by – Barbara Audet

As someone who has taught in multiple disciplines—journalism, mass communications, and student development, it is too easy to create that silo in your head that seeks to separate skills and learning by those subject areas. During my time at the Lilly Conference on Evidence-Based Teaching and Learning prior to the start of this semester, I chose to attend a session, Systems Thinking for the Classroom facilitated by Tricia Berry and Keith Smith, both of Kaplan University.

Although the abstract and description were helpful in making the choice to attend, admittedly I was unaware of how systems thinking, described as a “method of analysis and problem solving that connects many different components of an organization or program to one another” might actually be of real use to me. I was pleasantly surprised. It affects everything I do. I titled this “Follow the String,” because that is what Berry and Smith asked us to do upon entering the room. Passing the string from person to person created a physical conceptualization of what systems thinking can be on an interpersonal and intrapersonal level. Essentially, with a systems thinking approach at work, students can be shown how all they are doing, from course to course, has implications for their overall success. From the teaching side of the table, this means asking students what other courses they are taking, making sure you have an awareness of the interconnectedness of our campuses and their individual personalities. What struck me as most interesting was that I have been using a systems-based approach all along—just never officially or with a true understanding of how I could systemize it and make it observable for students and myself in a more concrete fashion.

Considering how what I teach begins as a set of elements that students must grasp, approaching how those elements are integrated and presented chronologically is to view it as a system. Then considering how my course is part of the student’s system of instruction, means that my entire course is an element in their learning trajectory, and not just one course in their life.

How then to incorporate systems thinking into the course and to make students participants in the approach?  For Student Development courses, the answer is both practical and visionary in scope. We teach students about critical, creative and practical thinking. Using a systems thinking methodology allows students to see how each of these strategies is viewable as connected on that imaginary string that is their thought process moment to moment. Knowing that they are more than a silo of courses, of tests and writing assignments, is helpful for every student. They see that at any given point, they are called on to be creative or practical or critical in their approach to problem-solving. This realization for many students is life-changing. It allows them to drop old stereotypes about the kind of student they are or think they are. The kind of student they were told they were. The concept is empowering and allows a student to see their college time as having more efficacy in the long term, in addition to providing a degree.