A Review of Diagramming in Systems Practice and How Technologies Have Supported the Teaching and Learning of Diagramming for Systems Thinking in Practice

The educational process arguably involves a mediated discourse between teachers and learners to aid sense or meaning making for both parties. That mediation, particularly in distance teaching models, is often done through the use of educational resources, whereby teachers develop and/or select the educational resources which the learners then study or engage with through purposeful activities. Some issues or topics are so complicated or complex that words or numbers may be insufficient to represent the meanings contained within them and this is particularly relevant to systems studies which examine complex adaptive systems. Equally diagrams can break out of the linear and systematic nature of printed text to show non-linear and systemic features. This latter trait has been enhanced through the emergence in recent years of digital technologies whereby hypertext and other web applications now make it easier to create dynamic and/or interactive diagrams. And yet there has been little recent research into the influence of such technologies on the learning of systems diagramming skills at a distance. These issues are examined through a review of the literature and the reporting of previously unpublished surveys within The Open University on the value of diagrams to systems studies and the role of technology in influencing the study of diagramming in the teaching of systems thinking in practice. This review indicates that diagrams are seen as an important feature of systems studies and that digital technology can be effective in supporting the teaching and learning of systems diagramming skills at a distance. It also notes that new investigations are needed to examine whether more recent developments in digital technologies have made them more effective and/or efficient for teaching and using such skills in practice.     

Online Automatic Marking of Diagrams

This article describes the way in which the Open University is expanding its online quiz engine to enable students to draw free-form diagrams in response to a quiz question. The new quiz engine automatically marks a student’s diagram and provides feedback either instantaneously when used in formative mode or later when used in summative mode. The new quiz engine is hosted within the Open University’s quiz module, OpenMark, which interfaces to the Moodle VLE which is responsible for rendering both the question and the feedback in the user’s browser. The article outlines the general nature of the diagrams that our system has been designed to deal with. This is followed by an example of the use of the new question type as implemented within our e-assessment system. The article also briefly summarizes the results of experiments carried out on the accuracy of the automatic marker and reports on feedback from students who have used the new diagramming question type.     

Turning Hindsight into Foresight—Our Search for the “Philosopher's Stone” of Failure

This paper tells the story of work using Systems thinking to study failure. It describes the methodological developments that have taken place in this area at the Open University and looks at how the emphasis has shifted from the examination of past failures to the prediction and prevention of future failures and the facilitation of organizational learning through the analysis of failures. It ends with an outline of some of the work on systems failures that is currently under way.     

Rapid Institutional Appraisal

A week-long intensive process of staff development and induction called Rapid Institutional Appraisal (RIA) was conducted in November 2000 in the Systems Discipline, Centre for Complexity and Change (CCC), at the Open University. We report the systemic roots and characteristics of the RIA as designed from traditions of soft systems methodology and rapid rural appraisal. Our experiences arising from our own use of RIA are described and the wider implications for organizational learning in a complex organization discussed. While acknowledging limitations with this RIA event, we argue that RIA offers a potential model for staff development for adaptive use in different contexts and on varying scales. The process builds on principles of "conversation" and "multiple perspectives" as the touchstone for establishing a purposeful community of practice.     

Rich Pictures: Collaborative Communication Through Icons

A visual language of pictures, such as the rich picture used in the Soft System Methodology, offers a way of global communication that far exceeds the limitations of text and speech. Simple graphics can be rapidly communicated, processed and transmitted within a large and culturally diverse constituency. This paper looks at the benefits and interpretative risks when using rich pictures for system understanding. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly to report upon an observation of a large scale collaborative diagramming workshop and compare the resulting pictures with a previous workshop study. Secondly, to develop further ongoing research which suggests rich picture construction can be aided by providing an icon legend. This paper compares 2 rich picture workshops: the diagramming workshop at the Open University eSTEeM Diagramming Colloquium in March 2012 and a workshop held in Heriot Watt University in February 2012. The comparative results are set against the ongoing empirically grounded rich picture research within Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Preliminary results suggest there are a set of distinguishable icons and shapes that are generic across all rich pictures regardless of domain. Further analysis of the early results suggests a natural intrinsic grammar is manifested within rich pictures in terms of relationships, icons, context and connectors.     

