The blog I posted last week was about the various pillars involved in teaching in a holistic manner. This weeks' blog will delve into the different levels of wholeness concerning holistic education. Although this may sound nebulous, the difference aspects involved in developing a holistic approach to education are relatively straightforward. Given that holistic education involves teaching students to think outside of the classroom, and extend their knowledge into many different aspects, the processes becomes interconnected (Mahmoudi, Jafari, Nasrabadi, and Liaghatdar, 2012). By covering the different aspects involved in holistic education, the hope is that students will be able to understand the concepts in order to actualize said concepts into their everyday thinking and how they operate.

The first level of wholeness within the holistic educational paradigm is wholeness of the person. This involves six crucial elements: physical, emotional, intellectual, social, ascetic, and spiritual. By developing these six aspects of the student, the desired outcome is to produce a student who has a complete understanding of themselves. Wholeness in community is the next level in holistic teaching, and this stipulates teaching students how to develop positive interactions with others and quality relationships. To accomplish this faculty could focus on developing a students' social skills (and in the online environment, this entails superlative writing skills) to improve interactions with their peers. The third level of holistic teaching concerns the wholeness a student feels in society. The basic premise of this level is to create informed citizens who are able to reformulate their societies and economics in an egalitarian manner. Extending beyond society level, the next level in holistic teaching relates to teaching students to appreciate and understand the wholeness of the planet. The frequently state manta of global citizenship is central in this area. Students need to move beyond their personal and their nation-state' interests, and see the ecology and interconnections that exist in the world as this helps to assuage parochial concerns, with a nascent focus on universalistic issues. The final level in holistic teaching is teaching students the wholeness of the cosmos. This entails teaching students to view the abstract wholeness of the ether, the intangible qualities of their existence that lack quantification. By teaching this concept students can replace dogma and fragmentation, with a more holistic and inclusive understand of themselves, moving away from provincial concerns and narrow-mindedness.

Although this might sounds like a daunting list of criteria to cover within the classroom setting, the point is not to teach each level in entirety, but rather to allow students the opportunities to discover these levels within the classroom. This can emerge through prescribed curricula or through material added to the class by the instructor. I am curious regarding your thoughts on the different levels, whether they are feasible in an online setting, and what strategy you use of might use to teach the different levels involved in holistic education.

Thanks,

Eric

Reference:

Mahmoudi, S. M., Jafari, E., Nasrabadi, N. A., & Liaghatdar, M. J. (2012). Holistic education: An approach for the 21^st century. International Education Studies, 5, 178-185. doi: 10.5539/ies.v5n3p178