DMM

DMM is another abbreviation, that you will come to know as a participant at IICD. It is the name of the education system used at the school. Directly translated, it means "The Modern Determination of Methods". DMM is first of all a human outlook, placing the participant at the center and as the main driving force in the learning. In order to facilitate this, the curriculum is available in a digital database to which every participant has access via a personal computer. The program is basically divided into 3 elements: Studies, courses and experiences.

Studies

A task is the key unit in the studies. The subject are defined in a number of tasks. Some are compulsory to do, many are optional. Both teachers and participants can add new study tasks to the database. In the study time, each student plan what tasks to solve. Every task solved is send via the network to the teacher, who will comment back. Each approved task gives a number of points. The status of the studies are thus measured by the number of points reached.

There are 1,800 study tasks within the grand subjects of the training - enough for over 7,000 study hours. They are all available in the database. Some tasks are compulsory, others are optional and will be selected according to interest and need. However, the amount of tasks requires a careful planning on the part of the Development Instructor.

Here are some examples of titles of study tasks:

Africa - a continent with huge differences
HIV/AIDS - the silent killer
The Portuguese speaking world
O meu projeto!
How to define poverty?
Global trends of today and our near future
Numbers and facts on fitness
How to prevent diseases
Teaching methods
Human physiology in the information age
Bio- and gene-technology
Grameen Bank - a bank for the poor
Plan a challenge for yourself
Conquering space
The tradition and history of fundraising
Contribute to the economy of your future project
Teach a group of people to sing together as an ensemble
Make people enjoy art
Training family coordinators
Making a partnership application
The computer from A to Z
Planning and organizing - and something to go for
Improvements at low cost

Courses

Courses take place throughout the program and cover a wide range of topics. Some are related to the future work in Africa, some are about issues of the contemporary world, philosophical questions for human beings today and tomorrow or new findings in science and technology. Courses are held by the teachers and participants.At IICD we have developed a tradition of giving each week a focus - and every day during the week both teachers and every team give courses that contribute with aspects to the weekly focus, and we end up Friday with a plenary discussion.Apart from this, there are a number of compulsory courses for each team to have.

Here are some examples of course titles:

The Humana People to People Charter
Economy of our school
The history of Mozambique
The situation in the Middle East
The Global AIDS epidemic
A new theory of evolution
Time management and planning
How science and technology has transformed our lives and will continue to do so
The GAIA understanding of our planet
The world after September 11
Eradicating poverty - and agenda for the 21st century
Teaching practice - what to gain, what to expect and what to contribute with
The 10 lines in Child Aid

Life transforming experiences

There are common experiences as a planned part of the program and there are one's own experiences. Experiences are often neglected as a decisive element in learning, but at IICD, experiences of many kinds play a tremendous role in the education of the Development Instructors. The experiences planned in the training challenge each individual and the team as such to embark on new and unknown roads, to break limits, to use all the senses, to involve the entire person in the learning...and to get the learning to take multiple dimensions.

We talk about experiences such as:

Be a CO-teacher for a new team starting at your school.
Teaching practice at a school or home for youth with special needs.
Prepare and perform a musical promoting development and change.
Organize and carry out an "Open Sunday" for the community where your school is located.
Set up a professional theater play and perform it.
Hold a building week or weekend at your school.
Organize a big sports event.
Walk 20 miles in a fantastic nature in the course of one day.
Sleep over in a snow cave!