Meaningful collaborations for transformative systems change: Design for learning of transformative skills
By Hayley Ho and Kateryna Pereverza
This story is the third in the series “Meaningful collaborations for systems transformations”. In this story we share facilitation techniques we developed when designing the seminars within the course “Transdisciplinary Approaches for Systems Innovations” to foster the skills important for the ability to address complex challenges of systems transformations for sustainability.
As we were developing a university course, design of processes focused on learning became central in our collaboration. To facilitate learning and collaboration of students in the most efficient way we formulated several specific intentions. First, we aimed to find suitable facilitation techniques for fostering transformative skills addressed in the course. Secondly, we wanted to promote the competencies needed to work in non-linear processes which we find necessary for the ability to address complex transition challenges. Finally, it was essential to create a stimulating environment for collaborative, active and reflexive learning with the possibility for students to explore various new concepts and methods they have been learning by applying them to the given transition challenge (namely, sustainability transition of a mobility system for climate-positive Järfälla municipality by 2050).
Transformative skills
The question of what skills are important for sustainability change agents is extensively discussed in academic papers. For example, the paper written by our colleagues Kordas et al.(2015) includes an overview of skills suggested as relevant by different researchers. Similar discussions can also be found in recent publications of practitioners dealing with sustainability transition challenges, for example, when reflecting on what organisational competencies and mindsets are needed for transformative actions.
The set of skills we address in the course includes critical and systems thinking, long-term thinking, ability to work in a transdisciplinary context, dealing with complexity and uncertainty, creativity, practical problem-solving and action skills. These skills are connected to the modules of the modular Participatory backcasting (mPB) in a way that each module allows for learning and training several of the transformative skills (see Kordas et al., 2015 for more details).
Workflow of the course
Our work process during the course was aligned with the workflow of the mPB which is a long-term planning framework encompassing 13 modules for creating a desirable future vision and an innovative design of a more sustainable system followed by elaboration of a pathway on how to steer developments in the desirable direction. The mPB and its modules include different kinds of methods: analytical, scenario, design, participatory and process management. In our approach this year we added into the mPB elements of Design thinking to increase attention to needs-based design. In the course structure, each seminar introduced one or two modules of the mPB allowing for learning corresponding methods and training transformative skills important for their implementation.
Our regular design meetings were focused on one or two upcoming seminars and aimed at the development of facilitation techniques according to the content and goals of mPB modules to be introduced. We often needed to run additional meetings to wrap up the design of a seminar and prepare a script. We ran seminars mainly following the script, but allowed for adjustments on the way depending on emerging challenges and questions from students. Observations during the seminars and writing reflections after each seminar contributed to the design of the following seminar or seminars with information about the pace of work in groups and encountered challenges (read more about a responsive approach to the course design in Story 5 of this series).
Facilitation techniques to foster transformative skills in connection to mPB modules
Each module of the mPB allows learning and training of several of the transformative skills we find important for sustainability change agents. To support this, we looked for relevant techniques and exercises to be included in seminars.
Thus, mPB modules Vision and Criteria assume practicing long-term thinking to develop a vision for 20–30 years ahead and consensus-building to account for the diversity of problem framings and priorities for the future. In the design of the corresponding Vision and Criteria seminar we included brainstorming and “tickable criteria” techniques to support the development of a desirable future vision and a role play in which students represented different actors from Järfälla to create a shared future vision. The seminar was followed by the development of posters by each group in which developed visions were communicated to others. A walk-around exhibition and feedback to the posters from different actors’ perspectives during the following seminar contributed to the realisation of challenges in communicating visions, as well as emphasised the importance of clarity which might be supported by neat formulations, relevant visualisation, stories and a set of tickable criteria.
Following the same logic, we designed other seminars for the rest of the mPB modules and skills they train. Many of the skills appear relevant for more than one module. For example, system thinking is key for the majority of the mPB modules. We repeatedly worked with this skill with the use of various techniques, including the morphological method for system design (see Pereverza et al., 2017 for more details) in Solution module, needs analysis with a focus on various types of needs and levels (e.g. individual-community-city) in Needs & Functions module, exploration of rebound effects and unintended system effects for the designed systems solutions in Solution testing module.
