February 3, 2016
AERA Systems Thinking SIG members,
The AECT Systems Thinking and Change Division would like to invite you to an upcoming free webinar on Thursday, February 11th, 1pm EST/10am PST, titled "Digital badging: Transforming education through personalized instruction."
Dr. William Watson will will examine the problems of education through a systems thinking lens and discuss how digital badges can play an important part in transforming education to a personalized, learning-focused paradigm. Access is not limited to AECT members. Please share with interested parties and register ahead of time.
Register now at: https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/registrations/new?cid=yw7wlpiqgv83
Also, Dr. Watson will be continuing the discussion in the LinkedIn group that the AECT division and AERA SIG share. If you have not yet joined, please request to join now.
An American Educational Research Association List If you need assistance with this list, please send an email to [email protected].
January 4, 2016
This is a second notice for nominations for two SIG officer positions. Your service to the SIG is valued and needed! Please read the message below and consider volunteering to run for the SIG’s officer elections this year.
The AERA Systems Thinking SIG is running an election for two positions: the SIG chair position, and the program Co-chair position, both of which have a two-year term. Please consider nominating yourself or another individual who would be good for these positions.
To nominate yourself, please send an email to [email protected] with your:
Descriptions for each position are below:
The Chairs shall (a) serve as the responsible party for the general administration of the SIG, (b) ensure that the SIG Bylaws are followed, (c) act as liaison between the SIG and AERA and the SIG and the SIG Executive Committee, (d) delegate SIG duties among the appropriate officers, (e) advise the other officers in completing their duties, (f) preside at all meetings of the Executive Committee and at the Annual Business Meeting, and (g) act as parliamentarian or shall appoint a SIG member to serve in that role for each meeting. The Chair may appoint ad hoc committees as needed. Unless otherwise specified in these Bylaws, the Chair of the SIG may appoint persons to assist officers, to chair committees, or to carry out other work of the SIG.
The Program Co-Chairs shall be responsible for (a) promoting submissions to the SIG for the annual conference, (b) coordinating the peer review process of proposals, (c) communicating the SIG annual conference program to the SIG membership and to the greater AERA community, (d) publicizing and managing the annual awards competition, (e) determining and securing awards, (f) determining attendance at the Annual Meeting, (g) securing appropriate food in coordination with the SIG Executive Committee for the SIG’s Annual Business Meeting, (h) training and integrating the newly elected Program Co-Chair in the office’s duties, and (i) overseeing and enacting all other duties associated with the annual conference.
Nominations are due by January 8th (this week!).
Thank you for considering this important service to the SIG!
Bill Watson Co-Chair Systems Thinking in Education SIG
December 11, 2015
The AERA Systems Thinking SIG is running an election for the program Co-chair position, which has a two-year term. Please consider nominating yourself or another individual who would be good for the position.
Nominations are due by December 15th (this week!). Please send nominations to [email protected].
October 1, 2015
The organizers of this free event are primarily program evaluators, but the topic, systems thinking in evaluation, might be of interest to members, so I’m sharing this with the list: The Systems in Evaluation Topical Interest Group of the American Evaluation Association will be hosting a Systems in Evaluation (Un)conference in October. This will be a virtual event held across 3 consecutive days, Oct. 13-15, from 3-4:30 pm Eastern time on each day.
