EPALE - Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe

This webinar was hosted by EPALE with guest speaker Eimear McNally. It looks at the power of visual tools to explore systems within the context of adult education. This webinar falls under EPALE’s 2021 themes of Life and Work Skills and Digital Transition for Blended Learning.

Eimear McNally is a freelance visual facilitator with a background in education for sustainable development and global justice. She consolidates information from live events into visual tools through drawing and runs training programmes on visual facilitation. Eimear also designs and delivers innovative educational experiences with Creativity & Change, a transformative learning programme based in Munster Technological University.

Connect with European educators through the EPALE Network

The event is introduced by Manika-Nia Dixon from EPALE Ireland. Manika-Nia gives the attendees a brief overview of EPALE, the Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe.

EPALE is the largest hub for adult learning in Europe, allowing members to connect, collaborate and innovate. As an Erasmus+ programme and pan-European initiative, EPALE has national agencies and support services in over 37 countries. EPALE’s national agency in Ireland is Léargas. There are almost 120,000 people who are a part of the EPALE community. Become an EPALE member today.

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Manika-Nia thanks participants for their answers to prompts given prior to this webinar. This word cloud will be used as a further resource and is available to view below.

Begin exploring systems with a creative and curious mindset

Manika-Nia introduces Eimear, who begins by encouraging participants to bring a mindset of play and curiosity to the session, and asks them to engage in a simple guessing exercise.

Eimear shares a series of images using a collaborative Miro board and asks participants whether they think they are complex systems or not. Attendees are asked to drag a red dot to either “Yes” or “No” below each image.

“I’m doing this because, in the spirit of adult and community education, of which many of you I'm sure are involved, I want us to start with what we already know about systems, rather than me giving you a presentation or lecture,” says Eimear. “Let's find out and brainstorm and collectively think about what we already know about complex systems.”

Break down complex systems

Eimear emphasises drawing on knowledge that we may already have to analyse systems. “I’m not going to try and make this about right or wrong answers, but more to elicit some of the ways in which we think about systems.”

Once the answers have been collected, Eimear invites participants to share their reasoning. Some people have chosen the image of a forest as an example of a complex system, explaining that it displays lots of interdependencies, does not follow a structure and that there are complexities underneath what meets the eye. Other participants agree, stating that the forest is made of different elements that interact with each other and relies on inputs and outputs.

Moving on to the image of a bowl of sweets, Eimear encourages participants to share their reasons for believing that this is not a complex system. She notes that although perhaps appearing simple at first, factors such as air temperature and the sweets’ ability to change states make them more complex than they first appear.

Lastly, Eimear urges participants to think about why they have identified the school as a complex system or a non-complex system. “There’s a variety of cohorts at play in terms of that system,” says one participant. “There are lots of different forms of interaction within the school - not just educational. I think it’s complex.”

Analyse the system as a whole

To analyse systems, it’s important that we break down all the factors that interplay with them. Eimear explains that complexity can arise when there are systems within systems.

“There are systems within systems, just like my body is a system, but within it there’s a digestive system. There’s a circulatory system. And I am also part of the social system.”

Eimear notes that often when examining systems, we find ourselves analysing them alone. “We create boundaries around those systems in order to look at them in isolation. But actually, nothing exists in isolation.”

Eimear reminds participants that there are parts to any system that must be considered, as these interdependencies can tell us a lot about how the system operates. “The parts themselves are important, but it’s the relationships between the parts that we want to pay attention to in order to see how the system is working as a whole.”

Eimear mentions the impact of Donella Meadows, an American environmental scientist and educator, in the field of systems thinking. She notes the importance of Donella Meadows’ definition of a system. “A system is an interconnected set of elements that’s organised. It’s organised in a way that achieves something,” explains Eimear. Although there are many parts to a complex system, Eimear highlights three to focus on. “The system must consist of three things: elements; interconnections; and a function for purpose.”

Balance inputs and outputs

Eimear draws attention to feedback loops. “When we talk about systems, it’s very important for us to talk about feedback loops.” Eimear explains that there are two different types of feedback loops when it comes to systems. “The system has elements. There’s information coming in and there’s outputs going out, but there’s a lot of information coming back into the system again. We’ve got what you could describe as balancing feedback loops and reinforcing feedback loops.”

To illustrate how feedback loops work, Eimear gives participants a simple example. “In a population where you have lots and lots of people being born, then they will also go on to have more children and so the population will grow. That’s a reinforcing feedback loop.”

To expand on the limits to this growth, Eimear uses the animal population as an example.

“What will happen is that the top predators will eat all of the rabbits, and that’ll allow more predators to grow, but they will simultaneously deplete the population. So fewer prey will support fewer predators and then the prey will grow again. And then they will support more predators.”

To put the idea of reinforcing feedback loops into a current context, Eimear mentions the Abido effect. “The whiteness of the ice in the snow in the north is actually reflecting more sunlight. So you have this reinforcing feedback loop in terms of climate change.”

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts

When analysing complex systems, Eimear highlights the importance of keeping emergence in mind. She defines this as when properties that aren’t in the individual parts of the system might actually be part of the whole.

“For example, here's our little sugar molecule here. It's made up of carbon oxygen and hydrogen, some simple elements. And then when those carbon oxygen and hydrogen molecules come together in a certain way, and then I pick it up and then I engage it with my sensory system, I have this experience of sweetness,” Eimear explains. “But although that quality of sweetness isn't present in the carbon, the oxygen or the hydrogen, it's present when they come together in a particular way and then they interact with my sensory system.”

Eimear elaborates that the most simple way to imagine emergence is to think of the simple Aristotelian quote, “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Harness ripple effects

Within the context of creating changes, Eimear calls attention to the butterfly effect, coined by Edward Lorenz. “The principle of the butterfly effect is that small perturbations in the system can ripple through and actually cause large impacts.”

Eimear notes that this can be a great thing to keep in mind as educators or activists. “Sometimes when we think about the large complex global systems and the global challenges it can be very overwhelming, but if we consider that acting locally or even acting small can have impacts that we know we will never even be aware of, then that can be encouraging for us.”

Look beyond the surface

Eimear introduces participants to the iceberg model, which is a concept from Donella Meadows’ Academy for Systems Change. When it comes to explaining concepts, Eimear finds using visual aids very helpful. “I love to work in visual metaphors and I find this to be actually quite generative in workshops.”

The iceberg model is another visual tool that can help us to understand complex systems. “The metaphor of the iceberg means that things above the surface are obvious and visible, but there’s a lot more going on underneath that we don’t see.”

Eimear then introduces the framework of this model to participants. The top of the framework is what’s visible, working down into the deeper levels of the system. “We can identify forces within the system that are influencing its structure, or we can identify particular forces or relationships that are leading up to these events we can see.”

Eimear explains that when we delve further down into the framework and the bottom of the iceberg, we find mental models. “This is really in the area of our somewhat unexamined assumptions about the way the world is, how do we actually see the world? We get down into the sort of metaphysics here.”

Lastly, Eimear draws back to the Donella Meadows’ Academy for Systems Change, which believes that operating at the lower levels of a system creates a bigger impact in the long term.

Make data visualisation creative

Eimear asks participants to brainstorm some ways in which we may use the iceberg model to visualise aspects of systems at these different levels. She asks everyone to think of how scientists first created visual tools to show the impact of climate change. “Some of those graphs and charts have become iconic,” she adds. “If you think about the hockey stick graph of the rise of CO2 over time, that actually itself became a symbol of climate change.”

When it comes to visualizing data, we must find ways to make it creative in order to engage people. “Data is such a big part of global development,” Eimear continues. “So how can we make data visualisation creative? There are ways in which we can do that.”

Recognise the links in systems

In order to break complex systems down into different levels, Eimear suggests finding the links between the systems. “We might create little system models where we just put down the parts and relate them to each other very simply. Sometimes system maps and tools can be really useful.”

However, Eimear recognises the challenges that come with trying to visualise peoples’ worldviews, values and assumptions. “That’s the real challenging one. What I’ve found is that using visual metaphors can be really helpful in helping people to self-reflect on their own way of seeing the world and unpack that.”

Another method Eimear mentions when visualising challenging data is scribing. “It’s about drawing live at events whilst people are talking, but really trying to identify what is underneath what they’re saying, pulling out the undercurrents of conversations.”

Eimear then plays a Ted Talk video that sums up how different levels of complexities can arise when people are asked to visually illustrate a process. Watch the video here.

Breakout Rooms

Following on from the video, Eimear picks up on some key points made. These include the importance of iterating your model until it becomes clearer, using collective perspectives and creating systems models in silence. The breakout room activity puts these key points into practice.

In breakout rooms, participants are asked to create a systems model using Miro of how Eimear’s cup of coffee got to her in her home in County Louth. In teams of four, participants are given two minutes to introduce themselves, and then ten minutes of silence to complete the systems model.

After participants have completed the activity, Eimear shares the different teams’ system models on her screen. She notes that some of the groups have really considered the inputs and outputs of the system, as well as historical and political lenses on the coffee bean.

Eimear thanks participants for their system models and notes the diversity of responses to the task.

Reflection

Eimear invites participants to reflect on the webinar. “Even though it’s a short session today, I think it’s still really important to do a little bit of reflection so that we can get the most from the learning.”

Using Miro, participants share feedback on their experience of the activity, what they’ve taken from the session, and areas that could benefit from further training. Eimear groups the responses into clusters and thanks participants for their engagement in today’s webinar. “There’s so much emerging here,” says Eimear. “The wonder of this is that we access the collective intelligence and we get to put all the perspectives together, but also identify some patterns that are emerging.”

Explore resources

For further information on systems and visual tools, Eimear recommends the following resources:

• Dancing with Systems bu Donella Meadowshttps://donellameadows.org/archives/dancing-with-systems/
• Laura Winn on Applying Regenerative Practice to Systemshttps://medium.com/school-of-system-change/applying-regenerative-practice-to-systems-beyond-place-some-thoughts-b6c5e3e025a8
• Nora Bateson on 4 Films that explore systems:https://norabateson.medium.com/a-quick-look-at-4-films-that-address-systems-change-ed0afdabcd0a
• Oliver Standing on metaphors for embedding systems thinking into daily lifehttps://medium.com/school-of-system-change/turning-the-stone-embedding-systems-thinking-in-the-everyday-89ba723effac
• Videos about Systems Thinking frameworks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCutCcajxhR33k9UR-DdLsAQ
• Podcast with Anna Birneyhttps://accidentalgods.life/be-what-you-love/?mc_cid=9d7af53fc4&mc_eid=0e6376d51e
• Philippe Van den Broekhttps://philippevandenbroeck.medium.com/systems-thinking-tinkering-being-24e483f38221
• Change Elemental- Practice for a liberating ecosystemhttps://changeelemental.org/resources/practicing-the-elements-of-a-liberating-ecosystem/
• Unschool / Leyla Acoroglu0 Tools for Systems thinkershttps://medium.com/disruptive-design/tools-for-systems-thinkers-the-6-fundamental-concepts-of-systems-thinking-379cdac3dc6a
• Relating Systems Thinking & Design- Systemic Design Association academic symposia proceedingshttps://systemic-design.org/symposia-proceedings/
• Systems Mapping the Criminal Justice System
• https://www.thinknpc.org/resource-hub/breaking-reoffending-cycles-in-the-criminal-justice-system/?mc_cid=e6071f5283&mc_eid=0e6376d51e
• Applying regenerative practice to systems beyond place — some thoughts
• By way of introduction: spiky fruit
• System mapping toolkit- a new tool being developed on Mirohttps://www.system-mapping.com/?mc_cid=9d7af53fc4&mc_eid=0e6376d51e
• Build systems models with feedback loops (free)https://insightmaker.com/
• Kumu - a system mapping tool online (Paid)https://kumu.io/
• Systemic Design Association- toolkits and resourceshttps://systemic-design.org/resources/
• Academy for Systems Change (Donella Meadows) resourceshttps://donellameadows.org/systems-thinking-resources/
• Planet Centric Design Toolkithttps://www.impossible.com/pcd-toolkit

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