Sociotechnical System Modeling and Simulation

Catalog description

This transdisciplinary course provides an in-depth learning experience on the fundamentals of the modeling and simulation of social and sociotechnical systems. This course welcomes students from all academic disciplines (especially outside of engineering) if they have had experience with system architecture and/or systems thinking in any domain application. System perspectives are increasingly being used to engage with the complexity of environmental, social, economic and cultural dimensions of technology, and simulation is a powerful tool in the development of policies that affect these dimensions. Students do not need to have strong computational experience before taking this course, but they need to have a strong systems background. Using system dynamics modeling, this course teaches how to develop simulations of the sociotechnical dimensions of technology design, development and implementation with a strong focus on inclusive, participatory, stakeholder-centric modeling (e.g., Living Labs). In a hybrid asynchronous lab-based environment, students in this course will gain practical skills in using a modeling process to develop models and simulations of sociotechnical systems.