The Sphere College Project
The Sphere College Project is a project to create a high-quality, financially accessible educational institution for adults. It was founded in April 2009 in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania to provide education to adults who do not fit the prevailing model of higher education. The Sphere College Project is not currently a degree-granting institution, but in the future it will award degrees. [1] [2] [3]
Mission Statement
The Sphere College Project provides an environment for each student to discover and pursue their passion and vocation for enrichment of the human experience.
Educational Philosophy
The educational philosophy of The Sphere College Project is influenced by other experimental institutions, including Black Mountain College and Hampshire College, and incorporates elements of self-organization. The underlying principle behind the organizational structure of the institution is that no one individual is capable of having sufficient knowledge of the system to completely design it beforehand. The institution reacts to its needs in real-time and must provide sufficient infrastructure to ensure progress toward the common goal, embodied in the mission statement. Since students process information in different ways, the institution must adjust to support their individual learning styles. The philosophy is based on the following disciplines, including the sciences (human/computer interaction; digital communication networks; digital gaming); the arts; and the humanities.
Program of Study
The program of study proposed by The Sphere College Project proceeds in three phases:
- In Phase I, Self and Other, students embark upon a journey to acquire a deeper understanding of themselves, and to develop their understanding of how similarly and differently people experience the world: to discover what motivates the beliefs and actions of humanity. This is accomplished primarily through reading, discussing and writing about works of literature and philosophy and their relationship to contemporary issues and the students’ own experiences. It also involves activities in the arts, sciences and humanities. In this phase students will seek to identify the direction of their future studies.
- Phase II, Tool Acquisition, involves the acquisition of interdisciplinary knowledge and skills to support and implement the student’s goals.
- In Phase III, Action, students draw upon their continually-developing knowledge to put their passion into action by implementing a project that is a good fit for the student.
Movement through the phases will proceed according to the schedule of the student. The Sphere College Project is not currently a degree-granting institution. It may, in the future, award degrees and seek accreditation.
Previous Class Topics
Below are selected examples of previous class topics treated in Phase I: Self and Other. Topics are typically selected by student discussion and consensus.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
- A multi-class session exploring the epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia. The epic comprises some of the earliest works of literature, which sprung from a collection of oral Sumerian legends and poems about Gilgamesh, King of Uruk.
The Art of Communication
- A ten week interdisciplinary session that included a reading/discussion of Montaigne’s “The Art of Conversation” (humanities), exploration into digital media (sciences), and an activity involving drawing from another person’s description of an image (arts).
Propaganda
- A ten week session on how to define and identify propaganda, including less obvious, more subtle forms, and comparing it to advertising. The class viewed several videos, examining them and discussing the many uses of propaganda and how it can be used to influence opinions and events.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s “The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily”
- A multi-class session exploring Goethe’s fairy tale, which was based on Schiller’s “On the Aesthetic Education of Man in a series of Letters.”
Theatrical Presentation for Sphere College
- A multi-class session during which the students created a theatrical presentation describing The Sphere College Project.
Rituals and Celebrations (around the Winter equinox)
- A five week session on the origins and practice of the many celebrations clustered around the Winter Equinox.
Plato’s “Euthyphro”
- A multi-class session examining one of Plato’s earlier dialogues between Socrates and Euthyphro.
Crucial Conversations[4]
- A multi-class session using the book “Crucial Conversations.” Students examined the elements of conversation and discussed how to keep our emotions, stories we tell ourselves, and past experiences from preventing us from behaving rationally under stress.
Evolving Community
- A ten-week session on the nature of communities, how they began, how they exist in today’s world, and how to improve them.
Theory U[5]
- A multi-week session in which the class explained some aspects of the book Theory U, by Otto Scharmer.
The Merchant of Venice
- A multi-week session in which the class read, examined, and discussed William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice.
References
- ^ Berg, Joel It's His Very Own College, and Welcome to It, Chronicle of Higher Education, May 22, 2011.
- ^ Pettit, Leeann A new learning environment offered at Sphere College, The Phoenix, January 9, 2010.
- ^ Reddy, Michael, Sphere College: Rising from the Ashes in Phoenixville?, Yoga Living Magazine, March/April 2010.
- ^ Written by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler.
- ^ Written by Otto Scharmer; based on the U-Process developed by Dr. Friedrich Glasl and Dirk Lemson of the NPI (Netherlands Pedagogical Institute) in 1968.
External links