LEARNING

"Travel doesn't merely broaden the mind. It makes the mind."


Bruce Chatwin, global wanderer and travel essayist

Courses for the
curious traveler


The curious learner, like the curious traveler, develops their own itinerary and syllabus. My courses provide more than what you can get from a book or video. With different categories of topics, you can "choose your own adventure." One course on the art of Tibet followed up by a course on the basic tenets of Buddhist scripture. By organizing my courses into the categories below, learners can mix-and-match, putting what you learn into your own context.

My motto is, "I teach from where I travel." During the pandemic, people were not rushing off to far-flung countries and exotic territories. This was a great time to take one of my courses some of which I began to make available. I have already followed the global pathways in search of people and places. Now the wandering soul is beginning to freely travel again. The WanderSight courses will prepare you for your journey as no guide book ever can.

Learning Online


What is learning, really? Education has become more about acquiring skills for our career.  We live in an era that doesn't prioritize enrichment for its own sake. Yet, a study of the liberal arts and humanities guides us toward those emotional and intellectual skills that make us human.


Just as we need to learn those subjects and ideas that define our humanity, we also need a way to learn that is not robotic or so computer driven. Learning should be what we need for the moment, but gives us something to think about for a lifetime.


The challenge of online learning: subjects that engage our curiosity and intellect, feed our spirit and emotions, yet connects us with other people.


That's what we do.

Fred addressing students in America by video from Kathmandu

topics that i teach


JOURNEYS MATTER

One of my tag lines is, "The person not educated for travel is not likely to be educated by travel." While my journeys take us to far-flung places, the humanities provide the intellectual adventure to get us there. All of my courses integrate ideas from subjects such as literature, philosophy, archaeology and geography that guide us on our journeys. These subjects create a path toward understanding the places and cultures we encounter. Rather than being purely academic in approach, I offer ideas for the practical application of the knowledge we gain from these studies.

ART MATTERS

The photographer Minor White admonished his students, "You know how to photograph things for what they are; now photograph things for what else they are." White followed a tradition of making images as metaphor. That is to see in some place or thing meaning rather than description. My art-related courses are not how-to techniques but present ways of thinking about art, often within the context of travel. Some of my art courses include what I call "the studio." This is access to a variety of media platforms where you can create digital projects based on a course that gives you the chance to visually share what you learn.


how my online learning works


When I began teaching online at the College of Southern Nevada in 1998, Internet technology, the learning management systems infrastructure, and the use of multimedia was, to say the very least, rudimentary. Over the years my online teaching from remote locations around the world, have helped advance education from simply learning through a computer to fully integrated systems and methods of instruction that provide the student with an interactivity not available in the classroom.


In person, face-to-face teaching and learning, can not be replaced. But that has never been my desire. It is like the debate between film and digital: which one is better? Neither. The technologies and materiality make them each different and not competitive. What you do with one is not the same as you do with the other. The same can be said about online versus classroom education.


I incorporate many approaches to elearning that bring together the best of both modes of education and learning.



features included in some of my courses


The Courses


Upcoming and Current Offerings

Courses are being developed and will launch in the Fall of 2022. For a hint of what is coming, click on the button below, 'VIEW COURSES.' This will take you to my eLearning platform.

VIEW COURSES
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