What is an Unconference? An unconference is a loosely structured meeting that emphasizes the informal, emergent exchange of ideas between participants rather than following a conventionally structured program of speakers and presenters. Join us online daily October 13-15, 2015 from 3-4:30 pm Eastern US time to learn and share with your colleagues in an informal virtual environment (MIT’s UnHangout). Build your knowledge and skills in systems evaluation without ever leaving the office! How will the Unconference Work? Participants will log on at the indicated time each day and, following a short welcome and orientation, either join a specific discussion topic in a virtual breakout room or create their own discussion topic and breakout group. Each breakout room is limited to 10 people total and include a facilitator to enhance discussion and engage learning. If participants are not able to enter the breakout room of their choice they are encouraged to try another room or start a new breakout room topic. Participants must have a Google account plus a reliable Internet connection and microphone; a webcam is also strongly suggested. What are the Discussion Topics? The current facilitated discussion topics include: • Incorporating a Systems Approach into Evaluation: Challenges and Strategies • Using a Soft Systems Approach in Systems Evaluation: Real-life Examples • Using a Developmental Evaluation Approach in Systems Evaluation: Real-life Examples • Using a Complex Adaptive Systems Approach in Systems Evaluation: Real-life Examples • Support for a Systems Approach in Systems Evaluation: Strategies for Promoting Buy-in • Defining and Distinguishing Systems Evaluation in Systems Evaluation: Where are the Boundaries? • Visualizing Complex Systems: Tools and Strategies • Approaches for Capturing High-level Systems Patterns and Outcomes • Identifying System Leverage Points: Helpful Approaches • Defining System Boundaries: Building Stakeholder Consensus • Addressing Causation in Systems Evaluation • The Role of Accountability in Systems Evaluation • The Link between Culturally Responsive Evaluation (CRE) and Systems-Oriented Evaluation (SOE) • PLUS emergent, participant-proposed sessions (participants will volunteer to facilitate these for themselves) Not every topic will be offered every day; the final schedule will be determined by session popularity and facilitator availability. If a particular breakout room is full participants are encouraged to try another room or start a new breakout room topic. Participants have the option of attending one, two, or all three days. What if I’m Interested in a Topic Not on this List? The unconference format is unique in that it fosters the exchange of ideas between participants rather than following a conventionally structured program of speakers and presenters. If you have a topic that you don’t see on the list above, we encourage you to form your own breakout group at the appropriate time. All participants will receive instructions on how to do this during the Welcome and Orientation at the beginning of each day. How Do I Register? Registration is free but space will be limited. Go to http://www.systemsinevaluation.com/systems-unconference/systems-unconference-details/ for links and full details. To register, go to http://www.systemsinevaluation.com/systems-unconference-registration/ for a link to the registration site. Jan Noga Co-Chair Systems Thinking in Education SIG
July 20, 2015
Hello, Systems Thinking in Education SIG members,
Just a quick reminder that submissions for the 2016 annual meeting are due this Wednesday, July 22nd, by 11:59 pm Pacific time. You must use the All Academic online system to submit. Go to the AERA website (http://www.aera.net/), log in, and then go to the Annual Meeting portal to submit your proposal. The system can get slow during the last 2 hours before the deadline, so don't wait until the last minute to upload your proposals.
Thanks! We're looking forward to seeing you in Washington DC next spring!
Your SIG Leadership team
Bill Watson and Jan Noga, Co-Chairs Miriam Ezzani, Program Chair Sunny Lee Watson, Secretary-Treasurer Chad Green, Webmaster
July 13, 2015
Hello, Systems Thinking in Education SIG members!
Miriam is on vacation, so I'm covering program chair duties for the next two weeks.
This is just a quick reminder that the deadline for submitting proposals for the 2015 AERA Annual Meeting is only 10 days away. Proposals must be uploaded through the All Academic System by 11:59 pm Pacific time on Wednesday, July 22nd. Until then, any proposals already uploaded may still be edited.
If you have already submitted a proposal - great! If you're on the fence, please do consider submitting. The SIG's conference allocation of sessions is determined by how many submissions we receive as a proportion of overall submissions across AERA, so more submissions gets us a larger allocation of sessions.
Regardless, we look forward to seeing you in Washington, DC next spring! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me ([email protected]) or any of our other officers.
