Thomas Slensvik and Anders McD Sookermany
In today’s rapidly changing world, understanding and navigating intricate systems is crucial for military and design professionals. SOD integrates systems thinking into the design process, providing tools to tackle multifaceted problems. This paper explores SOD application in two educational settings: the Norwegian Command and Staff College and the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). By examining how SOD is implemented and experienced in these contexts, we aim to uncover insights for developing SOD pedagogy and practice.
Design and military education present unique challenges and opportunities for SOD application. Design students, with their creative and visual thinking backgrounds, often excel in divergent thinking, generating ideas and visualising complex systems. However, this may lead to difficulties in convergent thinking and making decisions. Conversely, military students, trained in structured environments, excel in convergent thinking and quickly arrive at actionable solutions but may struggle with open-ended tasks requiring divergent thinking. These differences underscore the need for tailored educational approaches to effectively teach SOD in diverse contexts.
This study employs a comparative case study methodology, drawing on data from observations, interviews, and student reflections. We analyse patterns and tensions in these educational settings, contributing to the ongoing development of SOD as an approach for navigating complexity in both design and military fields. Our research builds on the foundational work of Blaasvær and Sevaldson (2019), who developed the gigamapping ladder, a tool that leverages Bloom’s revised taxonomy to enhance students’ skills in handling complex systems.
The findings reveal distinct strengths and challenges in how military and design students engage with SOD. Military students showed proficiency in higher-order cognitive processes such as analyse, evaluate, and create, but struggled with meta-cognitive aspects like mental flexibility and questioning assumptions. Design students excelled in divergent thinking and mapping complexity but faced challenges in decision-making and contextual understanding. These insights suggest refining the gigamapping ladder to incorporate Bloom’s four knowledge dimensions—factual, conceptual, procedural, and meta-cognitive—can better support cognitive processes across diverse educational settings.
By addressing the strengths and challenges of military and design students, educators can better prepare them to navigate and design within complex systems. This research contributes to developing SOD pedagogy, providing insights for optimising its application in diverse educational environments, ultimately fostering more effective and adaptive problem-solvers.
KEYWORDS: systems oriented design, Bloom’s revised taxonomy, gigamapping ladder, military design, design students, military students