Welcome to the first Internet Free School! Hip Forums is hosting this school modeled on the anarchist vision of the Free School. The idea behind this is to create the optimum environment for learning, free from academic stress, grades, deadlines, tuition and compulsory attendance. For more info about the Free School concept and links to existing Free Schools, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_school To start, we will be using the forum setup here on Hipforums.com to create classes and to facilitate student/instructor interaction. Our instructors will create new school forums based upon their knowledge and experience. Each new forum will contain threads started by the instructor, which students are free to participate in after signing up. Anyone is welcome to suggest a new course subject, either based upon their own knowledge (instructor) or thirst for knowledge (student). There is a subforum where you can suggest a new course. New courses will be created provided there is sufficient interest and an available instructor. We will attempt to implement the democratic version of the free school, wherein the instructors and students have an equal say in decisions affecting the school. However since the school is part of the larger Hipforums community, some restrictions will be necessary. All students and instructors are bound by the Forum Guidelines, so please be familiar with them. All those wishing to participate in the Free School must join the Free School group to post in the School forums. A student in one class can be an instructor in another, so we won’t discriminate between students and instructors. However within a particular class (forum), the instructor is the only one able to create new threads and act as moderator for their class. We suggest all instructors include threads for general subject discussions, student reports/research, and anything else not covered by the course itself. These can be stickied at the instructor’s discretion. We welcome feedback and suggestions from everyone, and there is a specific forum for that. It will be a challenge to implement a successful Free School on the Internet as apparently it’s never been tried before. So bear with us as we get organized and work out the kinks in this setup. We invite all those interested to participate in this school, and to spread the word that it exists far and wide across the Internet! Please note: This Free School is non-accredited, and does not offer transferable course credits. What kind of classes are appropriate for the Free School? The Free School mission is to share knowledge and experience not obtainable thru mainstream educational channels. We’re looking for alternative subjects not usually taught in any high school or rarely in College. The goal is to provide students with a set of skills and knowledge to succeed and survive in an increasingly hostile and politicized world. So the focus of many courses will be on how to live a sustainable lifestyle that respects the earth and our fellow human beings. Courses may cover alternative technologies, living off the land, ecological awareness, political and environmental activism, holistic medicine, shamanism, philosophy, meditation, do-it-yourself, hydroponics, communal living and much more! While the Hipforums has already covered many of these subjects, the Free School version of these forums will be more structured with directed study than the free-form Hipforums. One great advantage of this Internet Free School is that students needn’t be present for the start of a class. Nor will a class proceed according to a schedule, with a final exam and end point. Students can come and go as they please! Each class continues until the Instructor calls it quits, either because they’ve imparted all their wisdom on the subject or thru lack of interest or for personal reasons. So this is the mission and design of the Free School here on the Hipforums. Beyond that the rest is up to the students and instructors, limited only by the Forum Guidelines, the software we’re using, and any other technical, operational or security issues that demand my oversight. PLEASE NOTE: To participate in the Free School classes you must signup to the Free School group first. Then you can signup for individual classes. You must also read all the posts in the Free School main forum that set conditions for participation. The Free School forums are not open forums for ppl to just drop in and post comments. You are either committed to the class, or not a participant. Thanks!
Brilliant concept - I've been following a lot of experimental free schools and they all seem to do very well. No reason why it wouldn't work here.
Very VERY cool. I love this idea, can't wait till we get more classes. I wish I had something I could think of to teach.
A real good one would be street survival course, in case if anybody should happen to lose everything they have and have to stay alive on the street. The way this world is going the poor and middle class could lose everything at any time.
I have had enough of real school and wont be signing but if you make it interesting enough then maybe. I think I will see and watch first, but I am being honest, and I will say I joined hipforums because this is a innovative idea and worth watching even though I am fed up of school situations. I am just finishing university and the thought of reading another book ever in my lifetime is too much. I am all schooled out but any forum that has the ideas like this is worth joining
this is unreal!and freaky!i joined for growing tips lol but quit school monday and was going t teach myself subjects for th leaving cert(its Irelands big exam to decide your college and you have to get points in each subject to do what ya want and your points come from best 6 subjects eg English80 maths80 history80 geography80 music80 french80,total points480,) and was just going to read up more n anarcism etc this would be great to do though. ill sign up now!
It sounds interesting to take participate in the First Internet Free School. I like this thread. Hope that everyone will learn much more experience through this way credit auto
takes me way back to my teen years...nothing but good memories. when do we start? can't wait:sunny: peace. paisly skye.