ORCiD

Mary M. Somerville: 0000-0002-4201-8335

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Systems Research and Behavioral Science

ISSN

1099-1743

Volume

Early online publication

DOI

10.1002/sres.2566

First Page

1

Last Page

10

Publication Date

10-22-2018

Abstract

A vision to further national development through higher education now informs planning for the University for Business and Technology Knowledge Center. At its essence, the Center aims to make local knowledge visible through furthering discovery of and access to research content produced by academic students and university professors on institutional, local and international levels. This paper reports on conceptual exploration of this institutional idea during spring semester 2017 in a graduate course on systems thinking and methodology. Using active learning pedagogy to improve local situations, an international teaching team facilitated student and stakeholder engagement in participatory design activities using soft systems methodology tools and techniques. Course evaluation outcomes revealed students' improved levels of knowledge and development of insights. In addition, their course work demonstrated their advanced understanding of systems thinking and its application. Furthermore, students expressed high motivation to learn more about other human‐centred theories and participatory design tools. In considering the value of the University's knowledge vision, they were especially enthusiastic about its implications for furthering national democratic development in Kosovo and regional economic growth in south‐eastern Europe.

Acknowledgements

This international collaboration is funded in part by a 2017 Fulbright Specialist Program award from the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, United States of America and from the 2017 Linnaeus University Strategic Fund for teacher mobility, Sweden.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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