Overcome linear thinking and unravel the interconnectedness of our world. This 5-part, fully online systems thinking course will give you the tools you need to understand the complex social, industrial, and environmental systems at play around you.
Develop a systems mindset and discover how everything is interconnected. Systems thinking helps you overcome reductionist thinking and gain a different perspective of how the world works. This foundational systems thinking course will help you understand the complex social, industrial, and environmental systems at play and how they interact. It’s a must-take systems thinking course for anyone wanting to start or build their capacity in understanding systems dynamics, relationships and how to create systems change.
Receive the foundations of systems thinking methods, habits, and practices.
Understand systems dynamics, especially in terms of feedback loops and systems archetypes.
Develop the ability to identify, explore, and map system relationships for interventions, while leveraging flexible and divergent thinking practices.
Easily define boundaries and scope; identify archetypes, nodes and feedback loops and employ a variety of systems mapping techniques.
Curriculum
What’s inside this systems thinking course
In this knowledge session, we’ll unpack the theory and framework of Systems Thinking, providing tools for mapping systems and ways to explore and synthesize the world around us from a systems perspective.
You will learn the methods and approaches needed to understand system dynamics, identify and map relationships and connections, and better understand feedback loops. You’ll discover how everything is interconnected and learn how to identify the three major systems at play in the world around us.
Finally, you’ll explore why easy solutions can often lead to negative impacts elsewhere, and why the easy way out often leads back in. You’ll replace this mainstream reductionist thinking with the framework to actively think and solve in systems.
The Disruptive Design Method
As a core part of the Disruptive Design Methodology, this exploration of the Systems Thinking practice lays the foundation for designing systems interventions that affect positive social change. It also helps you develop the foundations of a three-dimensional thinking framework that will feed into any work you do! Let’s dive into your online systems thinking course journey now!
Learn how systems thinking is a holistic approach to understanding the way parts fit together in dynamic relationships to make up a whole system.
Explore how it’s the opposite of reductive or linear thinking, which reduces the world down into parts. Thinking in systems involves a series of practical approaches and mental models that enable a more complex view of the world, focusing on relationships and synthesis.
You’ll gain understanding of the connections and relationships between things so you can see how the world works in flows, dynamics, and interconnections.
Unlock your ability to see systems at play in the world around you.
As a species, we have created incredible technologies and processes designed to advance our lives and meet our needs, from health to wealth and entertainment. We also have the technological, creative and neurological capacity to address some of the accidental ramifications that our fast-paced technological growth has caused to the life support systems that sustain us on Earth.
We can very clearly see the consequences of our actions, individually and collectively; thus, it’s time to start investing our creative capacity into redesigning systems, rather than into ad hoc contributions that maintain the status quo.
Right now, the world does not need any more apps or designer chairs – we need tangible solutions to the array of complex social and environmental issues we know exist.
Explore the key tools you need to think in systems and identify connection points.
Systems are essentially networks made up of nodes or agents that are linked in varied and diverse ways. By using systems thinking, we identify and understand these relationships as part of the exploration of the larger systems at play.
Every system is made up of many subsystems and is, itself, part of larger systems. Just as we are made up of atoms with molecules and quantum particles, problems are made up of problems within problems (that’s why I call them problem sets).
It’s often the connection points within systems that present the most opportunity for making change – these will form the basis for our intervention points.
Learn how to use systems maps to identify and explore relationships within any given area of inquiry.
A system map is a visual representation of a system’s relationships within a given boundary or scope. You can quickly hand draw systems maps to identify and explore relationships within any given area of inquiry.
A systems map is an important tool for interrogating the dynamics and conditions that enable a phenomenon to exist. There are online tools you can use to create systems maps from datasets, but starting with analog systems maps helps to identify the intricacies of the relationships and feedback loops.
Materials
Material one
Understand the constantly-changing nature of dynamically interconnected systems and how systems maps can be leveraged to explore them.
Systems dynamics are the activities which occur within a system, and how the elements of the system interrelate. It is a huge field, and it can be overwhelming— but the main points to start with are:
Systems are constantly changing.
They can be defined by boundaries, but they are dynamically interconnected, and
They can be explored through systems maps.
Certification
Looking to advance further?
Consider taking the UnSchool Practitioner Certification. This 6-month program is for anyone interested in making a positive impact on the planet through the practice of systems, sustainability and design. It is a practice-based program packed with content, including handbooks, videos, learning challenges, systems thinking, and the circular economy. Includes all 12 modules of the Disruptive Design Method, perfect for anyone looking to enhance their personal practice.
“The UnSchool has had a profound effect on me, not only by redefining the way in which I view the world but also by altering my reflection upon past experiences”
“Everything around us is designed for better or for worse, so I find learning new methods of looking at the systems, the ways in which design interplays with them, and the potential approaches we can take to design more social and sustainable interventions is empowering.”
Anna SchlimmProject Manager, Company
Changed my mindset
“The UnSchool really changed my whole mindset and gave me so much energy and confidence to create positive change and self-belief.”
Souad GhaffariProject Manager, Company
World renowned expert training
Your instructor
Sustainability provocateur, award-winning designer, UNEP Champion of the Earth, and creative changemaker pioneer, Dr. Leyla Acaroglu challenges people to think differently about how the world works. Leyla’s main-stage TED talk on sustainability has been viewed over a million times, she is the founder of the UnSchool and creator of the Disruptive Design Method. As as a renowned international expert on systems thinking and sustainability, she runs workshops around the world and designs unique educational experiences that help equip people with the tools to intervene and change systems to make the status quo obsolete. Leyla is sought after for her unique approach to activating positive social change by design.
Options and Pricing
Two payment options
What you get
Methods and approaches needed to understand system dynamics
Map relationships and connections
Understand feedback loops
Identify the major systems in the world around us
Explore why easy solutions can often lead to negative impacts
Learn a framework for actively thinking and solving in systems
You will have access for 180 days from the date of purchase.
We recommend a few hours a week over the course of a month.
If you need more time, please send us an email. There may be a small fee depending on how much more time you need. These are granted on a case by case basis.
Find out if you are eligible for our Equity Access Scholarships
As part of our goal to make our programs equitable, we offer both partial scholarships and payment plans. Our limited number of scholarships are awarded based on demonstrated need to certain select courses and programs. We fund these to promote equitable access to our programs. We are committed to offering our scholarships to community members who would otherwise be unable to access a program at all.
Can’t find what you’re looking for? Send us a message.
“Everything around us is designed for better or for worse, so I find learning new methods of looking at the systems, the ways in which design interplays with them, and the potential approaches we can take to design more social and sustainable interventions is empowering.”
Anna SchlimmHead of Sustainable Futures at Holobiont and Lecturer at UAL
