The Evergreen State College     Governance Groups DTF: Curricular Visions

A Pattern Language for Curricular Visions

An Experimental Collaborative System

This is a beta implementation of a pattern language management system. The use of this system is intended to complement the current Curricular Visions process at The Evergreen State College by allowing people to develop patterns and, ultimately, a pattern language that represent their ideas for curricular visions. We feel that the system is ready for people to enter their pattern ideas, but we caution you that it is still being tested. Please enter your ideas! And let us know if you have any suggestions or encountered any problems. — Doug Schuler

Select an option from this list:

• Authors: Open an author's account, submit a pattern or edit a previously-submitted pattern


• Members of the public: View submitted patterns

What is a Pattern? A Pattern Language? And Why should we care?

As many of you know I've been working on a large "pattern language" effort to build a bottom-up theory of social change. (The language that will appear in the book (MIT Press, fall 2007) can be found at http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/pattern-table-of-contents.php and the main page for the pattern language project is at http://www.publicsphereproject.org/patterns/.) A pattern language is one way to represent a dynamic environment of interrelated ideas.

In the spirit of that work I've noticed that ideas or proposals that have arisen in relation to the Curricular Visions work could also be captured as "patterns." These "patterns" could be called "Vision Threads" or "Orienting Themes" or any number of things. Patterns, as they were originally presented in A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander et al (1977) typically include sections that are devoted to the problem that the pattern addresses, the context where it is used, and a concise statement of the solution. Patterns also include a discussion section which includes examples of the pattern in use, pertinent history, challenges and other issues about using it, suggestions about how it could be implemented and references. The title of the pattern is intended to be something that is being advocated (not, for example, a problem that is being solved.) The main idea of these "patterns" is that they represent the core of an idea that people think is important to Evergreen's future. Each one should be supported by a group of students, faculty, etc.

Each pattern describes general principles but the intent is to use the pattern to focus attention on how the ideas in the pattern would actually be implemented in practice. The pattern should be explored in terms of what problems it was intended to address or avoid and / or what benefits would accrue because of its adoption. It should be used to help define mechanisms, needed resources or other features that would help promote the adoption of the pattern.

Another guideline around the idea of developing "patterns" is that there is no set limit at the onset on how many of them there are. This avoids the problem of a "cut" in which some ideas are considered and others aren't according to often arbitrary criteria.

Ultimately the patterns that are acknowledged to be important for addressing the Curricular Vision issue should be arranged into a single, coherent "pattern language" according to how they naturally link together. So to some degree the pattern language is just a convenient way to connect complex ideas together. The pattern language can also be used as a way to encourage complex interaction among people and capture their thinking. My sense is that the pattern language approach would be an excellent way to orient the larger conversation. The pattern language that emerges from this approach — or specific patterns within it — would hopefully be used to inform future work in addition to the current effort.

Currently, all — or nearly all — of the patterns in the system are placeholders; they are simply names of potential patterns without the necessary supporting evidence. (To be precise, they're not patterns yet. Maybe they should be called proto-patterns or pattern proposals.) Also, I'm listed as the author of all — or nearly all — the patterns. This is basically an artifact of the system. It doesn't mean that I alone or even as a collaborator will ultimately be associated with all of these patterns. In other words, in addition to seeking new patterns, I'm seeking collaborators, and ideas regarding collaborations as well as people who are interested in assuming authorship of individual patterns — including the ones that I (Doug Schuler) am nominally authoring.

-------------------------- Public Sphere Project Liberating Voices Pattern Language Project

Software developed by Scott Rose Porting support by Nat Taylor Project organized by Doug Schuler