20-40 global experts, a Public Comment period precedes final publication. |
| Blueprint #9 | The final version of Blueprint #9 will be published as a r3.0 Blueprint Report |
Parties who should be involved
| Main role – (S)=sponsors; (W)=work/research partners; (D)= Data providers; (V)=validating / networking partners | |
| Sponsors (S) | Governments, Multilaterals, and Foundations involved in educational funding; Corporations and other networks as they see fit |
| Research partners (R) | Educational and research institutions seeking partnership opportunities to advance holistic design and practice in the field |
| Work partners (W) | Advocation Partners and Transformation Journey Program Participants |
| Data providers (D) | A particular focus on providers of data at the bioregional level with tools for measuring carrying capacity |
| Validating / networking partners (V) | r3.0 involves influential players that aren’t in a position to contribute formally in this Blueprint Project to reflect and add opinions where deemed necessary. This increases the visibility of the project and recognition of the outcomes. |
Management of the Blueprint project
| Function | Role Description |
| Program manager(s) | Ralph Thurm / Bill Baue |
| BP Authors | Dr. Anneloes Smitsman, CEO EARTHwise Centre (Lead Author); Bill Baue & Ralph Thurm (Co-Authors) |
| Corporate Participants | 7-12 |
| Network Representatives | 7-12 |
| Non-Profit Representatives | 7-12 |
Timeline
| Month | Activities |
| 1 | Call for participation, set up of working group, budget check, official launch |
| <2-3 | Literature collection, analysis, 1:1 expert interviews |
| 4 | Structuring of outcomes, 1st meeting working group |
| 5-6 | Development of first draft blueprint with participants |
| 7 | Online Think Tank, infographic development |
| 8 | Structuring of outcomes, 2nd meeting working group |
| 9-10 | Final draft to working group, public comment period |
| 11-12 | Final version of blueprint and release |
Resources
| Contributions | Description |
| Funding | 200k EUR, accepting donations as matching funding, and corporate contributions between 10k and 20k EUR |
| In-kind | possible |
Educational Transformation Blueprint
Lead Author
Anneloes Smitsman, PhD
Founder &CEO EARTHwise Center
Lead Author
Co-Authors
Bill Baue
Senior Director
r3.0
+1 413 387 58 24
Ralph Thurm
Managing Director
OnCommons / r3.0
+31 64 600 14 52
Working Group Members
Maria Garcia Alvarez
Lecturer Windesheim University of Applied Sciences and Earth Charter Educator
Prof. Dr. Bernd Ankenbrand
Purpose Economist, University of Applied Sciences Wuerzburg-Schweinfurt
Prof. Patricia Bader-Johnston
CEO, Silverbirch Associates Ltd; Professor, Bond/BBT Graduate School of Business; Rikkyo University
Prof Dr Walter Baets
Professor in Values Based Leadership, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
Frederic A.J. Barge
Founder, Reward Value
Dr. Kurt Barnes (ND, DEA)
International psycho-social expert, Founder & Chair of EARTHwise Centre
Dr. Stefan Bergheim
ZGF - Center for Societal Progress, Frankfurt
Jennifer Browdy, PhD
Professor of Comparative Literature & Media Arts, Bard College at Simon’s Rock
Luis Alberto Camargo
Director at OpEpa
Robert Dellner
Managing Partner, i3 Partners Limited
David DenHartog
Director of Innovative Learning, Green Schools National Network
Suparna Diwakar
Rashtram School of Public Leadership, Sonipat, Delhi (NCR)
Eric Fath-Kolmes, P.Eng, MBA
PhD Student, Centre for Sustainable Entrepreneurship, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Raz Godelnik
Assistant Professor of Strategic Design & Management, Parsons School of Design - The New School.
Henk Hadders
Caring Ecosystem Catalyst at Ecosystem Catalysts
Alexander Laszlo
Professor of Evolutionary Systems Design, Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science
Vlado Lobotka
Founder, Institute Gaia
Michele Maynard
Visionary Lead Collaborative Researcher and Educator (Earth Regenerators Africa & Sustainability Institute, South Africa)
Dave Pendle
Founder of Generative You - Leadership Development
Ajay Rastogi
Foundation for Contemplation of Nature Majkhali, Uttarakhand Himalaya, India
Michael P. Schlaile
Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Innovation Economics, University of Hohenheim
Marina Schmitz
Lecturer / Research Associate, Center for Advanced Sustainable Management (CASM), CBS International Business School, Cologne
Howard Silverman
Assistant Professor, Pacific Northwest College of Art
Dr. Shweta Srivastav
Glocal Colab and The Hague Center for Global Governance, Innovation and Emergence
Dr. Sophie Urmetzer
Director Coordination Office Bioeconomy Research and Postdoctoral Researcher Department of Innovation Economics, University of Hohenheim
Bas van den Berg, MSc
Learning Ecologist at Mission Zero/The Hague University of Applied Sciences
Remko van der Pluijm
Senior Lecturer Marketing of Social Business and Research, Assistant Lecturer Knowledge Centre Business Innovation, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences
Julian Wong
Vice President, Legal, QuantumScape; Education Ambassador, Prosocial Schools
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