The Goddard College-Gaia Education partnership combines sustainability education with radical pedagogy and social justice. The partnership allows students who complete Gaia Education’s Design for Sustainability online certification course to earn up to ten credits toward a bachelor’s degree at Goddard College. Goddard College will also award a $1,000 Partnership Grant to Gaia graduates who enroll.
This partnership covers the following Goddard College undergraduate degrees:
- Individualized Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Arts in Health Arts & Sciences
- Bachelor of Arts in Sustainability
- Bachelor of Arts in Education
Students interested in the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (BA/MA Fast track) or the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Creative Writing may petition to have Gaia credits applied to the Wide Knowledge distribution of their transcripts.
How to Apply
- After you complete Gaia Education’s Design for Sustainability course, submit an Online Application for Admission to Goddard College. Your application will include an essay and other supporting documents. Click here for detailed application instructions.
- You must request that an official transcript or letter of attendance confirming satisfactory completion of Gaia Education’s Design for Sustainability online course be sent directly to Goddard College Admissions electronically to admissions@goddard.edu or via standard post to Goddard College, Office of Admissions, 123 Pitkin Road, Plainfield, VT 05667.
Contact an admissions counselor today at 800.906.8312 or request more information here.
Note to Goddard Students:
Individuals currently enrolled as Goddard College undergraduate students may take coursework at Gaia Education a) between Goddard semesters while on a leave of absence, or b) in addition to part time study with the advanced permission of the Program Director and Registrar. Between semester study at other institutions counts toward the total permitted transfer credits and cannot lessen the overall time of required undergraduate enrollment (three semesters).
If you are a currently enrolled Goddard student and interested in Gaia Education’s Design for Sustainability course, please speak with your faculty advisor or program director.
About Goddard College
Nestled in rural Vermont, Goddard is a small, liberal arts, low-residency college recognized for innovation in education. Its mission is to advance cultures of rigorous inquiry, collaboration, and lifelong learning, where individuals take imaginative and responsible action in the world. Goddard’s theory and practice of learning by undertaking new experiments is based upon John Dewey’s ideals and principles of democracy and progressive education. At Goddard, students are regarded as unique individuals who will take charge of their learning and collaborate with other students, staff, and faculty to build a strong community. Goddard encourages students to become creative, passionate, lifelong learners, working and living with an earnest concern for others and the welfare of the Earth. Goddard offers accredited Master of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Arts, and Bachelor of Fine Arts degree programs from its main campus in Plainfield, Vermont, and sites in Seattle and Port Townsend, Washington.
Low-Residency Education
Low-residency education offers the best of what distance education, online programs, and traditional campus-learning offer: you will have the flexibility to study from home while also being a part of a living, breathing community of learners, faculty, staff and alumni – the larger community of Goddard College.
The progressive pedagogy at Goddard encourages students to pursue areas of your unique interests that contribute to the global community and the earth through holistic and multidisciplinary approaches to learning.
- Flexibility: Goddard offers a flexible degree program that allows you to pursue a degree without uprooting or disrupting your life.
- Community: Spend an eight-day residency of intensive study per semester in a community of your peers.
- Individualized Learning: Earn a degree that intimately connects the life you’re living with what you’re learning; your studies are directly relevant to the life you want to live.
Contact an admissions counselor today at 800.906.8312 or request more information here.
Gaia Education
Gaia Education promotes a holistic approach to education for sustainable development by developing curricula for sustainable community design. While drawing upon best practices within ecovillages and transition settings worldwide, Gaia Education works in partnership with universities, ecovillages, government and non-government agencies, and the United Nations.
Gaia Education’s Design for Sustainability (GEDS) provides theoretical and skill-based learning in sustainable community design and development. GEDS coursework covers four primary, intrinsic dimensions of sustainability and human experience offered at a minimum of 100 hours each: Ecological, Social, Economic, and Worldview. Each of these four dimensions, in turn, contains five modules for a total of twenty subject areas. Gaia Education’s Design for Sustainability online course runs for two semesters (15 weeks each) and a minimum of 200 hours of study each, for a total of no less than 400 hours. Coursework comprises comprehension, integration, and application of the learning, culminating in a team-design project that each student includes in their portfolio for a certificate.