Appreciating Systems: Critical Reflections on the Changing Nature of Systems as a Discipline in a Systems-Learning Society

The paper reports a reflective inquiry into the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of systems-related courses developed and presented up to 1995 by the former Systems Department in the Open University, UK. The SWOT analysis is considered in the context of the "systems movement" in its broadest sense. Based on the OU experiences the institutional challenges of systems-as-discipline and interdiscipline are explored. Three strategies for the future are suggested: (i) the potential of Systems Departments to demonstrate rigorous and coherent interdisciplinarity; (ii) for systemists to work harder to bridge the divide between their espoused theory and theory in use, particularly in their own institutional settings and (iii) the need for a rigorous pedagogy for "systems practice."     

Expert discovery and knowledge mining in complex multi-agent systems

Complex problem solving requires diverse expertise and multiple techniques. In order to solve such problems, complex multi-agent systems that include both of human experts and autonomous agents are required in many application domains. Most complex multi-agent systems work in open domains and include various heterogeneous agents. Due to the heterogeneity of agents and dynamic features of working environments, expertise and capabilities of agents might not be well estimated and presented in these systems. Therefore, how to discover useful knowledge from human and autonomous experts, make more accurate estimation for experts＇ capabilities and find out suitable expert（s） to solve incoming problems （＂Expert Mining＂） are important research issues in the area of multi-agent system. In this paper, we introduce an ontology-based approach for knowledge and expert mining in hybrid multi-agent systems. In this research, ontologies are hired to describe knowledge of the system. Knowledge and expert mining processes are executed as the system handles incoming problems. In this approach, we embed more self-learning and self-adjusting abilities in multi-agent systems, so as to help in discovering knowledge of heterogeneous experts of multi-agent systems.     

Systems and Environmental Decision Making—Postgraduate Open Learning with the Open University

Environmental issues affect everyone though the ways in which people engage with them varies a great deal. The Open University's Masters program in environmental decision making has at its core a modular course that enables students to incorporate environmental factors into their decision making from a starting point of identifying their own environmental issues using a systems approach. Students carry out a project based on their own experience in a decision-making situation of their own choice. A framework for environmental decision making is introduced and students learn how to use the framework systematically, systemically and critically. The course has evolved since it was first introduced in 1997 as both students and the course team have learnt about environmental decision making together. This paper analyses and interprets some of the data that have emerged from students projects since the course began.     

Conflict analysis approaches for investigating attitudes and misperceptions in the War of 1812

Formal systems engineering approaches to modeling misperceptions and attitudes are employed within the framework of the graph model for conflict resolution to systematically study the War of 1812 between the United States of America and Great Britain in order to provide enhanced insights into the causes of the war. More specifically, relational definitions for preferences, movements and stability concepts are defined for describing the attitudes and associated behavior of decision makers involved in a conflict. To capture misperceptions of decision makers in the War of 1812, attitudes are studied within the structure of a hypergame. Combining attitudes and misperceptions within the paradigm of the graph model furnishes the flexible analytical tool which demonstrates that misunderstanding of attitudes by Great Britain and the United States may have contributed to the outbreak of this nasty war.     

Practicing What We Teach in Teaching Systems Practice: The Action–Learning Cycle

Respect for autonomy is a powerful tool for managing complexity. It lets natural, mutually supportive order emerge. In Western culture, though, much order is imposed. This causes conflict, which only increases complexity. This conflictual pattern has an antidote in systems practice: the systemic action–learning cycle. When used reflectively at the level of second-order cybernetics, this cycle embodies respect for autonomy. The UK Open University course "T306: Managing Complexity—A Systems Approach" teaches this action–learning cycle, and uses the cycle in its own teaching. In particular, it uses the cycle in its online conferences, to invite participation and dissolve conflict. This paper shows how.     

