Introduction

The aim of this course is to analyze the complex networked problems of Global Change and to work together on sustainable scenarios for the future. With the use of modern information and communication technologies students from different countries with different cultural backgrounds and knowledge will be enabled to work together and share ideas and strategies.

Concept

This course offers the possibility in view of policy, economy, cultural and social actions to identify in an interdisciplinary dialogue complex problems, to find response strategies and to prove them. Teams of students from several universities will work on urgent matters of global change and sustainable development. The interdependency of human and natural systems demands an approach which ensures that the complex problems of global change are analyzed in an integrated way from different perspectives and at a variety of levels. In this course we give the opportunity to integrate multiple perspectives.
To understand sustainability we need systemic knowledge: this means knowledge about structures, functions, processes and interrelations. To become capable of acting you need to be able to handle systemic knowledge in an expedient way, in order to apply that knowledge effectively. Thus the aim of this course is the advancement of scientifically founded decision-making and responsibility. Systemic knowledge will be connected with assessments, with ethical orientation in the relation between mankind and nature, with thinking in alternatives and with anticipation.

How do we handle complex networked problems? The guidelines of exemplary learning and teaching provides a possible approach to handling complex networked problems. This means that students will acquire the comprehension of more or less generalized interrelations, insights, understanding and principles on the basis of a few examples.

This course offers starting points for networked thinking and self-organised learning. Concrete examples are used and active participation in working groups forcollaborative learning will be supported.