Student manual. Giordano Bruno University

Student Manual

GLOBALSHIFT UNIVERSITY

A WORLD UNIVERSITY

PRESENTATION

The present manual is for you, student of the Giordano Bruno University, a general
introduction, in eight points, to your participation. Likewise, it will help you understand
the main ideas of our philosophy, pedagogy, online navigation in your virtual campus,
local and international academic tutoring and above all, your active participation in our
educational social network: the WholeLife Experience, one of the most innovative and
important components of your University.

We summarize the most relevant aspects of your online life in GBU in seven main chapters:

1. Introduction. Synthesis of the philosophy and emphasis of our educational system
(pedagogy).

2. Our schools, Programs of study, our techno-pedagogical model and the standard
instructional structure of our academic contents.

3. The World Trilogy: World 1, World 2 and World 3

4. Our Web-Site, Login platform, critical navigation of the six modules, WholeLife and
the necessary steps to pursue a prototipical GBU course.

5. Your “Generation” and our Global Educational Social Network.

6. The Club of Budapest and the CAS (Center for Advanced Studies)

7. Local and International Tutoring.

8. Towards the Future.


1.- Introduction. Synthesis of the philosophy and emphasis
of our educational system (pedagogy).

The Giordano Bruno Online University was created with the purpose of offering a revolutionary
educational model, accessible to practically any person in the world, interested and
qualified to complete a degree in Higher Education.

Ours is a hybrid educational system with heavy online work combined with the assistance of
physical high school institutions which will, not only facilitate a physical point of reference, tutorship
and permanent consulting, but will also grant students the possibility of a dual accreditation
(national and international) and acquisition of the best professional skills for employability.

Our philosophy is based on the (bio-epistemological) idea of helping our students understand
the world we live in. We are committed to create in them the seed of a critical, non-subordinate
and innovative mind-frame to question civilization in its structural organization and its particular
process of acquisition of knowledge, regardless of the student’s area of specialization.

This is why all of our programs of study require as part of the General Education mandatory
courses within the first 3 trimesters, the World 1, World 2 & World 3 courses, which -in
essence- show the student the origin of our civilization –past-, the state of our world today
–present- and the possible outcomes and transformational opportunities for the future.


Pedagogy.

Our model of transmission and acquisition of knowledge is a result of a serious and current
educational trends review, which is built over three fundamental pillars:

a) Transcultural (cross-cultural education)
b) Inter-disciplinary Education
c) Holistic Vision (stereo-cognition)

Basically, the first one promotes the openness of diverging thought, endemic of the cultural
differences that exist in our world.

Here, the teaching of openness, tolerance, otherness and the right to be different are essential.

Therefore, as a student, your first experience is to form part of a multicultural and
multidisciplinary group -My Generation- that will constitute your generation -21 people-
from all the available regions of the world. This group will gather your classmates with
whom you will work all along your courses. GBU programs will give you the experience to
create new international relationships with each course you take.

Interdisciplinary education is based on the idea of breaking limitations of education
constrained to the frame of specialization, and provide you, the student, with a more
amplified vision of reality that aims to holistic understanding of it, that, by definition, is not
isolated but part of a larger system.

The group work generated within “the WholeLife Experience” will allow you, not only to bring
forward and put into practice and share your personal criteria and acquired knowledge, but
also to participate in the interaction of dialogue, constructive criticism and your personal
enrichment implicit from teamwork, which this pedagogical technique especially fosters.

Stereo-cognition.

As the human being has two eyes to see in stereoscope, two ears to listen in stereophony,
he also has two brain hemispheres that interact among them through the callous body to
make possible the different biological functions, some of logical nature –linear- and other
of perception and spatial characteristics, such as the necessary imagination to create an
idea in 3D like architecture, literature or music.

Our educational emphasis is placed on developing in our students this capacity; to increase
their understanding not only of the courses of study in their uniqueness, but in the context
of the totality of reality and the relationships between its parts.

