Report 3 from Chair to Committee Members

Presented at the

Policy Council Meeting in R.I.

February 12. 2002

Curriculum Committee meeting in Atlanta

The meeting was held in the Magnolia Boardroom - Emory Conference Center Hotel - Atlanta, Georgia, Tuesday, July 26, 2001. The following members attended: Paal I. Davidsen (Chair), Ali Mashayekhi (President), Jim Hines (President Elect), Jack Pugh (Past President), John Morecroft, George Richardson, Khalid Saeed, John Sterman, Yaman Barlas, and Eric Zahn. Moreover, Gordon Kubanek was invited to coordinate with the work on establishing a professional certification program in system dynamics.

The minutes from the meeting, to be ratified in the meeting in Palermo July 2002, currently exists in a draft version that will soon be made available to the committee members along with a plan for further progress. In general, it is relatively difficult to identify a shared intention or vision among the members of the committee. Consequently, I find this work challenging and quite frustrating. The work via e-mail that preceded the meeting in Atlanta, prepared the members for the discussion at the meeting. Both the electronic discussion and the subsequent meeting uncovered two relatively distinct perspectives on curriculum development, held by two groups of members:

On the one hand, there are those who took the initiative to establish the committee and who choose to focus on the content of the curriculum. In particular, they see a need to identify a core curriculum that consists of the body of knowledge (theory) and skills (methods, techniques and tools) that system dynamicists must master at various levels of proficiency. Moreover, they suggest that this core may be separated from the various examples that we use for illustration purposes in the various domains of application. It has been argued that a number of professional and academic organizations have prescribed curricula this way, notably ACM.

On the other hand, there are those who, for a variety of reasons, consider the work of the committee along these lines with sound skepticism, - and it was even argued that the approach taken by the initiators could slow down the process of innovative curriculum development. Their reasons range from the opinion that the field is not sufficiently mature to take stock of the knowledge and skills required, to the point of view that the curriculum should emerge from practicing the teaching of system dynamics. A curriculum should be developed around excellent teaching practices in specific domains, rather than a classification of knowledge and skills required. And it not was considered conducive to the process to separate knowledge and skills from their applications in various domains. Indeed, it was argued that the teaching of system dynamics would have to be anchored in and adjusted to the domain of application hosting the program.

The two groups seemed to share the point of view that the teaching of system dynamics should be firmly anchored in the practice of system dynamics.

Preliminary Conclusions

The curriculum committee concluded that the work should continue along a way which can only be characterized as a compromise: The committee (or its majority) will meet at least once (preferably twice) a year, for 3 days, to review a number of educational programs offered around the world. The committee should find some way of coordinating such workshops with the annual conference. The implication is that the most successful and the most innovative programs in that part of the world where the conference is being hosted, should be presented to the curriculum committee. The purpose is not for the committee to perform a formal evaluation of the individual curricula, but to elicit educational experience and to organize that experience in the form of curricula recommendations. Most individuals and groups of individuals that offer a system dynamics program, know well how to improve their own programs. What the curriculum committee will be looking for are critical self-assessments of programs in place as well as programs under way.

The way ahead

The international events last fall postponed all plans to travel and meet. Lately, however, as the situation has stabilized and we have observed a keen interest in the Palermo conference. Consequently we are optimistic about organizing a first workshop on curriculum development. The Chair will take the initiative to invite to such a pre-conference workshop in Italy in July. At this stage it seems most convenient that some educational institution in Italy ,-- if not in Palermo, then in Rome, Milan, Bologna, or Genova, be encouraged to host such a 2.5 days workshop.

In recognition of the fact that the I am currently the Program Chair of the Palermo Conference and expect to be extremely occupied organizing the conference, I would suggest that the Policy Council requests the local Chair of the Organizing Committee, Dr. Carmine Bianchi to help organize the practicalities associated with such a workshop.

If Palermo can not take on the additional responsibility for that such a workshop, I would suggest the Policy Council consult the Vice Program Chair of the Palermo Conference, Dr. Edoardo Mollona and the current Chair of the Italian Chapter and the Palermo Conference, Mr. Habib Sedehi, currently Adjunct Professor in Rome. The practicalities involved need not be overwhelming as we would expect no more than 20 participants in addition to those members of the Curriculum Committee who will be participating.

Moreover, I would suggest that the Policy Council allow two dedicated students, who will be attending the Palermo Conference, to serve as workshop secretaries. They will take part in the planning of the workshop and prepare a report for the Curriculum Committee that will be presented to the Policy Council next February. In recognition of their contribution, these students should be offered free admission to the Palermo Conference, including meals. Given his keen interest in curriculum development, I would suggest that Vedat Diker, who served as secretary on the brief committee meeting in Atlanta, be asked to supervise these students. He is currently Vice Program Chair for the Palermo Conference.

Based on my impressions from the meeting held during the Atlanta Conference, I expect that around 50% - 60% of the members of the Curriculum Committee may be willing to participate in a pre-conference workshop of the kind suggested.

With the permission of the Policy Council, I will go ahead with the plans as described above and would appreciate any additional recommendations or suggestions.

Best regards,

_____________________

Paal I. Davidsen,

Chair of

Curriculum Committee