NR445 Systems Thinking in Environmental Management

Course Description

This course aims to develop students' competencies to engage in environmental decision-making processes by enhancing their quantitative and analytical skills. There is an increasing demand in professional work force in the realm of environmental management requiring modeling and numerical skills. This course can facilitate an advanced learning process allowing students to investigate contemporary environmental challenges by incorporate systematic modeling approaches. Students are requested to exercise systems thinking for solving an environmental or sustainability challenge in each designated learning module. At the end of a learning module, each group will present their findings by giving a short oral presentation.

This course is a joint effort of faculty from Cal Poly and the National Chi-Nan University (NCNU) in Taiwan. A virtual exchange platform will be adopted to facilitate multidisciplinary learning, allowing students from both institutes to learn and explore contemporary environmental and sustainability challenges cohesively. You will conduct multiple mini group projects with NCNU students to complete each learning module. Students can initiate conversation with foreign students to brainstorm possible solutions to mitigate environmental impacts by incorporating systems thinking. Throughout the process, you will experience cultural variation and value differences, which can significantly alter the norm of decision-making processes in environmental management.

The youngest national university in Taiwan, NCNU is renowned for its vibrant grassroots innovation for sustainability and proactive international exchange programs. NCNU is an aware-winning institute for their outstanding achievement in practicing university social responsibility. 

(Screenshot from Fall 2020: Students shared their causal-loop diagram to illustrate how they abstract a studied case)

(Screenshot from Fall 2020: Students explained how they came up with a causal-loop diagram and what variables were considered in their study)

(Live streaming from Taiwan. NCNU faculty and students took Cal Poly students to a water bamboo field "virtually" to facilitate the discussion on eco-friendly farming.

Virtual Collaboration

With the rapid development of telecommunication technology, more and more new forms of pedagogy have been established and tested lately to take advantage of the latest computer networking and accessible multimedia. Virtual exchange (VE) or collaborative online international learning (COIL). 

Before taking a course that adopts virtual collaboration and international learning, students must ask themselves: Is NR445 right for me?

In order to facilitate international engagement, NR445 relies heavily on network communication technology with some known challenges. Student participants should also be aware of the cross-culture features in NR445 and be mindful of cultural and language barriers. You should recognize the following challenges and value the importance of social diversity and inclusion. A virtual cross-cultural collaborative course like NR445:

• Requires strong intentionality to engage in class activities
• Emphasizes proactive facilitation, regular reflection, and cross-culture communication 
• Recognizes and value cultural diversity and social inclusion
• Expects technical difficulty and challenges in logistic plans 
• Pushes students out of their comfort zones
• Needs to cope with time differences in different regions or countries

Therefore, although virtual collaboration is a powerful pedagogy to facilitate cross-culture learning and promote global education, some students might find this learning style challenging. It's important that you consult with the instructor if you have any concern.

For more information

If you'd like to learn more about NR445, you may download the presentation slides used in a former info session. You may also access the record from last year's info session to grasp the overall setting of NR445: