# 4 Part 1: 2 Preparing to tackle this unit

## 4.1 Something different

Perhaps it will not surprise you if I say you may experience this unit as rather different to any you may have previously encountered. Like any course of study, you are likely to find surprising and interesting material in it but there are three specific ways this unit may surprise and even challenge you. These three ways are concerned with:

1. The nature of systems thinking and systems practice;

2. A style of learning where you have to take most of the responsibility for your own learning;

3. The way you know about the world; interpret information about it; and construct mental models. These are epistemological issues. The bases for knowing about, and acting in, a situation is different to that encountered in most other units with a ‘T’ (technology) code.

Each of these will be discussed briefly below.

OpenLearn - Managing complexity: a systems approach – introduction
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