INCREASING RETURNS TO SCALE,DYNAMICS OF INDUSTRIAL STRUCTURE AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF FIRMS

1. Introduction In the past decades, the evolutionary perspective has contributed lot to the economics (Arthur and Durlauf et al 1997, Dosi and Nelson 1994, Aruka 2001). The economy is studied as an evolving complex system with many features in complexity such as nonlinear interactions and emergent properties. In reality, the economic system consists of many adaptive agents. They learn from each other, and their values may be influenced by others’ values and actions. These interactions amo…     

So What's a Metaproject For?

Systemic Practice and Action Research - Curious Reader: So what's the point of this paper? Author: To give readers a sense of how the Open University Systems Discipline sees the coherence of...     

基于多阶段转换学习的群体研讨文本言语行为分类

在群体支持系统(Group Support Systems,GSS)的环境下,群体能够在很短时间内产生大量研讨文本,远远超过了人们对信息处理的能力。因此,迫切需要一种能够自动分析和处理群体研讨文本的方法,言语行为分类就是这类方法中有可能实现并且具有应用价值的一个。在分析Zeno研讨模型的基础上,提出了适合群体研讨语料的言语行为分类体系。采用基于转换学习的办法,通过引入多阶段转换学习的概念,初步解决了群体研讨文本言语行为分类的问题,并且在议题类别和一些表达主张的类别(如支持和反对)上取得了较好的识别效果。研究群体研讨文本的言语行为分类对于拓展GSS,进而研究和开发自动主持人系统具有重要意义。同时,也为在中文环境下解决其他类型研讨(如网络聊天室、即时聊天工具等)文本的言语行为分类问题提供了参考依据。     

Technical Note ：SINGLE-PERIOD TWO-PRODUCT INVENTORY MODEL WITH SUBSTITUTION： SOLUTION AND PROPERTIES

In this paper, we study a single-period two-product inventory model with stochastic demands and downward substitution. The optimal order quantities are presented and some properties are provided. Comparing with newsboy model, we prove that both the profit and the fill rate can be improved by using the substitution policy. This work was supported partly by NSFC/RGC Joint Research Program under grant 79910161987 and the National Science Foundation of China (79825102, 70231010, 70321001). Lianqiao CAI is lecturer of School of International Business, Beijing Foreign Studies University. He received his B.S. and M.S. from School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, in 1995 and 1998, and Ph.D of Management Science from Tsinghua University in 2002. His research areas include supply chain management, optimization techniques. Jian Chen is Professor and Chairman of the Management Science Department and co-director of the Research Center for Contemporary Management, Tsinghua University. He has over 80 papers published in some leading international journals and first class Chinese journals, and has been a principal investigator for over 20 grants or research contracts with National Science Foundation of China, governmental organizations, and companies. His main research interests include supply chain management, E-commerce, modeling and control for complex systems, decision support systems and information systems, and forecast and optimization techniques. He serves as associate editor of the “IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Part A” and “IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics: Part C”, and on the Editorial Board of “The International Journal of Electronic Business” and “System Research and Behavioral Science”. He is the recipient of the Outstanding Contribution Award of IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society in 1996, and the Young Scientist Award of China in 1992. He was Secretary General of the 1996 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics in Beijing, Co-chair of the IPC of 1998 International Conference on Systems Science and Systems Engineering, Chair of the First Asian eBiz Workshop in 2001, Co-chair of the Asian eBiz Workshop in 2002 and 2003, and Co-chair of the international conference on Global Supply Chain Management in 2002. Houmin Yan received his B.S. and M.S. from the Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, in 1982 and 1985, respectively, and his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Management, University of Toronto in 1993. From Jan. 1994, he is with the Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management, the Chinese University of Hong Kong as an Assistance, Associate and Full Professor. He was a tenured Associate Professor at School of Management, the Univ. of Texas at Dallas. His main research areas are operations management, stochastic models, simulations, and supply chain management. He has published in journals such as Operations Research, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Optimization: Theory and Applications, IIE Transactions and IEEE Transactions. He consults several high-tech companies, such as Motorola, C&K Systems, and Oriental Power, on issues spanning from production planning and scheduling, supply chain management to business process re-engineering. He is a member of INFORMS.     