Jan Noga Co-Chair Systems Thinking in Education SIG
May 7, 2015
Hello, Systems Thinking SIG members,
We have several items to share with you in this message:
2015-2016 SIG LEADERSHIP TEAM
Our 2015-2016 leadership team has not changed much from last year with the exception of adding Miriam Ezzani as our second program co-chair. Here is our team for the coming year:
Later this summer, we will be putting out a call for nominations to fill three positions with terms ending in 2016: SIG Co-Chair, Program Co-Chair, and Webmaster. Our slate of nominees goes to AERA in the early fall with elections in winter of 2016. Terms of office start the day after that year's annual meeting and run for 2 years. Watch for further details from Sunnie Watson about volunteering to run for one of these positions later this summer.
DEADLINE REMINDER: VOLUNTEER REVIEWERS
We also wanted to send out a reminder to those of you who are interested in reviewing proposals for the 2016 annual meeting. If you have not yet signed up, you can do so through the AERA website. The deadline to sign up for proposal review is this coming Monday, May 11th.
2016 ANNUAL MEETING AND RELATED CRITICAL DATES
And, finally, we wanted to encourage you to submit a proposal for the 2016 Annual Meeting in Washington DC next April. The theme for the conference is Public Scholarship to Educate Diverse Democracies. Next year is AERA's centennial, and the theme has been developed to stimulate thinking about the role of public education in today's society as well as the role of research in strengthening public education. Session allocations are based on the number of proposals we receive as a proportion of overall submissions, so the more submissions, the more sessions we receive for our conference allocation.
Critical dates for the annual meeting:
Watch for updates and reminders over the coming months from Miriam Ezzani, lead program co-chair.
Thanks!
Your Systems Thinking in Education SIG leadership team
Bill Watson and Jan Noga, Co-chairs Sunnie Lee Watson, Secretary/Treasurer Miriam Ezzani and Anthony Chow, Program co-chairs Chad Green, Webmaster
March 14, 2015
Greetings, Systems Thinking SIG members!
I wanted to remind you all of our upcoming meetings at this year’s conference. Our business meeting will take place on Saturday, April 18th at 6:30pm in the Marriott on the 4th level in the Sheffield room. Please be sure to attend so that we can meet all of you and work together to continue to grow our SIG. I look forward to speaking with you then.
This year we have a roundtable session on Sat, April 18, 2:45 to 4:15pm, Hyatt, East Tower - Purple Level, Riverside West with three different papers.
On Sunday, we have a symposium of four papers: Unpacking Systems Capacity Through SWIFT Schools: Building Coherence, Sun, April 19, 8:15 to 9:45am, Marriott, Fourth Level, Addison.
We also have a paper session with four papers: Systems Thinking in Individual-, School-, and District-Level Change, Innovation, and Policy, Sun, April 19, 4:05 to 6:05pm, Marriott, Fourth Level, Clark
We are a little more than a month away. I look forward to seeing all of you at the business meeting!
Bill Watson, Co-Chair Systems Thinking in Education SIG
October 15, 2014
Hello, Systems Thinking SIG members -
I hope you are all doing well!
Annual elections for AERA governance, divisions, and SIGs will start in January, 2015. The Systems Thinking in Education SIG is soliciting nominations for the following leadership positions:
If you are interested in running for one of these positions, or wish to nominate someone to run, please submit your nominations NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 10th to me by email ([email protected]). Nominations must include the following information:
AERA election guidelines require a minimum of two nominees for each position on the ballot. Please consider throwing your hat in the ring.
Sunnie Lee Watson, Co-Chair Systems Thinking in Education SIG
July 22, 2014
Hello Systems Thinking SIG members,
Just a reminder that today is the last day to submit proposals for the 2015 Annual Meeting in Chicago. Please do consider submitting your work to the Systems Thinking in Education SIG. We'd love to be able to offer a full program of sessions next spring but our allocation will depend on how many submissions we receive. We are interested in exploring the boundaries of theory, research, and practice in the field of systems thinking in education and encourage a range of submissions. Don't have a completed research project to share but have been thinking about how to integrate systems thinking into educational change efforts? We're interested! Have an implementation conundrum and want an opportunity to lay it out and explore possible solutions with an informed audience? We're interested in that as well! As a SIG, we are working to encourage submissions that do not just focus on research successes but that also pose questions, share problematic issues, and encourage us all to stretch our minds and think.
