Teaching a New Course

Having grown weary and wary of sustainability, I withdrew from practicing in this field for a few months to recalibrate... well, recalibrate my soul, really.  Then I was offered the opportunity to teach a course in John Carroll's MBA program.  Here's an overview.  Please tell me what you think is worthwhile in this design and what you think could be improved.

MN/MK 581 is a cross-referenced course in the MBA Program, responding to needs of students with Management and Marketing concentrations.  The purpose of the course is to answer this question:

If you want to have an impact within social-ecological systems, how do you design
            and promote it?

The course takes a critical thinking approach to complex problems in social-ecological systems, using three lenses.  One lens is whole systems/resilience thinking which is deliberative and, perhaps, designerly.  A second lens is sustainable business/sustainable value based on the premise that business (especially multinational corporations) is specially favored to effect positive change, and the third is the justice/urgency plea for big action soon.  

The eight students in this seminar and practicum course have two consulting projects to complete during the semester:

1.      Working with a group of stakeholders in NE Ohio, students may mine existing data on brownfield remediation and potential clean-fill sites, to assist in regional development.

2.      Working with an alternative energy organization, students may develop a public awareness campaign potentially leading to shifts in policy and funding for energy generation.

My reasoning is that if students have critical thinking skills, they will be able to filter and bring together varying interests to generate positive solutions appropriate to the whole systems in which they will be working.

The arc of the course begins with an overview of four types of skill development: visioning, scientific method, consulting and design.  Next the students will be immersed in content from the three lenses as well as case studies (Lake Erie watershed, fracking, alternative energy, and stages of business development.)  Following that, the class will deepen its understanding of systems thinking, sustainability and resilience principles while driving to their project deliverables.  Finally, just before the projects’ stakeholder interaction conclusions, two case studies on complex social-ecological stakeholder engagements will be presented. 

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