Systems Language for e-Democracy: Personal Resource Systems Management (PRSM), a Model and Action Research

In ancient Athens, the Agora was a place for collective decision making about personal and community issues. New Agoras, most recently Internet-enabled ones, now propose to enliven participatory democracy and establish systems by which our institutions can serve us and we can govern ourselves (B. H. Banathy, Guided Evolution of Society: A Systems View, Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press, New York, 2000). Effective participation in such activity will require a language and consciousness not currently in evidence, and learning beyond current parameters. In this article, high school students from Stephanie Williams' Child Development classes at McDowell High School, Millcreek Township School District, demonstrate use of a new paradigm. This model of Personal Resource Systems Management provides systems language for Agora discourse enabling effective participatory democracy.     

STUDIES ON HORIZONTAL COMPETITION AMONG HOMOGENOUS RETAILERS THROUGH AGENT-BASED SIMULATION

1. Introduction A supply chain is a network composed osuppliers, manufacturers, retailers, etc., whichcooperate to offer a kind of goods or servicesThese supply chain members cooperate andcompete with each other to maximize theiown profits. For example,…     

Systemic methods for the analysis of failure

For more than 20 years systems-related ideas have been used to analyze and model failures and disasters of various sorts. The authors outline some examples of the links that have been forged between failures and systems over this period. An overview of the origins and development of systems failures teaching and research at the United Kingdom Open University is also presented, together with two systemic methodologies for the analysis of failure that have stemmed from this work. The implications of recent research on the application of the more sophisticated of these two methodologies are also discussed.     

开放系统之间语义的传送:实例研究

开放系统互连(OSI)的主要目标是实现驻留在不同系统中的应用之间的互通与互操作。这要求在这些系统之间正确地传送应用语义。本文以文卷传送为实例,阐述了OSI为实现语义传送而提出的概念、工具与标准,探讨了这个在OSI中较为难以理解的领域。     

Simulating the supply disruption for the coordinated supply chain

There are many disruptive accidents in the supply chain operations system and achieving the coordination of supply chain is main objective for supply chain research. While disruptive accidents have increasingly influenced the coordinated operation of the supply chain, existing research literature on the supply chain coordination is setting in a stationary environment. The answer for how the disruptive accidents affect the coordinated supply chain is given in this paper. Based on the benchmark supply chain which is coordinated by the negative incentive mechanism, we study the impacts of supply disruption on the supply chain system by using simulation approach in which two different distribution function of random variable are used to express the supply disruption. Comparison between these two simulation results and possible coordination mechanism under the supply disruption are proposed. From the perspective of supply chain risk management, we provide the inspiration for the manager.     

Systemic praxis in the education of the agricultural systems practitioner

This paper describes the context and the systemic experiential theories that have informed the praxis of educating agricultural systems practitioners. The praxis has involved a process of action research with students and with clients in farming and other rural community organizations. The praxis encourages learners to bring a range of methodologies of inquiry to bear upon problematic issues, contingent upon the nature of such issues. Informed by a number of different theories, and by reflecting on our own work, an earlier model of a nested hierarchy of systems of inquiry has been reconstructed to become a more useful guide to educational strategies: Each contingent methodology can now be seen to have its own learning, meta-learning, and epistemic learning dimensions. A key to enriched learning for responsible changes in agriculture and rural development lies in the facilitation of the consciousness of, and competency at, such a systemic pluralism of methodologies.