Write a reflection about what you learned about analyzing educational systems from Task One.  

What have you come to understand about the complexity of even simple systems?

The complexity can be found in different connections or components that build up the structure within the system. Finding the root cause of the problem may seem simple, but when building the connected components starts, this can become a complex system. Educational systems have complex needs, and these may only fit partially to the organization’s benefit. Every area that is examined and analyzed can influence change, and every action can impact other areas of the system can bring about more problems (Bond, 2021). In task 1 analysis, initially, the problem was curriculum development created by designers by assignment; this expanded into subject matter experts, teachers, and other characters that have a hand in the overall system.

What have you learned about yourself as a learner and budding research analyst?

The more you analyze the problem, the more you learn about the overall system, the more you learn the system the more structures and connections come into light that needs to be analyzed further. As per Boardman (2008)

“No model should be built unless we know what we are looking at, and what we can believe we can see better.”

The soft system methodology helped break the quick system fixes that could aid the system’s effectiveness into parts that helped to analyze the system’s complexity better.

How do you think you did on Task 1? Why? 

The task 1 instructional design system model has been on my mind, and I have experienced this in my career, trying to place myself in an instructional design role. I also listened to a YouTube video of Dr. David Merrill following my master’s program. Connecting to the dots, I was interested in finding the solution to the problem I was looking into research articles and, to my surprise, found three dissertation documents regarding the solution I had in mind, although these were placed into different areas of instructional design systems.

As the root cause of the problem is already known, trying to build solutions to a problem in mind gives more enthusiasm to find the explanation for the problem while continuing with task 2. I am confident that task 1 could be improved while writing task 2 as more connections and thoughts come to my mind. Task 1 can be improved with the next step of the implementation plan.

What will you do differently in the future?

Take time to analyze and see the system’s root problem from different angles. Reduce the complexity by breaking them into simpler and smaller components that could be easier to manage. Connect them to foam the overall system. Ensure all system structure is aligned with the root problem and check for duplication and redundancy. While starting to do task 2, more connections to the instructional design model have come up, and I will include them as I write task 2.

References

Bond, M. A., Tamim, S. R., Blevins, S. J., & Sockman, B. R. (Eds.). (2021). Systems Thinking for Instructional Designers: Catalyzing Organizational Change. Routledge.

Boardman, J., & Sauser, B. (2008). Systems Thinking: Coping with 21st Century Problems(1st ed.). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.