So, the understanding of the past, the present and the future possibilities for our world
(World 1, World 2 and World 3), the non-subordination to any preconceived truth, the
critical attitude in face of the acquisition of knowledge, cross-culturality, inter-disciplinarity,
and stereo-cognition of our didactical processes (of instruction) are, in sum, the formative
disciplines that distinguish the Giordano Bruno University.


2.- Our schools, Programs of study, our techno-pedagogical model and
the standard instructional structure of our academic contents.

Giordano Bruno University has a myriad of academic programs (Bachelor’s, Master’s and
Doctorate), courses and certificates delivered within our five Schools.

You can consult our schools and their constantly growing offer of programs in our Webiste:
http://www.gbgu.org

Bachelors and Masters are deployed in trimesters in which you can register for up to three
regular courses per term.

Our Institute of Continuing Education offers individual courses of various disciplines, with
potential credit towards our accredited degrees and certificates.

You may choose your preferred program of study after posting your exam in our application
menu, and as you enroll you will have the possibility to elect the courses you will follow each
trimester.

Our tutors and mentors will optionally help you with a basic vocational exam recognizing
your skills and suitable and personal choice of study, as our system allows you to tailor your
academic track with a variety of minors and majors.


Our techno-pedagogical model.

Each course of study is structured in six modules, outlined in the syllabus, that contains six
videolectures, its bibliography, online links, activities, practical cases, quizzes and a Bank
of Topics for essays.

At the completion of the six modules, there will be a Final exam and the requirement to write
an essay which encourages your interaction through with your generation.

In the space called “WholeLife”, you will work together with your generation and “grade”
two essays of your classmates -the system will randomly select them for you-, through a
“star rating” tool. These grades will be verified by the local tutor in your geographical area.

It is important to point out that, even if you could have access to external help throughout
your academic cycle in essays and examinations, it is highly recommended that you rely
on your personal effort and pedagogical process to truly acquire scientific knowledge.
For graduation and obtaining of the professional degree, you must be aware that the final
examination is NOT online, but in a controlled physical environment.


3.- The World Trilogy: World 1, World 2 and World 3

World I: From Big Bang To Conscious Humans

Our World I course will enable students to understand the origins and evolution of humanity
both in the physical/biological and in the mental/consciousness dimension: how did we
get to today’s complex human being in today’s complex social, ecological and cultural
environment? The educational objective of our World I coursework will be to bring awareness
to our students, to understand the origin, and the complexities, of the world in which we live.

The origin of our civilization is related to the awakening of our intelligence and self
consciousness, which led us to the discovery of time, and, with this, the fear of our own
death. This awakening has, in the last four thousand years, produced an artificial separation
from nature through symbolical thought and language, and mythological and religious
dogmas and institutions that subordinate the human being to a supranatural authority.

Understanding the rise of the human mind through the ages and epochs of our history
constitutes an essential basis for a biological and epistemological assessment of our present
situation and prospects and designs for the future. It can help us to overcome our separation
from nature and the arbitrary, hierarchical subordination-based forms of social and cultural
organization. This understanding gives us the freedom and the independent “non subordinate”
mindset to innovate our thinking and redesign our educational systems so as to empower the
next generation to co-create a more equitable, just, and sustainable world.


Subjects:

• The brain: origin and evolution of the human mind
• Ontology, Temporality and History
• Evolution, Neuroconsciousness and Culture
• The Future of Global Learning: Neurotheology, Neuropolitics and Neuroeconomics

Objectives:

• To place the genesis of human intelligence, the evolution of its cerebral hardware, and
the birth of consciousness in the context of the evolution of the Universe, of the living
forms, and of our cultural world.
• To understand the neurocognitive processes that gave birth to civilization, particularly,
the consciousness of death, and how later, this ontological insecurity and affiliation
produced the religious, political and economic structures that have predominated
until today.
• To delineate a neurohistory from an interdisciplinary vision of neuroscientists, social
scientists, and philosophical thinkers in the context of a new holistic discipline of
thought.

World II: The State of Our World

At the beginning of the XXI century, the world we live in is facing core changes in its culture
with some misleading features left untouched for the last hundred years.

