Several of the campus heritage plans funded by the Getty Foundation served as laboratories for applying the relatively new field of cultural landscape preservation to campus planning. With a strong landscape component, the heritage plans of The University of Kansas, Cranbrook Academy, the University of California, Berkeley, and elsewhere remind…

Understanding organizations as learning organisms requires a higher level of analysis, including a systems approach and biological, cybernetic, dialectical, and chaos analysis. (SK)

Chaos theory, which suggests chaotic looking behavior may manifest order in patterns visible from a distance and emphasizes dynamics of connection and bonds, has useful applications in understanding dynamic organization such as the university, which requires constant change and diversity. It can provide leaders with philosophy of practical…

Chaos theory, dissipative structures analysis, and complexity theory have all been used in various branches of the sciences to examine patterns of change in complex systems. This paper considers how educational theory and research can benefit from changes in scientific fields as diverse as quantum mechanics, fluid dynamics, geology, and economics…

A policy system design that can benefit from the dynamics of small group behavior without suffering from the adverse effects associated with group thinking, in which the members of small groups acquire a concurrence seeking tendency, is comprised of three subsystem functions: (1) a sub-system normative function which requires that small groups be…

Introduces design, integrated with systems thinking, as a necessary if not sufficient means for meeting the challenge of how to create or recreate organizations and institutions. The limits of problem-solving strategies when applied to complex organizational change, the designer's role, and the creative process of design are discussed. (Contains…

Explores issues arising from the massive social changes that will flow from the recently emerged information age to define a new approach to systems design. This approach will allow the creation of a better future while enhancing human performance, adding value to organizations, and creating just and ethical systems. (Contains 32 references.) (KRN)

Issues in the application of Total Quality Management (TQM) to the development of educational standards are discussed in this paper. The first part describes the basic tenets of TQM, which are: focus on the customer; long term commitment to continuous improvement; top management support and guidance; employee involvement and responsibility;…

This paper presents an operational framework of change, derived from a synthesis of three change models. It is argued that to create a quality school, educators must use a model that helps participants internalize the components of the desired educational corporate culture. The organization must be examined in terms of the past, present, and…

This document outlines the 1992 proposals of the Education Commission of the States (ECS) to gain public commitment and to assist state leaders in translating educational vision into reality. The first part examines the need for systemic educational reform, arguing that the key to systems change is a renewed democratic debate about public policy.…

Includes three articles that address issues associated with the automation and management of library acquisitions departments. Highlights include the systems librarian's point of view; restructuring the cataloging and acquisitions departments in a large academic library after NOTIS implementation; and the workflow in a smaller university library.…

Applauds Caple for his application of general systems theory to student development and student personnel, but cautions against the overgeneralization of applying paradigms from other fields to student development and psychology. Urges practitioners to be clear on the concepts before using them. (Author/ABB)

This book maintains that educational reform cannot occur in a vacuum. The theme of the book is that the problems faced by education are systemic and deeply embedded in family and social problems. Schools themselves must assume responsibility for change, and change must occur in the ways in which schools relate to outside constituencies. The…

The Common Knowledge: Pittsburgh (CK:P), a technology-based project, introduced the Internet into all levels of the Pittsburgh Public Schools during 1993-97. This is a case study of the ideology, strategies, and process of the CK:P project describes the project's activities, examines the project in light of school-reform literature, and uses its…

This paper offers a new conceptual framework for thinking about school restructuring by examining the meaning and implications of restructuring as a school improvement strategy. Conceptualization efforts are organized around a set of fundamental questions: (1) What is the meaning of restructuring? (2) What makes restructuring necessary? (3) What…