So, please consider submitting those proposals of yours to the Systems Thinking SIG. The submission system closes at 11:59 pm Pacific Daylight Time. Looking forward to an interesting program next spring!
Sincerely,
Bill Watson, Jan Noga, Sunnie Watson, Anthony Chow, Chad Green, Eugene Kowch, and Beth Rajan Sockman
June 3, 2014
Dear colleagues,
Hard to believe it is that time again.
We need your voices, your ideas, your research, your leadership and vision to help make this year's AERA 2015 conference in Chicago (Thursday, April 16 - Monday, April 20, 2015) a success.
Does systems thinking have a role to play in the continuous improvement of American schools?
What are the end goals schools are trying to accomplish? Is it really high test scores? Does systems thinking have a role to play in effective technology integration for quality 21st century education?
If you find these questions intriguing then please consider helping us ponder them by submitting a proposal to our SIG.
Attached please find our SIG's call for proposals and AERA's 2015 submission guidelines.
The submission deadline is July 22 at 11:59 p.m. PST or 2:59 a.m. EST. We will be conducting triple blind reviews for each proposal.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you.
Anthony Chow, Program Chair Systems Thinking in Education SIG
p.s. I will be submitting a theoretical proposal and comprehensive literature review on the use of systems thinking and the prevention of bullying in US schools. Let me know if anyone is interested in collaborating with me. Isn't healthy human development in adolescence on par with or even more important than academic success? What do you do with bullies?
p.s.s. Systemic Change division's website on the role of systems thinking in education (an AECT division).
April 1, 2014
Dear Systems Thinking in Education SIG Members,
AERA is almost upon us! For those of you joining us in Philadelphia, please do plan to join us for the SIG events we’ve planned for this year’s annual meeting. But, first, we’d like to share our work priority for the SIG in this coming year:
SIG Priority for 2014-2015: Creating a Community of Practice in Systems Thinking
A priority for the Systems Thinking in Education SIG for 2014 is the promotion of opportunities for shared learning and professional connection among SIG members to advance knowledge of systems theory and the application of systems thinking and systems approaches to educational research, design, and practice.
To that end, we have specifically developed this year’s SIG program to provide opportunities for members to engage in thinking and discussion around issues pertaining to the development and use of methodological frameworks based on systems thinking that can enable researchers and practitioners to study educational change and reform efforts across time and multiple contexts.
In particular, we have structured our Saturday invited session, as well as the business meeting, as facilitated discussions focused on eliciting your thoughts and ideas about the role of systems thinking in shaping educational research and practice in the 21st century and the role of the SIG in supporting your work. Our goal is to use the expressed ideas and concerns shared during the conference as a basis for developing targeted opportunities that will be sponsored by the SIG and that will provide opportunities for SIG members to connect and work together between annual meetings.
Here are the sessions we’ve planned for you this year:
Saturday, April 5th
Session 49.090 Special Invited Session: "When Evidence-Based Meets Reality: The Role of Systems Thinking in Educational Research and Practice in the 21st Century" 2:45-4:15 pm, Marriott, Fourth Level, Franklin 7 http://tinyurl.com/lznodwp
Featuring: Royce Holladay of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute and Leslie Patterson from the University of North Texas
Join us for a lively discussion using Adaptive Action techniques to explore the role of systems thinking in educational change and reform initiatives (see link to attached handout at the end of this message). Using the move to Common Core as a starting point, Dr. Holladay and Dr. Patterson will challenge participants to explore how systems thinking can be integrated into research and practice to better understand complex relationships, explore interconnections, seek out influential points of influence for leveraging change, and surface the multiple perspectives that shape the systems we work in. View the handout for this session.