Ability to working in non-linear processes
The internal logic of the mPB assumes its flexibility and a possibility to arrange the modules in a different order depending on the purposes and context of implementation. However, implementation of mPB processes often requires iterative improvement of modules, thus creating a process that loops. In the course context, due to schedule related constraints, the modules were presented in a linear way to be addressed one by one in succession during seminars. Such an approach initially provoked a misleading perspective that problem-solving follows a tidy linear process. We noticed quite early in the course the frustration of students when they tried to apply the mPB in a linear way, and had to find activities to communicate and emphasise the non-linear process of iterations despite the constraints of the course set up.
We initiated a discussion about the nature of problem-solving processes, and the challenges which students faced in the iterative looping of their collaboration became focus points of discussion during the Interim critique and Final presentations. We recommended that documentation and reflections could help them to appreciate that these loops were not a waste of time, but in fact were important learning input to progress the project in the right direction. While our attempt to facilitate the work in non-linear processes proved to reduce the level of stress among the students and empowered them to move further in a more confident way, we have concluded that the ability to work in non-linear processes has to be recognized as an important skill for addressing transition challenges and has to be given more attention in courses like ours.
Towards learning as exploration
What is perceived as outcomes of learning in university courses? This was a topic that surfaced for discussion throughout the course as students worried about grades. When students partake in an activity, for example Driving forces seminar, what they learn is not just the exact activity or the specific knowledge of driving forces related to the context of their project. The activity and process facilitates learning as exploration, which in turn enables unexpected insights for additional learnings. For this reason, we actively avoided over-guiding students and instead encouraged practices for collaborative work so that they could learn by doing.
It was challenging to shift the mindset of students away from learning as performance and pre-defined deliverables, and we found that we had to highlight to them what we observed as important learnings during reflective discussions. Often we were impressed by the deep understandings and insights that emerged from the activities in the classroom, but which students had completely overlooked as valuable learnings. As the course progressed, students became more accustomed to reflecting on their explorative learning even if it was in conflict with their perceived report requirements. At the end of the course, students were invited to comment on the skills they gained from the course from a list provided in the course evaluation questionnaire and add their own suggestions. While many marked rather high-level of perceived development of the skills we had in mind (for example, systems thinking, long-term thinking, dealing with complexity and uncertainty, creativity), skills beyond this list also emerged. The skills and attitudes added by students included: team discussions, communication skills, revising work/”looping”, trusting the process, tolerance, and patience.
Reflections about the design approaches in university courses
Beyond the insights highlighted in this story, the experience of designing the university course made us reflect upon the specifics of the higher education environment for the implementation of design approaches. While the general academic focus on grading and tangible outcomes proved to be challenging for introducing non-linear reflexive processes, the context and ambition of the course was extremely suitable to explore and carry out new techniques and approaches in co-creation with students and societal partners.
This collaborative context we explored can be seen to be relevant and transferable to outside the academic sphere. The skillset we aimed to foster in the course (encompassing critical and systems thinking, long-term thinking, ability to work in a transdisciplinary context, dealing with complexity and uncertainty, creativity, practical problem-solving and action skills) would be relevant for anyone looking to strengthen their own ability to deal with transition challenges in cities, communities, regions. During the course, we observed that we needed to add to this skillset the ability to work in non-linear processes of problem-solving, and we learned the importance of keeping the skillset open for further expansion in all possible directions. As teachers take on the role of facilitators and other emerging roles, we should not over guide learning, ensure safe space for exploration and risk-taking, introduce practices for learning from the experience, and identifying and picking up important insights on the way.
References
Kordas, O., Pereverza, K., Pasichnyi, O., Nikiforovich, E., 2015. Developing skills for sustainability change agents with a participatory backcasting teaching toolbox, in Nesbit, S. and Froese, T. M. (eds.), Proceedings of EESD15: The 7th Conference on Engineering Education for Sustainable Development, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, pp. 086–1–086–10.
Pereverza, K., Pasichnyi, O., Lazarevic, D., Kordas, O., 2017. Strategic planning for sustainable heating in cities: A morphological method for scenario development and selection. Appl. Energy 186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.07.008
This story is the third in the publication series “Meaningful collaborations for systems transformations”. Check the introductory story in which we launch the series and introduce included stories. Read our next story Meaningful collaborations for transformative systems change: Design for collaborative, active and reflexive learning.
