learning@maricopa.edu / pubs / oct97 /
	A Systems Perspective of Learning
System: A system is a perceived whole whose elements "hang together" because they continually affect each other over time and operate toward a common purpose. Examples of systems include the human body, ecological niches, and all organizations. Arthur Kleiner, Innovation Associates "The primary goal of any organization, and the people who work in it, should be to reduce the interval between discovery and its assimilation into the organization." Dee Hock, Organizational Theorist Understanding how learning occurs, and creating a coherent and sustainable system that fosters it, requires a "new way of viewing our world" in and around the Maricopa Community College District. Within this new vision we must reevaluate the entire learning system in terms of the complexity of relationships and patterns that support its viability, as well as our own role within the system. Learning viewed through a systems perspective identifies the ready dichotomies that exist among different work groups within and around the MCCD "system." Without the systems perspective, each group views their efforts in terms of primacy, not in how the work relates to the whole. This view of primacy results in work efforts that are worthy yet fragmented and often unsustainable. Only by relating learning to the whole can we achieve cohesiveness and substantive transformation. At the pragmatic level, a systems perspective of learning requires a reconception, or sharpening of purpose, around fundamental questions such as: How does what I (or we) do contribute to student learning? How will learning be enhanced by this idea? This technology? This organizational structure? This hiring decision? This policy governance model? etc. How should we respond to what we've already learned about how deep and lasting learning occurs? How can we increase our capacity to move new knowledge about learning into the organizational mainstream? How can we involve employers and other members of our community in the dialogue about learning? Viewing student learning from a systems perspective reveals the degree of alignment between the mission of an organization and its polices, practices and behaviors. It also reflects the authenticity of the organization's proclaimed values and the nature of the culture that enriches or diminishes them.
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