Me, a student
December 16, 2008 | 9:43 pmI have taken yet another step into applying systems thinking. You can gratulate me to becoming a student at the Catedra UNESCO de Sostenibilitat at Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya in Barcelona. The System Dynamics Group have distance courses and I have started with one of them. I did some research and found only two places (in the world) offering distance courses in this subject. Reading books is a good way to learn, but now I have a professor to discuss with!
That sounds really interesting. Please keep us updated on if you like the course material and interactions.
Beth,
Yes, I will do that. The emphasis seems to be on the applied and practical side through case studies and that is precisely what I want. I have read Sterman, Business Dynamics for the theoretical foundation.
/Anders
Hi Anders,
What are you up to?
I am cogitating “The Network” (Internet) and the fragmentation via social networks, and its basic evolutionary process, etc. Under the rubric of systems thinking and actor-network theory I am trying to get a handle on how to create a collaborative “network of networks”, all with the purpose of bringing greater effective and efficiencies and to help “make a difference in the world”. This is a very “applied” problem as I have been creating my “collaborative network” I call IAmSharing – http://iamsharing.ning.com. I’m wondering if this interests you?
Andy
Hi Andy!
What I am up to? I would like to go even deeper in understanding systems thinking. I wrote some about this in my latest post. Iamsharing seems to be a great initiative. I will have a closer look at it.
/Anders
I don’t know if the PSU course was the other one, but that’s a resource for you as well. I know they have a distance learning program for their dynamics course specifically, and they were one of only two programs in the United States that I found that was distinctly dedicated to systems science (the other one in Birmingham New York). I’m very keen to find what you’re learning in this program.
Congratulations on your new endeavors.
David,
Thanks for your comment! I will definitively take a closer look at the PSU. Which course did you take? And how did you like it? From your other comment I understand that you didn’t like Vensim that much.
Hope to hear from you again!
/Anders