Week Five Blog

Write a reflection about how your system of interest (micro) compares in terms of complexity with the Donnie Darko analysis we did as a group in Week Three. What is different? What’s similar? Any patterns emerging about human behavior/cognition?

My system of interest is an employee as micro system who provides support for faculty and students in blended and online learning. The employee is a part of a macro system, the UNTHSC. As an employee the reflection on system thinking and pattern recognition is discussed below based on understanding from in-class discussions and the outside reading about Donnie Darko film.

The big difference between two systems is the function of each system. The employee as a micro system of an education system provide services to faculty, staff, and student. On the other hand, Donnie Darco as a student who receives the service from an education system. Aslo, Donnie leaves in a dual system simultaneously in tangent and general universes. An employee is a real character in an education system but Donnie is a fictitious character in a cult movie system . In Donnie Darko there is a tangent universe which lasts for 28 days compare to the actual universe. In case of the employee there is only one universe that coevolved with the education system. Unlike tangent universe the employee’s activities are scheduled based on a day-to-day and semester-based calendar. Boundaries are also different for each system. There are there semesters in a year in education system. The employee has to provide some specific services with some specific date related activities such as enrollment, training, and other time sensitive critical services on priority. But Donnie Darko has fixed 28 days period to prepare himself to survive or to choose to die.

There are indefinite numbers of micro systems, unpredictable behavior, nonlinear relationships among parts of the movie system Donnie Darko. The employee is not as complex as Donnie Darko is at this moment of his understanding. The employee finds it hard to compare and relate an education system to a movie system. The employee system deals with different types of technologies, human behaviors, communications which makes it a complex system. One of the similarities between two systems is the technology part. Donnie Darko also deals with high tech events that exhibit complex communication system between tangent and general universes. In Donnie Darko’s system the tangent universe of 28 days could be considered as micro system within the general universe which could be considered as a macro system.

There are some patterns that have emerged about human behavior. Some of the characters like Frank, Dr. Thurman, and Roberta have different level of influence in Donnie’s life. In tangent universe Donnie Darko can see the future with the help of agent which manipulates his thinking ability. The employee’s life and services are also influenced by his boss, colleagues, and other people in the hierarchy of the employee’s system. But in real world the employee cannot see the future events in advance to prepare for any unpredicted natural disasters like earth quake, tsunami etc. Even though the employee has his own personal goals and objectives he has to fulfill the department’s goals as well. There are unlimited inputs and outputs involved in education system and it is hard to identify all at once to manage properly. Even if the employee identifies some there is always some that appear unexpectedly. The most complex micro system of the employee is the human system which itself is a very complex system. It is hard to analyze and understand all human systems and functions to find a unique predictable pattern. The employee hopes to learn more as the learning accretion continues in his life.