Abstract
Systems thinking is often invoked as a panacea for dealing with issues of sustainable development. Imperatives towards being more holistic—getting the bigger picture—are often coupled with a need for greater interdisciplinarity—joined-up-thinking—particularly amongst triple bottom line disciplines of economics, social studies and natural sciences. So why are systems thinking courses not more prevalent? And how might the teaching of systems thinking enhance the value of thinking differently about sustainable development? The Open University, UK, is a recognised international leader in the provision of Systems education for over 40 years. More recent experiences with the launch of a postgraduate Systems Thinking in Practice suite of qualifications at Certificate, Diploma, and Masters level, suggest an appetite for systems thinking amongst mature-age part-time students from a variety of professional backgrounds with an interest in learning for sustainability. This paper outlines three key features of the two core modules of the programme—epistemic understanding, active pedagogy, and design praxis. Significantly, these attributes have helped to complement rather than replace existing skill-sets amongst professionals from different sectors working in the field of sustainable development.
This paper builds on two previous papers each dealing with one of the two Open University modules (OU codes TU811 and TU812) covered together here; one published by Reynolds (2011) relating to TU811, and another published by Ison and Blackmore (2014) relating to TU812.
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Notes
- 1.
In a national UK newspaper article entitled A World of Wacky Subjects the journalist, Widget Finn, in a review of several UK University programmes included the postgraduate programme Systems Thinking in Practice as a particular exemplar of what she describes as “how to think with the Open University” (Finn 2013, p. 6).
- 2.
Until recently The Open University referred to the modules that form a degree qualification as courses. Nomenclature is now becoming more in line with other UK universities, and courses are often now referred to as ‘modules’. Many OU students though still regard individual modules which they undertake, including TU811 and TU812 referred to in this paper, as stand-alone courses. They may not wish to necessarily fulfil a complete formalised qualification (such as, for example, a postgraduate certificate comprising of two 30 credit modules).
- 3.
The title of Al Gore’s award winning documentary ‘Inconvenient Truths’ is, arguably, perhaps counter-productive in this context.
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Blackmore, C., Ison, R., Reynolds, M. (2015). Thinking Differently About Sustainability: Experiences from the UK Open University. In: Leal Filho, W., Azeiteiro, U., Caeiro, S., Alves, F. (eds) Integrating Sustainability Thinking in Science and Engineering Curricula. World Sustainability Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09474-8_43
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