The Triad of nation-states, religious institutions, and the economic structures of indiscriminate
production and consumption based on power-oriented, centralized authority and massive
irrational subordination are at an unprecedented crisis of dysfunction. This dysfunction
requires a comprehensive review in order to update cultural formulas to make our world
truly viable.

In a globalized context, nation-states become anachronisms, resembling the suzerainty
of the Middle Ages. Religious institutions of all denominations are facing the dilemma of
their spiritual exclusivity and oneness, not to mention the increasing struggle between
faith in their postulates and reason, which makes science evolve. Financial institutions
have experienced the throes of the technological and communications revolution and the
socialist versus capitalist movements that have provoked absurd arms races between East
and West.


This is why these models, which are at the core of civilization in the political, economic,
and religious life, are leading humankind in the twenty-first century to an erratic confusion
in which we have lost the meaning of human progress and the direction of the relationship
between civilization and our natural environment.

This chaos shows us that neither religious institutions, nor financial power and nation states
will establish the strategy to deal with the immense problems we face. We believe in the
idea to make the great timeless ideas of humanity prevail, and eradicate those anachronistic
social and political formulas which over time have become a liability for civilization. They
not only obstruct the development of humankind, but also threaten the very existence of life
on the planet.

At the core of these realities, a renovated education and knowledge for new generations is
essential, not only as a tool for transmitting universal knowledge, but also as a permanent
laboratory for the review and updating of human culture and thought. The emblematic
coming of the new millennium in 2000, the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the
communist system, the inefficiency of the capitalist regime and its financial systems,
society’s boundless consumption, climate change, the failures of nation states and political
science to solve issues like poverty, the fundamental injustice of our models of allocation of
privileges, the violation of human rights, and even the exacerbation of religious intolerance,
which often induces the most bloody conflicts of our planet, calls for the globally conscious,
humanistic education of the young generations of this century.

World III: Social, Economic, Cultural and Consciousness
Evolution: Trends, Prospects and Possibilities

World III will provide an initial concept or vision of a sustainable and humane civilization,
and the social, economic, cultural, and psychological paths and processes that could
lead to it. When students have completed the introduction to World I (fostering a better
understanding of the origins and evolution of humanity and human consciousness) and
World II (reexamining the psychological and cultural basis of today’s one-dimensional
identities and hierarchical social structures), they will have the critical and independent “non
subordinate” spirit to envisage new paths for the evolution of today’s social, economic, and
cultural structures and processes. Due to the multiple crises that rock the contemporary
world, today’s young generation will witness a radical rupture with the dominant civilization.

Thanks to the emerging revolutionary information technologies, young people have a unique
opportunity to move towards a conscious humanism — to produce a “globalshift” leading
to a world of embracing solidarity, ecological responsibility, and transnational ethics and
communities.


Subjects:

• Universal Consciousness and Global Consciousness
• Utopia and Anti-Utopia
• Democracy
• Ethics, Solidarity and Compassion
• Wholeness, Empathy and Mirror Neuron System
• Spirituality and Emergent Communities

Objectives:

• To reflect on today’s religious, political, and economic problems, and promote a
consciousness of the urgent necessity of change faced by humanity today.
• To consider the possibility of a new and sustainable world where solidarity and
conviviality are insipred by a new ethics of non-subordination and is supported by
cutting-edge technology, transforming the malfunctioning religious, political, and
economic structures that have dominated human civilization for millennia.
• To achive deeper self-knowledge and greater insight through the timely evolution of
human consciousness in this century


4.-Our Web-Site, Login platform, critical navigation of the six modules,
WholeLife and the necessary steps to pursue a prototipical GBU course.

In the Pre-login section (Website), you will find general information about GBU open to the
public. In a subsection of the pre-login you will find a questionnaire and an application form
for enrollment with all the necessary steps for this process. Submit transcripts of your High
School records or University credits, if any. You will receive an email answer of acceptance
with your personal password or rejection in the next 48 hours. In case of rejection, an
explanation and instructions for a second application will be included.

Once officially accepted you will have access to the Login section through your personal
password. The first element you will see in this section is a Welcome video from our
Chancellor, Professor Ervin Laszlo.

