Inspired Permaculturist

I've been wanting to add Leigh to my Inspired Learner series for a while. I've known Leigh for a number of years and have come to appreciate the alignment in our shared love to be in the back-country, our personal values and our slightly skew view to the world. This post is mostly about how I see Leigh as a very inspired learner, and when it comes to permaculture how he uses social media very well to deepen and enhance his learning. I believe one of the strongest elements of Leigh's work is that he has developed an exceptional understanding of how to use video to capture and explain his work. Here is one of Leigh's videos in how to build a composting hot water system, it is one video from a series of videos he has created on the subject.

The amount of time a person puts into their reflective efforts is rewarded with a deeper understanding of their subject. When writing about or putting together a piece of content (like a single or series of videos), the accompanying reflection while creating this content greatly enhances their personal learning. The idea of reflective activities deepening learning is not new [Garrison, D. R. (1997). Self Directed Learning: Toward a Comprehensive Model.] And the idea that participatory video deepens learning is also gaining more and more acceptance, with an increasing body of research and new approaches becoming available with increasing frequency. If you want further information on how to use video, YouTube has a creators corner website to help out in learning how to be a good videographer. 

So back to Leigh; he has been building up a comprehensive set of content, sources and references to support his learning in and around permaculture.His approach to this I consider exemplary.

• You can see with his use of youtube that he is building a good set of video resources; http://www.youtube.com/user/leighblackall#grid/user/3E9C6C0FC24AAB39
• You can see with his community building and course facilitation he is engaging others; http://groups.google.com/group/permaculture-design-course
• And if you follow along with his tagging, he is creating his own folksonomy with what he has found in his readings about permaculture and related topics; http://www.delicious.com/leighblackall

I believe Leigh Blackall is an inspired learner who uses many of the available social media technologies and techniques to deepen his learning by engaging others and reflecting upon what he finds along the way. Leigh is an Inspired Learner.