Update No. 6 - slight change of direction
okay... as mentioned in my last update i've decided to change slightly the direction of this project/study - following some feedback from a few useful people whom left comments on this blog.
i've decided to do this for a number of reasons. the main reason being that at present, it appears that i am almost attempting to duplicate what the book 'SSM in Action' by Checkland tries to do.
'SSM in Action' attempts to put SSM in context using case studies to illustrate use of SSM in the real world.
as mentioned already (in my poor chapter 1 - first draft) from my own experiences studying the ADSYS unit, i noticed that students still struggled to get a grasp of SSM, despite books like 'SSM in Action'. this could have been due of a number reasons, one of which might be the 'medium' that was chosen teach/describe SSM. the new direction this study is attempting to look at this...
'the medium that is used to teach/describe SSM'
i.e. books - which rely on the individual interested in learning SSM understanding exactly what is written.
perhaps if the medium that is used to teach/describe SSM (i.e. books) was different, students would get a better grasp of the subject and learn/understand SSM more easily.
would individuals interested in learning SSM, get a better grasp of the subject if the communication medium was different?
i'll leave it there for the time being and elaborate further once i've met with my supervisor on monday.
i've decided to do this for a number of reasons. the main reason being that at present, it appears that i am almost attempting to duplicate what the book 'SSM in Action' by Checkland tries to do.
'SSM in Action' attempts to put SSM in context using case studies to illustrate use of SSM in the real world.
as mentioned already (in my poor chapter 1 - first draft) from my own experiences studying the ADSYS unit, i noticed that students still struggled to get a grasp of SSM, despite books like 'SSM in Action'. this could have been due of a number reasons, one of which might be the 'medium' that was chosen teach/describe SSM. the new direction this study is attempting to look at this...
'the medium that is used to teach/describe SSM'
i.e. books - which rely on the individual interested in learning SSM understanding exactly what is written.
perhaps if the medium that is used to teach/describe SSM (i.e. books) was different, students would get a better grasp of the subject and learn/understand SSM more easily.
would individuals interested in learning SSM, get a better grasp of the subject if the communication medium was different?
i'll leave it there for the time being and elaborate further once i've met with my supervisor on monday.
posted by pravin at 6:55 AM
3 Comments:
I listened to an interesting podcast the other day with a guy who went off on one about how amazing wiki's were in regard to collaboration i.e. the 'best collaborative tool' I don't know if you could have that kind of slant on some of your discussions. That's to say that teaching SSM through descriptive prose (a la SSM In Action) is less effective than a collaborative learning process (which is pretty much what SSM is (in a very simplified, boiled down sense)). Its an interesting project, one thing you may want to consider is how you will effectively bind your streams of thought together. As it stands there seems to be two areas of focus.. SSM and Communication/Learning Mediums. You should ensure you effectively relate all of your discussions rather than fall in to the trap of just talking about how amazing Wiki's or blogs etc are. (I'm not saying you will, just that you should ensure your constantly contextualising your discussion to the original problem definition you've identified i.e. unexperienced analysts getting to grips with SSM).
As we spoke about ther other day, getting a wiki together with students of ADSYS and/or DISYS would be an excellent source of discussion material.
It'll be interesting to see what Peters take on this slightly adjusted/more defined project idea.
afterthought:
I think some of my comments so far have been biased by my own project regarding the learning of information systems so i've took a view from the communication to junior analysts etc. Whereas your draft has been focusing on 'practice' and 'business use' i've almost read over these aspects.
I know your key interest lies in that area. I've also assumed although you talk about SSM in practice that you don't mean from the business point of view but more from the analyst point of view i.e seeing how its used in business not, as a business, seeing how to use or how it would benefit you.
I don't know what your thoughts are on this. Some of your early posts have been talking about seeing how SSM is used in business whereas your draft chapter pointed to learners getting to grips with how it would be used in the real world.
In my opinion you are not right. I am assured. I can defend the position.
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