Here you will be able to select your courses and get acquainted with your generation’s
fellow students, which will constitute the basis for your team work and a permanent source
of consultation.

PLEASE READ OUR QUICK GUIDES TO APPLY, UPON ADMISSION, START STUDYING
YOUR COURSES AND WHOLELIFE.


QUICK GUIDE - TO APPLY:
STEP 1: After you power up your computer, open a web browser and enter
our Website: http://www.gbgu.org


STEP 2: If you have not read the general information about the university, its
mission, the programs and the courses, we invite you to take a closer look.


STEP 3: To fill out the application form and send it to the university, you
have to go to Admissions & Fees TAB and follow the application instructions
on the left menu.


STEP 4: Submit scanned transcripts (high school record and college/
university credits if any) and TOEFL scores to the Student Services Office at
studentservices@giordanobrunouniversity.com with the title: TRANSCRIPTS,
Your Name, and/or TOEFL, Your Name


STEP 5: Wait for the institutional response and your admission to the
university. Upon admission, you will be issued your student ID and password.


QUICK GUIDE - UPON ADMISSION:
STEP 6: Go to the login page and enter your student ID and password.

(NOTE: YOU ARE NOW IN THE LOGIN PAGE, ACCESIBLE ONLY TO REGISTERED
STUDENTS. THIS IS YOUR VIRTUAL CAMPUS, YOUR DASHBOARD. ON THE UPPER PART
OF THE SCREEN YOU HAVE A SELECTION OF TABS WHERE YOU WILL FIND EVERYTHING
YOU NEED TO COMPLETE YOUR ACADEMIC CYCLE.)


STEP 7: In the first page you will find a welcome video by Ervin Laszlo.
Underneath please read his letter to youth.


STEP 8: Now that you are officially within your program, you may register
for 3 (or 4) courses PER TERM going to “My Student Page” in the Student
Information System.


STEP 9: After registration, proceed to the financial section and pay for your
selection of courses. In the “My Student Page” there is a link to “My Financial
Account”. You will have clear instructions on your payment options in that link.


STEP 10: Check your academic and financial page to verify that all the
information is accurate (My Student Page and My Financial Account).


STEP 11: Proceed to the virtual campus and greet your cohort in the “My
Generation” tab. You will be interacting with this group throughout your
studies. With them, you will interact as a close team in your WholeLife
space and courses. Contact them and introduce yourself to start your GBU
international social network.


QUICK GUIDE - START STUDYING YOUR COURSES:
STEP 12: Now you can start studying! In the “My courses” tab you will find
the courses you chose, select one of them and proceed (the next steps are
the same for any course).


STEP 13: In the initial page of your course you will find a dashboard where
you can see the shortcuts to you course activities, calendar, tasks and news.


STEP 14: If at any moment you have difficulties, there is a link within
“My Courses” section on the left menu called “How to Navigate” with an
explanation of how to navigate through your course.


STEP 15: You will always have tutors to assist you in every course. You
can send tutors (and students) messages through this section. Further
explanation on how to contact them will be provided later in this manual.


STEP 16: Before you start any course you may want to know who is
teaching the course. In the professor section you will find a profile with all the
information regarding him/her.


STEP 17: In the Syllabus section you will find a brief description of your
course, as well as the detailed program of study.


STEP 18: Look at the bibliography your professor has chosen for each
module.


STEP 19: Before starting the modules we suggest you watch the introductory
video.


STEP 20: Now, it is necessary for you to complete the 6 modules for
each course (the readings, case studies, activities, module quizzes and
WholeLife).


STEP 21: Once you have finished all the modules you need to take the final
examination (for each course).


STEP 22: At the end of each term, obtain your final grades and then proceed
to register for the next term. You may see your grades in each course, and
you have a general transcript within the “Student Page”. To enroll in new
courses, just repeat the process.


STEP 23: If you ever need help there is a section for that.


QUICK GUIDE - WHOLELIFE:
STEP 24: WholeLife is a very important part of our pedagogical experience,
as you will write your essays within this space.


STEP 25: The first step is to choose your essay topic with your entire
generation group.


STEP 26: Afterward you need to write your essay, post it and enter to our
Agora to discuss its content.


