AECT - Systems Thinking & Change 2015 MiniMag

AECT - Systems Thinking & Change 2015 MiniMag

• 1.
  NOVEMBER 2015 AECTACCELERATE LEARNING: RACING INTO THE FUTURE NAME CHANGE MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT & HISTORY POLICY BRIEF BACKSTORY FROM REIGELUTH MEET THE PEOPLE WHO’S INVOLVED? CONFERENCE RACING TO THOUGHTFUL CHANGE What is our purpose? Provide a space where people connect with others in order to… • Disseminate research and evidence-based practices • Produce practical and scholarly arguments about change and innovation • Engage people in understanding the scholarship and practices on change • Promote meaningful innovation in organizations SYSTEMS THINKING & CHANGE Plan for Vegas 2016 Join ST&C 1. Join  AECT  at   www.aect.org     2. Select  Systems   Thinking  &   Change     3. Or,  email  
 Dr.  Beth  Sockman
 [email protected]   ST&C  -­‐Membership   Meeting   Fri.  Nov  6@  9:15  -­‐   Hyatt  Regency  -­‐2   Concept  A   Group: Systems Thinking, Design & Change in Education http://tinyurl.com/STC- Facebook
• 2.
  NOVEMBER 2015 RACINGINTO THE FUTURE !1 Systems  Thinking  &  Change  Conference  Highlights   The  only  thing  certain  is  change.  Systemic  Thinking  and  Change  is   there  to  help  you  get  out  in  front  of  change  and  not  fall.  We  probe   one  another  to  use  systems  thinking  to  encourage  meaningful   innovation  and  transformation.     This  year’s  conference  embraces  systems  thinking  about  innovations   through  emerging  technologies,  health  care,  education  and  theory.    In   sessions,  you  have  the  opportunity  to  probe  speci?ic  applications  or   discuss  the  theoretical  evolution  toward  strong  research.  Change  is  a  messy  process.  As  a   community  of  scholars  and  practitioners,  we  aim  to  demystify  it  through  our  collaborative  work.   Provoking  Joint  Panel  Sessions     We  have  three  joint  panel  sessions  that  will  have  insightful  discussions.  The  stellar  panelists  will   focus  on  particular  innovations  and  the  systems  in?luences  within  different  ?ields.     TED-­‐ST&C  Panel:     Taking  a  Systems  look  at  Teacher  Educa@on  for  21st  Century  Needs   Panelists:  Ross  Perkins,  Drew  Polly,  Luis  Camillo  Almeida,  Charles  Morgan  Reigeluth;  Jennifer  Karnopp  &  Jody   Underwood     Wed,  Nov  4,  1:00  to  2:00pm,  Hya4  Regency,  2,  Theory  A   ST&C  and  D&D  Panel     Address  the  Elephant:  Using  Systems  Thinking  to  address  MOOCs  and  Social  Media  in  Design  &  Development   Panelists:  Kyle  Peck,  William  Watson,  M.David  Merrill,  Darryl  Draper     Wed,  Nov  4,  2:15  to  3:15pm,  Hya4  Regency,  3rd,  Cosmopolitan  B   ST&C  and  CLT  Panel  -­‐A  Systems  Perspec@ve  on  the  Cultural  Influence  of  Technology  with  Represented  and   Underrepresented  Groups   Panelists:  Deepak  Prem  Subramony;  Roberto  Joseph,  Camille  Dickson-­‐Deane,  Sunnie  Watson,  Eugene  Kowch     Thu,  Nov  5,  1:00  to  2:00pm,  Hya4  Regency,  2,  Theory  A   Poster  Session  and  Roundtables   The  health  care  *ield  has  been  besieged  with  innovations.  Discuss  how  change  theory  is   applied.   Thu,  Nov  5,  10:30  to  11:30am,  Indy  ConvenFon  Center,  Indy  ConvenFon  Ctr  (Rm  231)  -­‐  Posters   Bracing  for  the  Impact  of  Mobile  ICTs  in  Ubiquitous  Health  Sciences  Libraries   Deborah  M.  Taylor   Thu,  Nov  5,  10:30  to  11:30am,  Indy  ConvenFon  Center,  Indy  ConvenFon  Ctr  (Rm  231)  –  Roundtables   Aligning  Change  Theory  to  a  Process  Model  for  Assis@ng  Asthma@c  Pa@ent  Self-­‐Iden@fica@on   Thomas  Watson  Lamey  &  Gayle  V.  Davidson-­‐Shivers   Managing  Healthcare  IT  Projects:  Barriers  to  Implemen@ng  a  Project  Management  Office  (PMO)   Sco<  Lilley  
• 3.
  NOVEMBER 2015 RACINGINTO THE FUTURE !2 Join Us in Vegas 2016! People wonder why technology ideas, designs and projects sometimes disappear within a ‘system’, or why innovation and the best ideas don’t translate into wider changes in thinking or practice. In ST&C, we wonder too but look for answers. Present your answers and findings in VEGAS! We look forward to your proposal in 2016! General  Membership  Meeting:  Fri.  Nov  6@  9:15  -­‐  Hyatt  Regency   1/27/16 @ 1pm EST Educational Systems Change and Personalized Instruction:
 How Learning Technology Broadly and Digital Badges with William Watson Concurrent  Sessions   The  concurrent  sessions  address  the  theory  and  practical  applications  of  systems  thinking  and  change   in  the  educational  facets  of  international  education,  k-­‐12  education  through  higher  education.   Adjus@ng  the  Suspension  in  K-­‐12  Schools:  Systemic  change  outcomes   Fri,  Nov  6,  8:00  to  9:00am,  Hyaa  Regency,  2,  Concept  A   • An  educa?onal  reform  to  improve  classroom  technology  in  Turkey:  FATIH  Project
 Hoyet  Hemphill,  Erkan  Caliskan  &  Leaunda  Hemphill   • The  Tea  Party's  Poten?al  Influence  on  a  Texas  School  District's  Educa?onal  and  Instruc?onal  Policies
 Steven  Robert  Watkins   Higher  Educa@on  and  Designing  High-­‐Performance  Change   Fri,  Nov  6,  10:30  to  11:30am,  Hyaa  Regency,  2,  Concept  A   • Accelera?ng  E-­‐learning  Development:  From  the  Passenger  to  the  Driver’s  Seat
 Jeff  Boehm,  Dana  Ruggiero,  Susana  Romans-­‐Roca  &  Neil  Glen   • Piecing  Together  The  Puzzle  Of  Higher  Educa?on:  Debundling  Educa?on  with  Digital  Badges  and  Micro-­‐ courses  for  Customized,  Competency-­‐based  Learning
 William  Watson,  Sunnie  Watson  &  Tim  Newby   Be  in  the  Lead  by  Driving  the  Change   Fri,  Nov  6,  1:00  to  2:00pm,  Hyaa  Regency,  2,  Concept  A   • PuVng  a  Stake  in  the  Ground:  Ins?tu?onalizing  a  University  and  School  Partnership
 Beth  Rajan  Sockman,  Grant  Rauch,  Zhaoyuan  Guo   • Toward  a  Peri-­‐Instruc?onal  Design  Tradi?on  in  Educa?on
 Elizabeth  Bro4  Beese   Know  the  Terrain  and  Read  Signs  for  Transforma@on   Fri,  Nov  6,  2:15  to  3:15pm,  Hyaa  Regency,  2,  Concept  A   • Educology  for  Systemic  Change
 Ted  Frick  &  Kenneth  Thompson   Tuning  up  Instruc@on  through  Change   Fri,  Nov  6,  3:30  to  4:30pm,  Hyaa  Regency,  2,  Concept  A   • Redesigning  the  conversa?on  on  educa?onal  reform:  A  call  for  agency
 William  Watson  &  Sunnie  Watson   • FASTEN  YOUR  SEATBELTS!  Five  Prac?cal  Leadership  Principles  to  Turbocharge  Your  Career
 Eugene  Kowch JOIN US!
• 4.
  NOVEMBER 2015 RACINGINTO THE FUTURE !3 M E E T U S We are a group of people who want to shape change by thinking through the process together. Sunnie  Lee  Watson   Title:  Professor,  Purdue  University   Posi@on:  Board  Member   About  Me:  CriFcal  Systems  Thinker,  Humane  Educator,  Learning   Design  and  Technology  Professor,  Animal  Rights  Advocate.   Anthony  Chow,  Ph.D.   Title:  Associate  Professor,University  of  North  Carolina  at  Greensboro   Posi@ons:  Past  President   About  Me:  Systems  Thinker,  InformaFon  ScienFst,  Professor,  Husband,  Father,   Strategic  Planner  and  OpFmist. Ashley  Gouger   Title:  Learning  Strategist,  Clear  Point  Learning   Posi@on:  Graduate  Student  RepresentaFve   About  Me:  Learning  strategist,  Thoughbul  researcher,  Hopeful  life-­‐long   learner,  Believer  in  and  seeker  of  change  in  educaFon. Genevieve  Gallant   Title:  President,  GG  Consultants  Limited   Posi@on:    Board  Member   About  Me:  Avid  believer  in  Systems  Approach  to   implement  Change,  Manager  of  technology   implementaFon  as  a  method  for  educaFonal  change,   InstrucFonal  Designer,  Professor/Researcher  for  Change. Charles  M.  Reigeluth   Title:  Professor  Emeritus,  Indiana  University     Posi@on:  Founding  President,  Board  Member   About  Me:  Advancing  knowledge  about  paradigm  change,   what  the  new  paradigm  should  be,  and  how  to   help  educaFonal  systems  transform  into  the   new  paradigm. William  R.  Watson
 Title:  Associate  Professor,  Purdue  University
 Posi@on:  Board  Member
 About  Me:  Learner  -­‐  Visioneer  -­‐  Gamer  -­‐  AcFvist. Hoyet  H.  Hemphill,  Ph.D.   Title:  Department  Chair,  Professor,  Western  Illinois  University   Previous  Posi@ons:  President   About  Me:  Published  and  presented  on:  Assessing   Engagement  in  Online  Discourse,  InternaFonal  programs  for   systemic  change.
• 5.
  NOVEMBER 2015 RACINGINTO THE FUTURE !4 Minkyoung  Kim   Title:  Doctoral  Candidate,  Indiana  University   Posi@on:  Secretary-­‐Treasurer   About  Me:  Lifelong  learner,  InstrucFonal  Designer  pursuing  learner-­‐centered   educaFon,  Former  Business  Consultant,  Ph.D  Candidate  in  InstrucFonal  Technology,   and  Semi-­‐Pro  Ballet  Dancer.   Dr.  Francis  Duffy   Title:  Professor,  Gallaudet  University   Posi@on:  Board  of  directors,  president   About  Me:  Focuses  on  leadership  and  organizaFonal  change,  Speaker,  Author  of  Systemic   Change  wriFngs,  co-­‐director  of  “Future  Minds”  for  transforming  schools.     Monica  Sulecio  de  Alvarez,  M.A.Ed.   Title:  Distance  Learning  Experience  Designer  in  Central  America   Posi@on:  Board  Member   About  Me:  Non-­‐stopping  learner,  complex-­‐meaningful  learning  driven,  distance  learning   experience  designer/coach,  holisFc  life  pracFFoner,  peace-­‐nature-­‐sFllness  lover. Aaron  Bond   Title:  Director  Networked  Learning  IniFaFve   Posi@on:  AECT  Board  RepresentaFve   About  Me:  Faculty  Development  Professional,  Technology-­‐enhanced   Learner/Teacher,  Social  ConstrucFvist,  Community  Builder,  Using   Technology  and  Community  to  Bring  Change  to  EducaFon. KenPrest   Title:  Consultant,  KW  Prest  &  Associates   Posi@on:  Board  member   About  Me:  Passionate  about  energizing  a  broad-­‐ranging   conversaFon  on  the  future  of  educaFon,  deliberately  -­‐ catalyzing  membership  experience,  and,  ulFmately,  making   educaFon  more  relevant,  effecFve,  and  a  be4er  investment. Dr.  Eugene  G.  Kowch   Title:  Associate  Professor,  University  of  Calgary   Posi@on:  AECT  Board  RepresentaFve   About  Me:  Preparing  next-­‐generaFon  educaFonal  leaders   and  policy  makers  by  combining  good  learning   environment  design  with  cuhng  edge  organizaFon  design,   Former  Corporate  development  engineer  (petroleum),   Teacher,  Principal  &  Deputy  Superintendent. Beth  Rajan  Sockman  Ph.D.   Title:  Associate  Professor   Posi@on:  President  Elect;  CommunicaFons  Officer   About  Me:  Systems-­‐Thinker,  Grateful-­‐Learner,   InstrucFonal-­‐Technology-­‐Professor,  Striving  for  a   Win-­‐Win  society  with  Peace  through   Understanding.
• 6.
  A Rationale for Changingthe AECT Division Name from ‘Systemic Change’ to ‘Systems Thinking and Change’ in 2015 Dr. E. Kowch, Ph.D. (AECT Board, 2015) MESSAGE FROM ST&C PRESIDENT Systems  thinking  has  evolved  primarily  from  its  roots  in  management  contexts  (Ackoff,  1972).  The  scholarly  work  has  been   a  response  to  deBicits  found  among  less  systemic,  more  structural  mindsets  about  leading  organizations  effectively  so  that   they  are  nimble  enough  to  change.  Systems  thinking  is  a  purposeful  response  by  global  members  who  subscribe  to  a   conceptual  view  of  society,  organizations  and  institutions  as  highly  interdependent  entities  of  organization.  Ackoff  (1971)’s   ideas  on  organizations  as  systems  has  evolved  into  thinking  about  a  ‘design’  approach  to  types  of  systems  where  people  try   to  create  a  feasible  whole  from  infeasible  parts.  Historically,  the  founders  of  AECT’s  Systemic  Change  division  have  similarly   combined  holistic  thinking  about  learning  situations  (primarily  in  school  settings)  to  evolve  a  beautiful  design  for   conceptualizing  changes  in  education  systems  (organizations).  The  work  of  AECT’s  FutureMinds  (Reigeluth  &  Duffy,  2009)   for  example  is  based  on  principles  of  interactive  learning  and,  implicitly,  interactive  learning  leadership  (Reigeluth,  2015).     This  is  the  very  Bine  bedrock  of  our  thinking  in  the  Division  about  Systemic  Change.       However  we  have  realized  that  our  historical  conceptualization  of  Systemic  Change  integrates  the  entire  process  of   systems  thinking  along  with  its  implicit  design,  development  and  system  leadership  outcomes  to  represent  change.  That  can   be  confusing  for  some  members  because  the  Birst  change  required  of  anyone  or  any  education  system,  by  our  account,  is  a   paradigm  change  (Reigeluth  &  Duffy,  2008)  which  some  argue  is  actually  an  outcome  of  a  recursive  learning  process  enacted   by  nested,  co-­‐dependent  networks  of  people  (systems)  learning  (Schlechty,  2011).       Uniquely  in  the  world,  our  AECT  Division  has  evolved  systems  thinking  with  a  design  ideal  to  create  change  that   impacts  all  parts  of  a  system  (in  schools,  primarily  for  learning  and  instruction).  This  is  a  tremendous  leap  forward  from   literature  brought  about  to  consider  organizations  and  leadership  dynamics  independently  of  the  idea  that  co-­‐connected   people  can  learn  their  ways  forward  (Ackoff,  1972;  Senge,  1995).       Designers  choose  to  seek  the  future,  rather  than  to  predict  it.  In  the  Figure  1  below  (Gharajedaghi,  2011)  design   thinking  is  compared  to  other  inBluential,  interconnected  systems  thinking  frameworks,  where  we  have  found  that  trying  to   predict  system  outcomes  just  doesn’t  work  in  the  complex  reality  of  our  constant-­‐Blux,  co-­‐dependent  world  of  nested   systems  (inclusive  of,  but  extending  well  beyond  ‘the  school’).  Today,  our  concept  of  a  system  is  more  open,  and  it  is   expanding  to  include  temporal,  shifting  nested  systems  that  impact  each  other  in  complex,  nested  and  interconnected   ecosystems  that  are  constantly  in  Blux.     For  many  years  our  Division  has  been  known  as  Systemic  Change.  Last  year,  our   Executive  Committee  gave  serious  consideration  to  changing  the  name  of  the   division.  The  reason  for  this  was  twofold.     1.   We  felt  that  systemic  thinking  was  a  critical  process  that  could  be  applied   to  any  learning  system  and  organization.  While  change  might  indeed  be   an  outcome  of  this  process,  the  application  of  systems  thinking  was  an   important  contribution  to  the  efBicacy  and  goal  achievement  for  a  learning   system,  environment,  and  organization.   2.   We  wanted  to  recognize  that  change  and  transformation  can  occur  at  both   a  micro  and  macro  level  within  a  learning  environment.  Understanding  and  celebrating   successful  change  should  be  part  of  the  Division's  mission.   The  Executive  Committee  therefore  voted  on  changing  the  Division  name  to  Systems  Thinking  and   Change  to  reBlect  a  more  inclusive  role  for  the  Division's  membership  and  their  own  range  of   endeavors  to  apply  systems  thinking  and  to  implement  change.   Hoyet H. Hemphill, Ph.D.
• 7.
  What  is  signiBicant  in  this  evolution  of  systems  thinking,  particularly  in  the  education  context  is  a  similar  and   parallel  change  in  the  evolution  of  change  thinking  in  education.  That,  too  has  evolved  from  principles  about  holistic,   mechanical  change  (Simon,  1967)  to  holistic  change  in  schools  and  school  communities  (Fullan,  1998;  Hargreaves  &   Shirley,  2011).  The  language  of  ‘transformation’  is  a  rhetorical  move  to  suggest  an  expanding  concept  of  school  and   district  level  educational  change  (Gronn,  2002).     So  systems  thinking  and  change  thinking  have  evolved  in  parallel  to  help  us  contemplate  the  design  of  better   education  systems  in  our  changing  world.  Most  of  it  is  based  on  excellent  research  done  by  bounding  the  ‘system’  as  one   within  a  classroom,  a  school  or  a  district,  not  as  nested  systems  where  the  very  way  we  conceptualize  it  all  matters  as   well.  While  educational  leadership  disciplines  have  classically  embedded  this  kind  of  change  thought,  we  realize  that  a   design  approach  to  both  learning  and  change  leadership  require  a  design  sensibility  and  an  ecosystemic  perspective  on   learning  and  organization  design  in  the  knowledge  era  (Kowch,  2013).  This  Binding  emanates  from  a  special  edition  of   TechTrends  created  by  Division  members  in  2013.     Separating  ‘change’  thinking  (and  output,  really,  in  our  current  discourse)  from  ‘systems  thinking’  helps  us   consider  the  wider  space  of  the  possible  when  we  contemplate  contributing,  in  a  high-­‐impact  way  to  the  design  of  new   organizations,  leaders  and  learning  situations  where  technology  is  deeply,  purposefully  embedded  with  a  new  paradigm   for  ..  (What  the  organization  does).    Considering  our  professional  ‘home’  in  AECT  as  a  space  for  “Systems  Thinking  and   Change”  opens  up  a  wider  space  for  research,  practice  and  discourse.     Our  idea  is  to  be  more  inclusive  because  when  we  think  about  these  nested  systems  spanning  organizational   bounds  we  have  studied  (i.e.  schools),  we  can  include  wider  concepts  of  integrated  communities,  governments,   stakeholders,  histories,  economics  and  social  pulses  in  our  research.  We  include  other  organization  frames  as  well,  such   as  universities  and  corporations  –  bridging  and  integrating,  perhaps  with  the  heavy  work  in  leadership,   administration,  public  administration,  business  and  organization  as  well  as  social  justice,  distributed  learning   and  design  theory  for  example,  perhaps  from  settings  inclusive  of  hospitals,  government  agencies,  the  military,  R&D  and   other  institutional  contexts  (Clegg  et  al.,  2011).  So  our  gesture  for  changing  our  AECT  Division  name  is  to  be  more   academically  and  pragmatically  inclusive  and  cohesive  in  terms  of  involving  people  who  love  designing  learning  and   leading  nested,  well  led  and  changing  interconnected  systems.    We  can  do  this  without  thinking  quite  as  much  about  the   implicit  ‘change’  cause-­‐effect  relationship  implied  from  traditional  ‘systems’  thinking  (systemic  change).   So  by  separating  the  ‘change’  from  the  ‘systemic  (thinking)’,  we  can  consider  the  systemic  thinking  going  on   with  less  of  an  eye  to  speciBic  utilities  or  outcomes  from  it.  This  is  a  liberating  idea,  yet  it  is  daunting.  The  proposed     name  change  “Systems  Thinking  and  Change”  reBlects  a  less  instrumental,  more  exploratory  paradigm  for  examining  the   possible  results  of  our  designs  –  a  paradigm  that  is  less  bound  by,  but  yet  inclusive  of  institutional  boundaries  (i.e.   schools)  or  by  the  predictive  results  from  idea  sets  about  evolving  systems  from  A  to  B  states  (systemic  change).     For  example,  if  we  can  imagine  a  learning  setting  that  spans  well  beyond  time  or  mastery  boundaries  in  schools   to  include  university  or  corporate  settings,  we  must  think  about  the  results  of  my  systems  thinking  in  different  terms    -­‐   terms  that  again  involve  more  of  an  ecosystem  change  possibility.  Government  budgets  pegged  on  $120  barrel  oil  and   the  impact  on  any  21st  century  high-­‐cost  tech-­‐embedded  learning  system  are  examples  of  the  need  to  conceptualize   systems  thinking  with  change  thinking  for  speciBic,  more  adaptable  designs  for  example.     In  sum,  the  rationale  for  changing  our  Division  names  comes  from  its  very  strong  roots  which  are  growing  to   expand  our  design  thinking.  Here  we  include  more  ‘space’  for  designing  well  beyond  organizational  and  disciplinary   contexts  –  including  the  necessary  domains  of  leadership  (for  change)  as  well  as  learning  situations,  IT,  economics,   history  and  politics,  for  example.  Systems  Thinking  and  Change  builds  upon,  rather  than  replaces  the  visionary  work   of  our  collective  to  open  up  inclusive  conversation  and  joint  research  aimed  at  expanding,  not  limiting  our  thinking   about  system  mental  models  and  ecologies  of  learning  in  the  context  of  technologies  (Cabrera,  2009).  It  invites  change,   systems,  technology,  learning  and  leadership  scholars  together  in  AECT.   References   Cabrera,  D.  (2009).  Systems  thinking:  Four  universal  patterns  of  thinking.  Saarbrucken,  DE.  VDM.   Ackoff,  R.  L.  (1971).  Towards  a  system  of  systems  concepts.    Management  Science,  17,  11.  661-­‐671.   Ackoff,  R.  L.,  &  Emery,  F.  E.  (1972).  On  purposeful  systems:  An  interdisciplinary  analysis  of  individual  and  social  behavior  as  a  system  of  purposeful  events.   Chicago,  IL.  Atherton.     Cabrera,  D.  (2009).  Systems  Thinking:  Four  universal  patterns  of  thinking.  Saarbrucken,  DE.  Verlag  Dr  Mueller.     Kowch,  E.  G.  (2013).  Wither  thee,  Educational  Technology?  Suggesting  a  critical  expansion  of  our  epistemology  for  emerging  leaders.  TechTrends,  57,  5,   11-­‐27.     Reigeluth,  C.  M.  (2015  in  press).  Systemic  change  for  schools.  AECT  Policy  Brief  Retrieved  online  at:  http://aect.site-­‐ym.com/forums/Posts.aspx? topic=1070472   Reigeluth,  C.M.,  &  Duffy,  F.M.    (2008).    The  AECT  FutureMinds  initiative:  Transforming  America’s  school  systems.    Educational  Technology,  48  (3),  45-­‐49.   Also  published  as  Reigeluth,  C.M.,  &  Duffy,  F.M.    (2010).  The  AECT  FutureMinds  initiative.    In  F.  M.  Duffy  (Ed.)  (2010),  Dream!  create!  sustain!:   Mastering  the  art  &  science  of  transforming  school  systems  (pp.  352-­‐361).    Leading  Systemic  School  Improvement  Series.  Lanham,  MD:   Rowman  &  LittleBield  Education.   Gharajedaghi,  J.  (2011).  Systems  thinking  (3rd  Ed.)  New  York,  NY:  Kaufmann.   Clegg,  S.,  Harris,  M.,  and  HopBl,  H.    Managing    Modernity.  Oxford:  Oxford  University  Press.   Senge,  P.  M.  (1990).  The  Bifth  discipline.  New  York,  NY:  Doubleday.  
• 8.
  SUMMARY OF POLICYBRIEF- SYSTEMIC CHANGE FOR SCHOOLS Backstory from the Author For  many  years  I  have  pushed  AECT  to  adopt  advocacy  statements.  I  chaired  the  AECT  Advocacy   Committee  in  2004  to  put  the  mechanism  in  place,  but  it  was  not  adopted  then.    So  I  was  delighted  to   find  out  that  the  Policy  Briefs  were  established  last  year.  I  believe  such  statements  are  an  important   responsibility  of  both  individual  scholars  and  their  professional  associations.  As  scholars,  we  owe  it  to   those  who  pay  our  salaries  to  not  only  advance  knowledge,  but  also  to  help  others  benefit  from  that   knowledge.   I  have  a  strong  conviction  that  systemic  transformation  of  education  (paradigm  change)  can   significantly  improve  the  lives  of  millions  of  people,  so  I  felt  strongly  that  AECT  should  do  what  it  can   to  help  make  it  happen.    Hence,  this  policy  statement.   Charlie Reigeluth Charles M. Reigeluth prepared the Policy Brief, Systemic Change for Schools. A summary of this Policy Brief is provided here. The complete Brief can be found at the Systemic Thinking and Change web site - landing pages: http://aect.site-ym.com/ members/group.aspx?id=79885 The  AECT  Policy  Brief,  states  that  advocates  for  school  district  change  should  engage  in  a  process  of   transformation  from  standardized,  time-­‐based,  teacher-­‐centric  instruction  to  customized,  attainment-­‐based,   learning-­‐centered  instruction,  using  technology  throughout  school  operation,  particularly  in  instructional   settings.   Reigeluth  states,  “We  cannot  and  should  not  expect  a  system  designed  for  the  Industrial  Age  to  serve  the   needs  of  Informational  Age  communities.”  The  Brief  calls  for  “systemic  change”  of  educational  organizations.   This  new  paradigm  requires  a  complete  change  in  the  roles  of  parents,  teachers,  administrators  and   technologies.   Students  need  to  change  from  passive,  teacher-­‐directed  learners  into  active,  self-­‐directed  learners.   Teachers  must  become  designers  and  facilitators  of  student  work  and  mentors.  Parents  must  become   partners  in  their  children’s  learning;  and,  technology  must  facilitate  planning,  instruction  and   assessment  for  student  learning.   In  the  paradigm-­‐change  process,  the  ‘unit  of  change’  could  be  a  charter  school  or  a  school  district,  which   should  encompass  all  stakeholders,  organizational  levels,  with  administration  and  governance  systems.  There   are  five  actions  that  must  occur  in  the  change  process  within  “a  culture  of  developmental  or  transformational   leadership  that  empowers  all  stakeholders  to  be  leaders.” It  is  recommended  that  educators,  policymakers,  and  union  leaders  become  active  players  in   initiating  and  carrying  through  systemic  changes  in  schools.