Whole Systems
Design Individualized Program
Fall 1998 Courses
Program Director
Harold Nelson, M.Arch., Ph.D.
Core Faculty
Betsy Geist, M.A.
Elaine Jessen, M.A.
Farouk Seif, Ph.D.
Sue Woehrlin, M.A.
Associate Faculty
Margaret Walker, M.A.
Adjunct Faculty
Robin Bingman, M.A.
Individualized
Curriculum
WIN505G: WSD Individual Design Lab:
Divergence (3)
Limited to and required for all WSD students
The intention of Divergence is for the student to select degree committee members
and explore unfamiliar intellectual territory without prejudging the utility or meaning
of this new learning, guided by the student’s personal interest and passions and
in consultation with faculty and field advisors. The student forms a working relationship
with a faculty advisor, prepares an Integrated Self-Assessment, plans and implements
a formal degree committee meeting, and carries out an action plan designed in consultation
with the degree committee. The student will explore interests across disciplinary,
professional, or other boundaries of inquiry and gain diverse perspectives and new
forms of knowledge, as well as new abilities. These goals can be accomplished through
the design of independent studies and other learning activities.
WIN505H: WSD Individual Design Lab:
Convergence (3)
Limited to and required for all WSD students
The intention of Convergence is for the student to form the primary core questions
that define the domain and boundaries of inquiry in the form of opportunities and
issues which are the focus of the Graduate Project. The questions are developed in
consultation with the student’s Degree Committee. The student will prepare an Integrated
Self-Assessment, plan and implement a formal degree committee meeting, and carry
out an action plan designed in consultation with the degree committee. The first
draft of the individualized Knowledge Area Contract is developed, which, in addition
to other independent learning activities, is intended to frame and provide context
for the Candidacy work which follows.
WIN605G: WSD Individual Design Lab:
Design Development (9)
Limited to and required for all WSD students
The intention of the Design Development Lab of the Whole Systems Design degree process
is for the student to initiate Graduate Project ideas, which ideas are the product
of the cognitive leap experienced during the "Aha" phase of design inquiry. The student
will prepare an Integrated Self-Assessment, plan and implement a formal degree committee
meeting, and carry out an action plan designed in consultation with the Degree Committee.
The student prepares appropriate and cohesive documentation that describes the Graduate
Project, its context, and the evaluation method to be used. Working with a client/clients,
the student designs the Graduate Project that embodies and demonstrates his/her understanding
of Whole Systems Design and the student’s capabilities as a Whole Systems Designer.
The Graduate Project is based on creative insight into the resolution of questions
and is then used to demonstrate and verify competencies and creative/critical thinking
skills. Learning activities, independent studies, demonstration of learning, and
project documentation in this phase provide the foundation on which a Candidacy status
will be granted.
WIN605H: WSD Individual Design Lab:
Innovation & Synthesis (9)
Limited to and required for all WSD students
Innovation includes the implementation of the Graduate Project design. The Graduate
Project is then tested in a real world setting, evaluated, and further refined. While
putting some important aspect of the design at risk in the real world and finding
the appropriate setting for testing these ideas, the student actively reflects upon
the success of the implementation. Feedback is received from both the Client(s) and
Degree Committee. Synthesis is the opportunity for the student to cohesively reflect
upon the totality of the student’s degree program, identify emergent qualities, and
communicate learnings and overall experience. The student’s final documentation includes
a professional action plan for taking the new learning into the world.
WIN 503D: Immersion into Whole Systems Design
Betsy Geist & Farouk Seif (9)
Tue. & Thurs. 4:00-9:45 pm
Limited to and required for all new WSD students entering Fall 1998
This course is designed to bring learners into the study and work of whole systems
designing. It’s purpose is to stimulate the development of perspectives, skills and
attitudes necessary to be a whole systems designer. It provides a context for evolving
inquiry and initiates the design of students’ individualized graduate programs. Students
are invited to ground themselves in systemic ways of knowing and being; to inquire
into and practice a systems approach to applications of interest; to explore design
as innovative action informed by creativity; to appreciate historical theoretical
and cultural traditions informing the current field of whole systems design; to frame
individualized inquiry questions; to enter into collaborative inquiry and design;
and to engage with the educational degree process of the M.A. WSD program.
WIN 509B: Conflict Management: The Dynamics of Human Relationships
Robin Bingman (3) L24
Thurs. 4:00-9:30 pm plus Sat. 12/12/98 8:00-6:00 pm
This course is a dynamic partnership between Whole Systems Design theory and practice,
which will examine both the science and art of dealing with difference through design.
