Systems Thinking for Instructional Designers

Systems Thinking for Instructional Designers offers real-world cases that highlight how designers foster continuous improvement and manage change efforts across organizational contexts. Using a systems thinking approach, each case describes a holistic process that examines how a set of interdependent elements can be analyzed and coordinated to influence change. Instructional designers, faculty, program directors, digital learning leaders, and other development specialists will learn how systems thinking can solve authentic, real-world challenges. The book’s rich narratives cover both successes and failures of meaningful growth, paradigm shifts, and large-scale problem-solving in a variety of settings, including education and industry.

"Readers of this book can quickly draw quickly from these 25 rare and accessible narratives that demonstrate diverse education problem definitions and solutions found by professionals employing principles of systems theory and systems thinking. These cases resonate from diverse institutional settings ranging from K-12 (urban and rural), higher education (college and university), and health care contexts. Written in the voice of instructional designers and others, the editors of this book offer a symphony for education practitioners. This is a must-read for leaders who can benefit from the many lessons learned and shared by systemic change leaders."—Eugene G. Kowch, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Calgary, Canada"The authors provide a welcome introduction to systems thinking through carefully constructed teaching cases from the world of education and related topics. The cases enable systems thinking faculty and students to explore this growing field through many accessible yet detailed examples which demonstrate the value of a systems approach to addressing chronic, complex problems."—David Peter Stroh, Founding Partner of Bridgeway Partners and Founding Director of AppliedSystemsThinking.com"I’m so pleased to recommend this book to all change agents. This text is an important addition to the literature in the field, particularly given the strong link to practice and the ability to apply the lessons from these cases to the ongoing activities of those who wish to understand the systemic implications of their own change agentry. Given the diversity of cases, there’s something for everyone in this text. This one should be on any practitioner’s bookshelf when looking to make system-wide change."—Alison A. Carr-Chellman, Professor and Dean of the School of Education and Health Sciences at the University of Dayton, USA

M. Aaron Bond is Senior Director for Learning Services at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA.Suha Rahif Tamim is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Instruction and Teacher Education in the College of Education at University of South Carolina, USA.Samantha J. Blevins is Senior Instructional Designer & Learning Architect in the Center for Innovative Teaching & Learning at Radford University, USA.Beth R. Sockman is Professor and Co-Department Chair in the Department of Professional and Secondary Education at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA.