Design of a master of science degree program in system dynamics at WPI (original) (raw)

The Design of Educational Programs in System Dynamics at WPI

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000

M.J.R.) † Based on -Doyle, J.K.; Eberlein, B.; Ford, A.; Hines, J.; Lyneis, J.M.; Parsons, K.; Pavlov, O.; Radzicki, M.J.; Saeed, K.; Warren, K. Design of a Master

The Design of Educational Programs in System Dynamics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI)

Systems, 2014

M.J.R.) † Based on -Doyle, J.K.; Eberlein, B.; Ford, A.; Hines, J.; Lyneis, J.M.; Parsons, K.; Pavlov, O.; Radzicki, M.J.; Saeed, K.; Warren, K. Design of a Master

Communication The Design of Educational Programs in System Dynamics at

2015

Educational programs leading to degrees in system dynamics are rare and thus of critical importance to the future of the field of system dynamics. However, to a large extent such programs have not yet been made transparent to the system dynamics community as a whole. The present article describes the design and rationale for undergraduate and graduate programs at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The goal of the article is to invite feedback from the system dynamics community about our specific programs as well as to facilitate wider discussion about the appropriate content, design, and pedagogy of degree programs and courses in system dynamics.

A Bachelor of Science degree program in system dynamics at WPI

1998

In March of 1998 the faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, the third oldest private college of engineering in the United States, voted to establish the world's first undergraduate major in system dynamics. Housed in WPI's interdisciplinary Department of Social Science and Policy Studies, the BS program in system dynamics aims to train students for careers as system dynamics modelers, consultants, and policy analysts in both industry and government and to prepare them for graduate study in system dynamics. The purpose of ...

System Dynamics as a viable tool for Engineering Education

Engineering education provides a thorough and systematic training in the design, development, maintenance and management of complex technical systems. While education provides the necessary technical depth to graduates, many technical systems are best understood from experimental, simulation or heuristic approach. System Dynamics is a well formulated methodology for analysis, problem solving, and simulation of the components of a system including cause-effect relationships and their underlying mathematics and logic, time delays, and feedback loops. Developed by an engineer, it is being used mainly in the social and behavioural sciences for strategic planning purposes. It began in the business and industry world, but is now applied in engineering education and practice and in many other disciplines. Recent advances have demonstrated the ability of the System Dynamics methodology in the study of complex engineering systems and to help in the understanding of such systems. This paper reviews the basic principles and conceptual ideas underlying the System Dynamics modeling approach to system studies. The applications of System Dynamics to the modelling of real-world engineering systems are presented. Modern engineering practice is often multidisciplinary in nature and demands holistic approach that is easily handled through System Dynamics. The paper shows how System Dynamics (SD) can be employed for engineering education to cope with the dynamics of such multidisciplinary complexity.

Making System Dynamics Cool II : New Hot Teaching and Testing Cases of Increasing Complexity

2010

This follow-up paper presents several actual cases for testing and teaching System Dynamics. The cases were developed between April 2009 and January 2010 for the Introductory System Dynamics courses at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. They can be used for teaching and testing introductory System Dynamics courses at university level as well as for self study. The cases included here range from easy/short to difficult/long.

System Dynamics: A Field of Study, a Methodology or Both?

Practitioners of System Dynamics have long lamented the slow rate of acceptance of System Dynamics by business, government, academics and other organizations. Essential to the acceptance of any new idea or innovation is the ability for its advocates to clearly and simply state what the concept is. This paper investigates the idea that a part of the problem may be attributable to the practice of its practitioners to position System Dynamics as both a field of study and an applied methodology. This mixed message creates a classic Watzlawick double bind paradox in which the field appears to define the methodology and the methodology appears to define the field. This paper argues it can not be both if the Society expects to succeed in its goal to increase the acceptance of System Dynamics, whether it be a field or a methodology. The author proposes an approach for decoupling the method from the field by developing separate terms and distinct operational definitions for each that are not self-referential and explores the implications to the method, the field and its practitioners.