Its intention is to give students the opportunity to deepen their understanding and
integrate the learnings of their academic experience in a way that is practical and
concrete. Students will concentrate on both their personal and professional development,
learning to navigate in a complex world of relational and organizational dynamics
and moving from defensive postures toward productive interplay, intended outcomes,
durable action plans, and wise agreements. The course is a blend of presentation,
seminar, and practicum with the intention of weaving a balance between theory, philosophy,
personal experience, and PRACTICE. Course components will include these and others:
- Basic Mediation as an Ontology
- The Power of Storytelling
- The Art of Listening
- The Design of Context
- Conflict Styles, Behavior Styles, Communication Styles
- Diversity
- The Cultivation of Leverage Points
- The Dynamics of Power
- Negotiation and Persuasion
- Consensus Building
This interactive course has high utility for anyone, no matter where they make their
professional home. Student presence and class participation are necessary and required.
The additional hours of class time beyond a typical 3-credit course offering are
scheduled for the practicum; students’ outside work requirements will be adjusted
to balance the overall work load.
WIN 602C: Systems Dynamic Modeling
Instructor TBA (3) L12 Sat. 10:00-1:00 pm
Prerequisite: Immersion into WSD, or the equivalent for non-WSD students, and familiarity
with computers
Systems Dynamic Modeling provides an excellent method for learning and understanding
about the behavior of complex systems. Systems software like ithink serves as a tool
for framing and simulating how we structure and analyze systems problems. It also
allows us to experiment with how changes in any system - whether social, environmental,
or organizational - result in intended and unintended consequences for other parts
of the system. We can then simulate various options and their resultant effects.
In this way, we can plan for, and anticipate these effects.
This course emphasizes the methodology of systems dynamic modeling by constructing
systems simulation using ithink. We also examine some basic model archetypes found
in Peter Senge's Fifth Discipline, other systems thinkers, and the ithink software.
Working individually and collaboratively in small groups, we will learn to use modeling
as one facet of systems analysis.
WIN 606D: Collaborative Praxis: Design for Participatory Group Research, Inquiry
and Action
Sue Woehrlin (3) L18 Mon. 7:00-9:45 pm
The purpose of this course is to explore collaborative approaches that integrate
systems inquiry with action for change. Participants will learn a number of applied
human systems research and intervention strategies that actively involve client system
members as co-designers and co-inquirers; frameworks including appreciative inquiry,
co-operative inquiry, action research and participatory action research, as well
as specific tools such as oral histories, focus groups, critical incidents and strategic
questioning. The principles and practices of collaborative praxis will especially
come to life through group application projects. Class activities are designed primarily
to support the development and unfolding of student teams which will contract with
organizational or community groups to co-design and document action inquiry initiatives
of their clients’ choosing. (Please plan on these group projects requiring out of
class meeting time). There will also be opportunities for individual reflection and
application design. This course is a good opportunity to develop collaborative team
design skills, and to develop one's capacity to work in a designer/change agent role
with client systems.
WIN607F: Seminar - Notational Design
Farouk Y. Seif (3) L12 Wed. 4:00-6:30 pm
Prerequisite: Visual Literacy or permission of instructor
Design culture will not be created or developed without a robust means of cognitive
intercommunicative signs. The complexity of whole systems design demands a different
language for developing and maintaining the vitality of its culture. While some signs
perform admirably in everyday activities, technology, art, and sciences for a variety
of audiences, their messages are limited and bonded to their corresponding approaches.
The intention of this seminar is to syntactically and semantically explore the emerging
new area of design inquiry Notational Design. The focus is on notations as signs
that mediate between several sets of concepts, traditions, and approaches. Notational
Design is not a replacement for written and spoken languages, rather its inclusive
quality expands cognitive understanding and visceral awareness liberating design
imagination. Unlike musical notation, dance and movement notation, chemical notation,
and applied mathematics among others, Notational Design offers a basis for a comprehensive
communication system among many approaches, traditions, and audiences. In this sense,
notation is a means of communicating beyond cultural traditions and the boundary
of time into future generations and, perhaps, extraterrestrial beings or other species.
In this seminar, participants will find the opportunity to design a specific context
through which they will be able to utilize Notational Design to make whole systems
design accessible to others taking the responsibility for clearing the distorted
image and demystifying the secretiveness and cultic climate surrounding the field.
WIN608C: Seminar - Creating Design Cultures
Harold Nelson (3) L15 Tue. 4:00-6:30 pm
Prerequisite: Introduction to Design or permission of instructor
This is the first seminar in a series of two looking at design issues from a whole
systems design perspective. It is focused on exploring the development of a social
systems context, i.e. a design culture, for whole systems design both in general
and in the particular. (The second seminar will be focused on the creation of a culture
of design, i.e. the qualities, attributes and abilities of a competent whole systems
designer).
Creating a design culture is making a case for design. Even the most competent and
caring designers will not get an opportunity to engage in whole systems design if
there is no one with whom to practice and for whom to practice because there is not
a sufficiently developed shared understanding of the necessity or desirability of
design. An inclusive appreciation and understanding of design is the basis upon which
to form design relationships (i.e. clients, stakeholders, customers, decision-makers,
etc.). It is important to know how to introduce design thinking into public and private
discourse so that the decision to engage in design rather than one of the alternative
approaches (i.e. problem-solving, planning, research, etc.) can be made from a more
informed perspective.
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