Members of the Systems group at the OU had a significant influence in piloting what is now the University-wide Open Research Online (ORO) - making OU research publications freely available online.
We have also had a long tradition of developing resources that may be used by others externally in pursuit of supporting the application of systems thinking in practice, particularly on OpenLearn.
A freely available open online 8 week course (approximately 3 hours/week) called Mastering Systems Thinking in Practice introduces systems thinking in practice at postgraduate level.
Systems diagramming for teaching. Karen Shipp and ASTiP colleagues (based on module T552 Systems Thinking and Practice: Diagramming). Systems thinking practitioners at the OU have supported and developed the use of a range of diagramming techniques as the principal tools through which visual modelling and communication can occur. The following diagramming techniques each have videos providing animated tutorials – one video describing What the technique is and at least one other video describing How to draw the diagram (two separate videos for drawing multiple cause diagrams are available using two separate case studies).
The ‘How to draw’ tutorials for Spray, Rich picture, and Systems map listed below are all related to a South African case study with a short summary on the link Working for Water Programme (WWP) case study. This case study relates to the whole set of diagramming resources found in item 3 below: ‘Systems diagramming for development’. For item 2 you may like to read the short summary of the case study before looking at the first three tutorials listed below.
The animated tutorials
A further Integrated animated tutorial (aviation expansion) provides a case study situation of interest demonstrating an integration of diagramming techniques outlined above (11mins 10sec)
Sir (Charles) Geoffrey Vickers. Geoffrey Vickers (1894-1982) had a varied life as a lawyer, soldier, economic intelligence officer and legal advisor. In the later years of his life he became a prolific writer and speaker on the subject of social systems analysis and the complex patterns of social organisation.
A new online catalogue of the Geoffrey Vickers papers is now available from the OU Archive web pages.
The catalogue is also available from the Archives Hub website. The Archives Hub is a national gateway to descriptions of archives within UK universities and colleges. As part of the Hub, the Vickers catalogue is now cross-searchable with hundreds of other collections.
For further information or to arrange a visit to consult the Geoffrey Vickers collection, contact The University Archivist, at or on +44 (0) 1908 653378.