CIPA523 - Visualizing and Modeling Complex Systems

Course Description

How do you make sense of all the information you are bombarded with on a daily basis? We can barely absorb the overwhelming amount of information, let alone determine its meaning. As Derek and Laura Cabrera illustrate in this course, we humans process information best with our eyes and our hands, and we can take advantage of this fact by using visual maps. Visual maps can help you corral this information, organize and structure it, and most importantly, convert it into knowledge that you can act upon.

In this course, you will use the online mapping software, Plectica, so that you can break down your complex problems using the simple rules of systems thinking, DSRP. Building maps with this easy-to-use software will help you gain insights into processes, relationships, or challenges of any kind, and enable you to quickly and easily share these insights with others. As you become more adept at creating visual maps, your systems thinking skills will increase as you deepen your understanding of complex ideas, communicate these ideas more effectively, and enhance collaboration across groups to spur innovation.

You are required to have completed the following courses or have equivalent experience before taking this course:

• Framing Complex Problems with Systems Thinking
• Using the Four Simple Rules of Systems Thinking

Faculty Author

Benefits to the Learner

• Deconstruct the information and the structure of your thinking to more completely understand your mental models and the complex problems you are trying to solve
• Describe and map cognitive jigs, or templates you can use to uncover hidden structures, while increasing the speed of thought and understanding
• Build visual maps to enhance your understanding of your own complex problems and your ability to enact real solutions

Target Audience

• Managers, leaders, decision makers, consultants, and anyone responsible for projects, complex processes, and the budgets and people involved with them. Learners will come from every continent and from a diverse range of organizations, including private sector companies large and small, nonprofits, governments, and NGOs.
• For people already interested in systems dynamics or soft systems methodologies, the core principles from this program can be applied to any systems-based models.

Accrediting Associations

• Project Management Institute (PMI) Approval Number 2646GDM81T 10.0 Units

Applies Towards the Following Certificates

• Systems Thinking : Required Courses