Session 51.055 Systems Thinking in Education SIG Business Meeting: “What Now? Exploring Future Directions for Systems Thinking in Educational Research and Practice” 6:30 to 8:00pm, Marriott, Fourth Level, Franklin 11 http://tinyurl.com/kmouryx
During last year’s business meeting, we discussed the SIG – what is our focus, who are our members, what is our fight? Facilitated by Dr. Holladay and Dr. Patterson, we’ll continue this conversation exploring how the SIG and its members can engage in promoting systems thinking as a critical paradigm for engaging in research and program design in education and what the SIG can do to provide opportunities for shared learning and professional connection among SIG members outside the annual meeting. One possibility: designing a SIG-sponsored research conference to be held during 2015.
Sunday, April 6th
Session 59.082 Paper Session: “Systems Thinking as a Paradigm for Understanding Teaching and Learning” 12:25 to 1:55pm, Marriott, Fourth Level, 415 http://tinyurl.com/k9y7jkg
The three papers being presented apply the lens of systems thinking to understanding the dynamics of teaching and learning in three diverse contexts: clinical reasoning in therapeutic practice, STEM workforce development, and cognitive processes of classroom teaching.
Thank you for your support over this past year. We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible in Philadelphia!
Bill Watson, Co-Chair Purdue University
Jan Noga, Co-Chair Pathfinder Evaluation and Consulting
Sunny Watson, Secretary Purdue University
Kathleen Crowley, Program Chair George Washington University
Chad Green, Webmaster Loudon County (VA) Public Schools
Greetings SIG members!
It's a busy time for all of us - holidays of all sorts, end of term exams for those of you in higher ed, end of year reports for some, and, last but not least, the slowly waning daylight as we get closer to the end of the year. In the midst of all this excitement, we do want to encourage those of you interested in running for SIG office to get your nominations to Sunnie Watson by the end of this coming weekend (December 8th). We need to have nominations in to AERA by December 15th if we are going to be able to make the general AERA election ballot that goes out in early 2014.
To recap, here are the officer positions that are open:
Terms are for two years with the exception of the program co-chair partial term which is one year.
If you are interested in running for one of these positions, or wish to nominate someone to run, please submit your nominations NO LATER THAN DECEMBER 8 to Sunnie Watson, SIG secretary by email ([email protected]). Nominations must include the following information:
AERA election guidelines require a minimum of two nominees for each position on the ballot. Please do consider throwing your hat in the ring!
Your SIG leadership team
Bill Watson, SIG co-chair ([email protected]) Jan Noga, SIG co-chair ([email protected]) Sunnie Watson, SIG secretary ([email protected]) Kathleen Crowley, SIG program chair ([email protected]) Chad Green, SIG webmaster ([email protected])
You can send your comments, suggestions, and contributions to Jan Noga ([email protected]), one of our SIG's current co-chairs.
We have two main items of interest for this inaugural update:
PROGRAM UPDATE FOR 2014 ANNUAL MEETING
The 2014 Annual Meeting will be held in Philadelphia from April 3-7, 2014. The theme is "The Power of Education Research for Innovation in Practice and Policy". The primary site of the Annual Meeting is the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The headquarter hotels where sessions will be held are the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, Courtyard Philadelphia Downtown, and Loews Philadelphia.
AERA sent out notices of submission acceptance/rejection earlier this month. If you submitted a proposal to our SIG, or to any other division or SIG, and have not received official notification, you may want to contact AERA ([email protected]) to find out the status of your submission.
Submissions were down across the board this year, and our SIG was no exception. We received a record low in terms of number of submissions, so few that we were not able to fill our entire allocation. Although specific schedule details won't be known until the release of the program in early February, we can tell you the SIG will be sponsoring 2 full sessions plus our business meeting in Philadelphia.
Our paper session is titled "Systems Thinking as a Paradigm for Understanding Teaching and Learning". It's focus is on the use of systems thinking as a means to better understand processes of teaching and learning across different perspectives and learning contexts and will feature 3 papers plus a discussant.
