The Heritage Institute -- Educating for humanity & the world we want
Educating for Humanity Our Approach and the Times
Our Beginnings Programs
Our Home Our Team
Becoming an Instructor
Educating for Humanity
The Heritage Institute offers continuing education for teachers, revitalizing the enthusiasm for their calling in the more than 3,000 educators we reach annually.
Through workshops, field courses, global travel studies and distance courses given by more than 100 adjunct faculty members, we do our best to teach subjects in a larger context. The content we offer becomes a vehicle to learn about whom we are, our relationships to everything around us, the beauty in the world, our connection and obligation to our communities and the larger whole. We educate for the way we want to live and for the kind of world we want to live in. Our philosophy to “educate for humanity and the world we want” considers character more important than content, and the development of whole human beings above simple knowledge.
Our Approach & the Times
A convergence of environmental, social, economic and spiritual crises makes our times unprecedented in human history, arguing for a move away from business as usual. The modern world’s unsustainable life style raises the stakes on the need for change in all aspects of how we think and live — especially in how we educate the world’s youth. We cannot simply educate better. We must educate differently, re-visioning educational purposes in light of universal human values and what’s essential to sustaining the entire community of life.
An Experiential Approach to Learning
“It was fun,” “I can use what I learned,” “I feel renewed as a teacher” are common words of praise we’ve heard about our experiential programs. Whether we’re examining nurse logs in an old-growth Pacific Northwest forest, taking rubbings from a grave marker in London’s famed Highgate Cemetery, or doing movement exercises in a workshop on game activities for elementary teachers, our programs are hands-on and fun, providing teachers something they can use right away in their classrooms. And they’re intellectually rigorous. Our affiliation with Antioch University, Seattle — providing continuing education credit for our courses — aligns our curriculum with the high academic standards of a respected, progressive institution of higher learning.
Our Beginnings
Beginning in 1975, groups of teachers began exploring old-growth forests, beaches and various biomes of the Pacific Northwest with field instructors. They were with The Heritage Institute, learning how to listen to and understand the language of leaf, branch, root, rock, fern, bird, fish and mammal. Nature is our first and — we are learning anew today — most important teacher. From the perspective of nature we can begin to understand our human history with the cultural knowledge we have evolved over millennia; an important context upon which young people build knowledge. From these beginnings, the teachers we served encouraged us to expand our offerings beyond natural and social history, resulting in the growth of curriculum and instruction workshops across a host of academic disciplines.
Programs
Please refer to our many programs which benefit teachers, schools and school districts:
• In-service workshops
• Be the Change: Global Sustainability symposium
• World we Want: Global Sustainability Curriculum
• Distance learning courses
• Design Your Own Course
• Partnering
• World We Want Mini-grants for teachers
Our Home
A small administrative staff operates from our headquarters on Whidbey Island, Washington, with far-reaching connections to more than 100 adjunct faculty and 3000 teachers who register with us from across the United States and abroad. Please contact us for more information.
The Heritage Institute
Box 860
Clinton, WA, 98236
360-341-3020 (Tel)
360-341-3070 (FAX)
www.hol.edu
Our Team
Mike Seymour, President Maggie Seymour, C.E.O
Mike [at] hol.edu Maggie [at] hol.edu
Yvonne Hall,
Director Administration & Registrar
Registrar [at] hol.edu
Judy Blankinship,
Customer Service Manager
Customerservice [at] hol.edu
Bethany Kennedy,
Administrative & Catalog Specialist
catalog [at] hol.edu
Sharon Dudley,
Accounting
ad73163 [at] comcast.net
Emmet Marshall II,
Marketing. President Mail-Ad Bureau
Al Tietjen,
Graphic Design. Fusion Studios
Vicki Stolsen,
Publishing. Vice President, Consolidated Press.
Josh Bumgarner,
Web design. How It Works
Aaron Ransley
Becoming an Instructor
We welcome inspiring teachers to join the Heritage Institute team. Please see our web site (Propose a Course https://www.hol.edu/proposeacourse.cfm) for further background and instructions.
ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY SEATTLE - INFORMATION & ACCREDITATION
Antioch University is a national university founded in 1852, with campuses in New England, Ohio, Southern California and Seattle. Antioch University is founded on principles of rigorous liberal arts education, innovative experiential learning and socially engaged citzenship The multiple campuses of the University nurture in their students the knowledge, skills and habits of reflection to act as lifelong learners, democratic leaders and global citizens who live lives of meaning and purpose. The mission of Antioch University Seattle, founded in 1975, is to provide transformative education that engages adult learners in lifelong development and agency in a changing world.
Antioch University Seattle is one campus of Antioch University, which is accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, 30 North LaSalle St. #2400, Chicago, IL 60602-2504 800/621-7440.
Antioch University Seattle is authorized by the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board (HECB) and meets the requirements and minimum educational standards established for degree-granting institutions under the Degree Authorization Act. This authorizes Antioch University Seattle to offer the following degree programs: Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies (completion program); Bachelor of Liberal Arts in Teacher Preparation; Masters of Arts in Education: Master of Arts in Environment and Community; Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology; Master of Arts in Psychology; Master of Arts in Whole Systems Design; Master of Science in Management; Graduate Teacher Preparation; Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology. Any person desiring information about the requirements of the Act or the applicability of those requirements to the institution may contact the HECB office at P.O. Box 43430, Olympia, WA 98504-3430.
THE HERITAGE INSTITUTE & ANTIOCH UNIVERSITY SEATTLE RELATIONSHIP
The Heritage Institute and Antioch University Seattle are separately incorporated and are affiliated by a contractual agreement under whose terms Antioch University Seattle reviews and certifies the appropriateness of course content and instructor credentials.
ABOUT CEUs:
The Heritage Institute has been reviewed and approved as an Authorized Provider of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) by the International Association of Continuing Education & Training (IACET), 8405 Greensboro Drive, Suite 800, McLean VA 22102.
The Heritage Institute awards one (1) CEU for each ten (10) hours of work successfully completed. CEUs from IACET are accepted by most state departments of education and by school districts. Please check with your district or state office prior to taking courses to determine their policy on CEUs. IACET website: www.iacet.org.
CEUs do not appear on an Antioch University transcript. The Heritage Institute issues verification of CEUs.
To view a list of organizations who accept the IACET CEUs, click on the following link: www.iacet.org/content/accepting-ceus.html.
