systems thinking - codesystems thinking: sometimes a box is just a box code webinar 1 29 september...

Systems Thinking: sometimes a box is just a box

CODE Webinar 1

29 September 2008

3:00 - 4:00 PM

Welcome to Webinar 1

• Ian Carswell– Upper Canada District School Board

• Colleen Kappel– Superior- Greenstone District School Board

• Martha Dutrizac– London Catholic District School Board

• Michelle Forge– Council of Ontario Directors of Education

• Peter Levesque– Knowledge Mobilization Works

Outline

• Systems Thinking (the Big Idea)

• Systems concepts

• Imagery to help think about systems

• Discussion: divergence, convergence

– English/French, Public/Catholic

• Central Focus

– leadership for student success

• Link to Education for All

• Introduction to Reculturing

ST Definition

• “Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static “snapshots.”

The Fifth Discipline, The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, Senge, (Doubleday: 1990)

What is Systems Thinking?

http://newenergymovement.org/images/polygon.jpg

Systems Thinking: Ecology

http://multispective.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/complexsystem2.gif

Systems Thinking: Business

http://www.change-management-toolbook.com/grafics/systems.gif

Systems Thinking: Computing

http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn295/acap_win89/pjm_logo_large.gif

Systems Thinking: Education

http://www.cicic.ca/docs/postsec/graphics/EducationSystem_Canada_s.jpg

ST Tenets

• Interdependence of objects and their attributes - independent elements can never constitute a system

http://graphics.stanford.edu/papers/flow_map_layout/uk-interdependence.jpg

ST Tenets

• Holism - emergent properties not possible to detect by analysis should be possible to define by a holistic approach

http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/images/holism.gif

ST Tenets

• Goal seeking - systemic interaction must result in some goal or final state

"Man is a goal seeking animal. His life only has meaning if he is reaching out and striving for his goals.-- Aristotle

http://www.betterworld.net/quotes/perseverance-quotes.htm

ST Tenets

• Inputs and Outputs - in a closed system inputs are determined once and constant; in an open system additional inputs are admitted from the environment

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ST Tenets

• Transformation of inputs into outputs - this is the process by which the goals are obtained

http://mittechnical.com/BOSTON-SEO-WORDPRESS/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/inputs-to-outputs.jpg

ST Tenets

• Entropy - the amount of disorder or randomness present in any system

http://www.holon.se/folke/kurs/Distans/Ekofys/fysbas/LOT/exergy_tube.jpg

ST Tenets

• Hierarchy - complex wholes are made up of smaller subsystems

http://www.umsl.edu/technology/frc/DEID/destination2adultlearning/MaslowHierarchy-Figure.jpg

http://www.gigstaggart.com/images/hierarchy.png

ST Tenets

• Differentiation - specialized units perform specialized functions

http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/stemcell/images/hema.jpg

ST Tenets

• Equifinality - alternative ways of attaining the same objectives (convergence)

http://jasss.soc.surrey.ac.uk/5/2/6/rich1.jpg

ST Tenets

• Multifinality - attaining alternative objectives from the same inputs (divergence)

http://www.uiowa.edu/~geog/News/images/clip_image002_000.jpg

Example from Knowledge Mobilization

Systems within systems

Rethinking Corporations

• http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=pwTPRntAl_8

Long Time Coming - It’s Complex

The typical large business 20 years hence …will bear little resemblance to the typical manufacturing company, circa 1950…it is far more likely to resemble organizations (like) the hospital, the university, the symphony orchestra…an organization composed largely of specialists who direct and discipline their own performance through organized feedback

Peter Drucker, Harvard Business Review,

The Coming of the New Organization, 1988.

So what about Education?

What is the Ontario System?

http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/reference/provincesterritories/ontario/map.jpg

So what about “Special Education” within Education

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CODE Projects Report

• Sharing effective practice

• Collaboration

• Care about student learning

• Improvement in teaching

• Effective use of data

• Differentiated instruction

• Changes in beliefs and practices

Think about the “system”

• The Tenets– Interdependence

– Holism

– Goal seeking

– Inputs and outputs/transformation

– Entropy

– Hierarchy

– Differentiation

– Convergence/divergence

Discussion

• Ian Carswell– Upper Canada District School Board

• Colleen Kappel– Superior- Greenstone District School Board

• Martha Dutrizac– London Catholic District School Board

• Michelle Forge– Council of Ontario Directors of Education

What is the Value of:

• CODE projects

• Education for All

• Your Leadership

• Relationships

• Outside Education

• Levels: Ministry to classroom

Now what?

http://www.ashburnweb.com/pd/images/silo.jpg

http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/exhibits/education/pics/dscn4298_normal_schl_1020.jpg

Reculturing

• How to work with a “systems” perspective when we are in silos.

• Reculturing is the name of the gameFullan, M. (200 1). Leading in a culture of change.

San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Reculturing

• Reculturing is the main work of leadership, and it requires an underlying conceptualization of the key elements that feed it. Moral purpose is more than passionate teachers trying to make a difference in their classrooms. It's also the context of the school and district in which they work. That means principals have to be almost as concerned about the success of other schools in the district as they are about their own schools.

http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/fullan241.cfm

Webinar 2: Reculturing

• Is sharing is the new selfish?

• Methods of sharing

• Engaging students, parents, teachers, principals, administration, ministry, partners

• Using Technology to leverage knowledge

• Decisions for Evidence, Evidence from Decisions

• Barriers and Next steps

• Introduction to Community of Practice

Contacts

• CODE: http://www.ontariodirectors.ca/

• Michelle Forge

– michelleforge@yahoo.ca

• John Fauteux

– tjfauteux@yahoo.ca

• Peter Levesque

– pnlevesque@gmail.com