Our invited session was created to reflect the conference theme with specific application for the role of systems thinking in educational research, practice, and policy. The session is titled "When Evidence-Based Meets Reality: The Role of Systems Thinking in Educational Research and Practice in the 21st Century". The intent of this session is to provide an opportunity for SIG members and other interested attendees to engage in a facilitated discussion around the the role of systems thinking for promoting innovation in educational research, practice, and policy. The session will be facilitated by Royce Holladay of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute in Minnesota and Leslie Patterson from the College of Education at the University of North Texas. Our goal for this session is to explore and articulate the role of systems thinking in the field and to identify steps that the SIG and that we, as individual systems thinkers, can take to move forward. Two ideas that we would like the SIG to explore include: (1) how to begin building a community of practice focused on systems thinking, and (2) developing a proposal for a SIG-sponsored research/working conference.
The business meeting will continue the work started in the invited session (we hope - the scheduling request has been made). The meeting will include a facilitated discussion to build from the discussions during last year's business meeting as well as those from the invited session. Using principles drawn from Adaptive Action, Royce Holladay of the HSD Institute and Leslie Patterson of the University of North Texas will lead us in exploring how the SIG and its members can engage in promoting systems thinking as a critical paradigm for engaging in research and program design in education. We would like to use the results of this discussion as a basis for designing a SIG-sponsored research conference and for building a community of practice around systems thinking.
CALL FOR NOMINATIONS FOR OFFICERS: NOMINATIONS DUE NOVEMBER 30, 2013
Annual elections for AERA governance, divisions, and SIGs will start January 15, 2014. The Systems Thinking in Education SIG is soliciting nominations for the following leadership positions:
We have recently amended the SIG by-laws to expand officer terms to two years, with co-chairs being elected in alternate years. This will help to ensure greater continuity from year to year. Due to an unfilled vacancy from last year, we currently have two program positions open - one for the full term of two years and one for a partial term of one year. New leadership team members take office immediately following the annual meeting.
If you are interested in running for one of these positions, or wish to nominate someone to run, please submit your nominations NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 30 to Sunnie Watson, SIG secretary by email ([email protected]). Nominations must include the following information:
SIG INITIATIVES IN THE WORKS
The SIG is at a crossroads. By last April, membership had fallen to a low of 89, although we've seen an uptick during the fall membership renewal season. Currently, the SIG has 127 members. But, we need to begin to strategize how to continue that growth and how to bring new researchers and practitioners into the systems thinking fold. In the December update, we'll include a report on the discussion that occurred during the 2013 SIG business meeting in San Francisco.
A critical priority this year is to provide opportunities for member input and participation as we plan ways for the SIG to serve as both a community hub and a support for our members. We hope you will plan to attend the annual meeting in Philadelphia and participate in our discussions. But, we also understand that conference travel is getting more difficult as budgets tighten. Over the next month or so, the leadership team will begin to explore avenues for participation and continuing discussion that do not rely on being present at the conference each year. We want to make sure member voices are heard as we strategize how to move the SIG forward. And, please, feel free to share your reactions, ideas, and suggestions any time. For now, send your thoughts via email to Jan Noga ([email protected]). Soon, we'll begin providing more ways to interact as a community starting with a LinkedIn group - watch for the invitation and link to the group coming soon.
That's our update for this month. We'll be back with more in December. Until then, please, don't hesitate to contact any of us with ideas, thoughts, comments, questions, or offers of assistance. We'd love to hear from you.
Coming in December:
Interested in putting together a newsletter to share with your colleagues? We gladly welcome contributions from our membership including updates on your own work, tips and techniques you would like to share, resources, suggestions for articles (or even actual articles themselves), or even questions that you would like other SIG members to ponder. Check out the summer 2011 newsletter for ideas. Still interested? Then e-mail your contributions, questions, and/or comments to Jan Noga, Co-Chair today!