STEP 27: Go to my grades and academic records to see your essay
evaluation.


COURSE STRUCTURE

Here you have a more detailed breakdown of your course structure. It is very important to
know that each module is generally structured in the same format, to allow a congruent flow
of your work throughout your academic cycle.

These are its parts:

1. Video lecture
2. Reading Material and bibliography
3. Online Activities and Links
4. Partial Quizz (multiple option)
5. Practical and Updated Cases
6. Final Examination
7. Essay and grading process (The WholeLife Experience)

General Recommendations:

The video lecture is an introduction given by the professor to the topic of study. We
recommend you put special attention to the professor and remind you that you can see this
video as many times as necessary to gain deeper understanding.

We also recommend you to write personal notes while going through your bibliography
and reading materials, not only trying to summarize the key ideas of the texts, but also
-and especially- your pertinent commentaries, reflections, ideas, refutations and debatable
issues written in the text, that will later on help you construct the thesis and argumentation
of your essay.

In this chapter, particularly recommended, is to try out a comparative analysis and with
your own experience and knowledge to form a personal and critical opinion towards the
relevant subjects of the course at hand. We highly encourage you to indulge your personal
research concerns.

The Online Activities and Links must also be studied taking notes of the relevant themes, as
well as your critical reaction to them, in order to continue enriching the formation of criteria
in conjunction with the comparative analysis of the different materials.

The examination -multiple option, matching of columns, fill the missing words, etc should
be covered in due form and time in the corresponding section. We recommend to take this
examination when you feel selfconfident with your capacity to master the study material
within your course.


Once you have completed the six modules, in each of its parts, you may proceed to
interact with your classmates (21 generational members) and construct a final essay to be
developed in a dialogue-fostering mode within the “Agora” space designed for this specific
function.

The Course Head, besides specifying the specific subjects for the essay and the thesis to
prove or disapprove, will also specify the diverse components of the latter that in consensus,
and in agreement with the interests of the group, the students must develop.

Peer review will be confirmed or modified by the local tutor (within the Associate Licensee)
of our institution.

It is important to note that the essay must contain and reflect four fundamental virtues of the
student’s knowledge about the subject:

a) Mastery of the academic content of the course
b) Critical and comparative analysis capacity
c) Openness to cross-cultural interaction
d) Interdisciplinary contribution to the subject in development

Once the essay is completed by the group, there will be a collective grading to average
this grade with your other grades within the modules. This will provide you the final grade
to the course.


5.- Your “Generation” and our Global Educational Social Network.

Your generation (the ellipse) constitutes your group of teammates, of different nationalities
and disciplines. They will accompany you throughout your academic cycle in the discussions
and writing of the essays in each of the required courses.

This group dynamics intends to create long lasting international, inter-cultural and trans-
disciplinary bonds, which enrich the process of knowledge acquisition and fortify the
exercise of teamwork, dialogue, deliberation and academic debate converging the different
perspectives of the group members.

We recommend you to establish contact with your classmates as soon as you enroll, so
that your relationships will help you create mutual support, a constant consulting blog,
friendships and teamwork.

The system is designed to establish contact within the GBU environment or through diverse
social networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, MSN Messenger, MySpace, etc.

Once a year, GBU will organize events to Foster physical encounters where you can meet
your fellow classmates and establish conversation about special GBU projects for extra
credits towards your programs.


6.- The Club of Budapest and the CAS (Center for Advanced Studies)

The new pedagogy that inspired the creation of Giordano Bruno GlobalShift University found
in The Club of Budapest, its suitable academic and philosophical associate, for their shared
academic, pedagogical and philosophical principles and goals. As a result, they submitted
as their joint purpose to provide the students a humanistic, universal and holistic vision,
as the foundational basis of a new consciousness to create a critical mind frame that will
distinguish them. To achieve this, The Club of Budapest fully participates in the development
and counseling of our GBU academic programs and is committed to its future teaching.

