Systems analysis MOOCs for sustainability transformation Erasmus Project

Project Title

Systems analysis MOOCs for sustainability transformation

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for higher education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses; Environment and climate change; Open and distance learning

Project Summary

The world is becoming increasingly complex. International organizations such as the EU, UN, WHO, and OECD now point to the need for systems analysis to correct policies that have failed to produce sustainable developments (OECD 2014: “Guidelines for Resilience Systems Analysis”). Laboratory experiments have revealed that people misunderstand nonlinear, dynamic systems and opt for quick fixes that often fail to produce the expected welfare. While there is clearly a need for better understanding, there is hardly any capacity to teach policy-oriented System Dynamics (SD). The partner universities have offered the only Erasmus Mundus master program in SD. Social scientists lack the conceptual tools to analyze dynamics. Even though SD has the mathematical rigor of methods used in the hard sciences, it provides decision-makers with basic understanding of how social and natural systems work. SD is problem oriented, interdisciplinary and contributes to transversal skills that are not job or sector specific.

This strategic partnership aims to produce nine MOOCs that will enable a comprehensive education in System Dynamics with a focus on sustainability transformation. Together, the partners are able to build HE capacity in this area. The MOOCs make it possible for bachelor, masters, and future PhD students to access high quality SD education. The new MOOCs increase the flow of students and facilitate the recruitment of skilled PhDs, thereby building teaching capacity for future needs.

While there exist MOOCs that teach “systems thinking”, there are currently no MOOCs that cover SD and sustainability with the dept we propose. One MOOC will give a system thinking summary of all the other MOOCs, and will be made available to a larger audience.

The project also strengthens our HE’s service to society by making our MOOCs available to planners, decision-makers, teachers and journalists, who have all shown great interest in previous online SD-based courses. A key teaching tool is interactive learning environments (ILEs) that will also benefit school education via The Creative Learning Exchange and teachers that take the MOOCs. It is also our experience that SD-based courses in sustainability transformation lead to civic engagement among learners. Climate Interactive has documented this based on 50 000 role playing events regarding climate change.

The partners have intimate knowledge of each other’s research and educational programs, and all have cooperated with UIB through different projects including an Erasmus Mundus project which included several of the partners. Producing the MOOCs is a major undertaking that cannot be done by one institution alone. The partners have complementary knowledge and experiences both with respect to SD methodology and application areas. The team members have made scientific contributions to the analysis of dynamic systems, group model building, laboratory experiments, pedagogy, ILEs in education, natural resources management, and sustainable development goals (SDGs). The team members are leading within the field of System Dynamics with the current President and five previous presidents of the SD Society.

The MOOCs go beyond the traditional text, video, and quiz format. Focus is on developing intuitive understanding of problems, policies, and analysis through active model building. By use of advanced, digital scaffolding, students discover insights for themselves without being told. The MOOCs are flexible and can be equipped with treatments that enable future large scale teaching experiments.

The MOOCs are in line with a number of EU policies for higher education. The project is “tackling future skills mismatches and promoting excellence in skills development”. The MOOCs will significantly improve the availability and quality of teaching by using innovative digital technologies. Thereby, the project supports “effective and efficient higher education systems”. These are key goals for European cooperation in higher education (Renewed EU agenda for HE), strengthened by the Corona pandemic.

The MOOCs will be available as part of ordinary study programs at the partner institutions. Through study portals, they will be available globally for ECTS or self-study. They will be presented at SD and EADTU conferences and in webinars, and shared within the Arqus European University Alliance, where UiB participates. The ILEs will be freely available at Exchange.iseesystems.com, where some ILEs have been used a million times.

Pooling expertise from various institutions increases access to high-quality education, irrespective of socio-economic background. The project supports the Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning, reinforcing the development of key competences, from an early age and throughout life. By addressing sustainability transformation, including climate goals, the thematic focus on forward-looking skills is also in line with overall EU policy priorities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 409548 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITETET I BERGEN & Country: NO

Project Partners

• RIGAS TEHNISKA UNIVERSITATE
• UNIVERSITA DELLA SVIZZERA ITALIANA
• Stichting Radboud Universiteit
• BOGAZICI UNIVERSITESI
• UNIVERSIDADE NOVA DE LISBOA