THE NON-LINEAR SYLLABUS INITIATIVE

Official Title: “Uncurriculating the Curriculum: Towards a Forest-Based Learning Topology”

Location: The Office for Pedagogical Rewilding (formerly Room 2.14, Faculty of Education)

Convened by:

• The Rhizomatic Knowledge Collective

• Students for Ambiguous Learning Outcomes

• The Institute for Temporal Justice
  Supported by: an unmarked envelope containing lichen samples

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GUIDING PHILOSOPHY:

“A syllabus is not a line. It is a forest. It has undergrowth. It has surprise. You do not follow it. You are changed by it.”

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THE OLD SYLLABUS (now archived in a hollowed-out tree trunk):

• Week 1: Introduction

• Week 2: Foundational Concepts

• Week 3: Theoretical Frameworks

• Week 4: Application

• Week 12: Exam

Verdict: Oppressive. Teleological. Colonial. Assumes knowledge can be sequenced like IKEA furniture.

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**THE NEW MODEL: THE SYLLABRANCH™

• Each week is a branch, not a box

• Students navigate through moods, not modules

• No week has a number. Each has a name: Mist, Echo, Becoming, Doubt

• Content is arranged like a forest glade: you may find a reading, a feather, or a question about your grandmother’s favourite colour

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COURSE STRUCTURE (ILLUSTRATIVE):

Learning Moment	Suggested Atmosphere	Emotional Prerequisite	Deliverable
Echo	Dim lighting	Soft regret	Haiku map
Understory	Moss on the floor	Dissociation welcome	Group silence (assessed)
Murmuration	Movement-based	Vague awe	Non-verbal collage

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LECTURER TESTIMONIAL: DR LINA FERNTANGLE (she/they)

I used to hand out reading guides. Now I give students a compass made of yarn and intuition.

Some of them return by week 4. Some are still out there, learning from wind and doubt.

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STUDENT FEEDBACK (UNSOLICITED & NON-HIERARCHICAL):

HENRI (he/they):

I learned more from Week Mist than I ever did in traditional pedagogy. I wept in a tent while thinking about Foucault’s beard. That’s when I knew I understood power.

ELLE (they/fae):

I never found the lecture room. But I found myself. And a possum.

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ADMINISTRATIVE NOTE:

Due to the non-linearity of the new model, class times are now described in metaphor.

• “Tuesday 3pm” is now “the hour when the sun stares through the west window with judgement.”

• Assessment deadlines are weather-permitting.

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ASSESSMENT PHILOSOPHY:

You cannot fail to wander. But you can be evaluated on your resonance.

Marks are replaced by:

• Traces left behind

• Depth of narrative detour

• Commitment to unresolvability

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SYLLABRANCH LAUNCH CEREMONY:

A linear course outline is folded into a paper bird and released from the highest window of the Education Faculty. As it flutters downward, attendees whisper:

“Let the content find you. Or not. That’s fine too.”