The Club of Budapest is an informal international association dedicated to developing a new way
of thinking and a new ethics that will help resolve the social, political, economic, and ecological
challenges of the 21st century. With its roster of internationally renowned members the Club
initiates a dialogue between different belief systems and world views in order to co-create and
develop effective strategies for responsible and sustainable action with a global focus.

The idea of the Club of Budapest was developed in 1978 in a discussion between Aurelio
Peccei, founder and first president of the Club of Rome, and Ervin Laszlo, systems
philosopher and also member of the Club of Rome at that time. They were convinced that
the enormous challenges to humanity can only be dealt with through the development of
a cultural and cosmopolitan consciousness. Based on these ideas, the Club of Budapest
was founded by Dr. Laszlo in 1993. The founding city and namesake of the Club lies at the
heart of Europe and is spread out over both banks of the River Danube. The successful
merging of the two cities Buda and Pest is symbolized by the famous Chain Bridge. It
visualizes our ambition to build bridges between generations, disciplines and cultures.


Therefore, it was selected as the logo and signet for the objectives of the Club. The main
essence of the global efforts lies in the initiation of dialogue.

The Mission of the Club of Budapest is to be a catalyst for the transformation to a sustainable
world through:

• Promoting the emergence of planetary consciousness
• Interconnecting generations and cultures
• Integrating spirituality, science, and the arts
• Fostering learning communities worldwide

The philosophy of the Club of Budapest is based on the realization that the enormous
challenges that humanity is currently facing can only be overcome through the development
of a global cultural consciousness. The view of the Club of Budapest is focused on a cultural
consciousness with a global perspective. Like Greenpeace fights for ecological issues,
UNICEF for children, and Amnesty International for human rights, the Club of Budapest
stands for global consciousness. Its mission is to be a catalyst for the transformation to a
sustainable world. The Club perceives itself as a builder of bridges between science and
art, ethics and economy, between cognition and realization, between old and young, as
well as between the different cultures of the world.

Please watch the following video about our Inaugural and Foundational Event which took
place on September 9, 2011 at Budapest, Hungary.

http://www.giordanobrunouniversity.com/video2

Giordano Bruno Center for Advanced Studies (CAS)

The Center for Advanced Studies, based in La Toscana Italy ( Monte Escudaio ) is a cross-
cultural, interdisciplinary and international forum, of high level academic and specialized
individuals that work around the idea to create a new cultural paradigm by permanently
reviewing the religious, political and economic models of civilization, to confront them with
the contemporary problems of humanity as war, injustice, intolerance and sustainable
development. This forum in coordination with the Club of Budapest, was born as the soul
and think tank of the Giordano Bruno University with the purpose to research, publish and
organized international seminars and round tables events, having these issues as their
focal point of interest.

The CAS in the spring of 2010 produced the first academic content of the universal
introductory courses of the Giordano Bruno University World I,II,and III that serve as the
philosophical and pedagogical foundation of our educational Institution.

It is also responsible for the organization of the PHD presencial program in consciousness
studies, starting in the fall of 2012.


7.- Tutoring

Student tutoring will be delivered in two formats:

Local tutorship – provided by the closest Associate Licensee. You will find the contact
information in the general information tab for each course.

Any query related to the general subjects of the course, such as methodology, instructions
and navigational processes could be solved by this local tutoring option.

More specialized queries in academic or administrative matters will be directed to the
“Master Tutors”, specialized subject experts for each school, based in Washington.

You will also find this information in the General Information page of your course at hand.

Ie.: Local Tutor: Sebastian Carducci
Email: scarducci@gmail.com
Tel. +52 155 40883817
Skype: sebastian.carducci
MSN: XXXXXXXXXXXXX
etc

Master Tutor: Tina Maynigo etc.


8.- Towards the Future

It is noteworthy to say that the flow of the process here presented (step by step), constitutes,
in a way, a certain guideline for each of your courses. By going through a course you will
find navigation through other courses easier each time as you become familiar with the
process and you will be able to concentrate on achieving knowledge and the professional
skills acquired by group working within your assigned generation.

We invite you to start you educational adventure in your future Alma Mater, The
Giordano Bruno University!


Student manual. Giordano Bruno University

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Student manual. Giordano Bruno University