I have been quite busy the last months. Besides my economic studies I am taking two distance courses related to System Dynamics. One is a Macroeconomic course the uses system dynamics to explain economic market behaviour. I will write a post about that course later. The other course is called System Dynamics II given from Portland State University (USA).
System Dynamics II is an advanced course that has a seminar-type approach, where students prepare and present portions of the content. Course literature is Sterman’s book, Business Dynamics. The application areas emphasize economics and business, but other important and interesting subjects has also been discussed. Some of the topics has been model testing, policy analysis, dynamics of growth, the spread of disease, and diffusion of innovation. We have gone deeper into modelling of delays, co-flows, ageing chains, non-linear relationships, decision-making, human behaviour, forecasting, supply chains, and business cycles.
With just the project assignment left I can say I have learned a lot. I have been the only distance student. Unfortunately we could not arrange for synchronous participating on my part in the discussion sessions, but discussing through list and listening to recorded sessions has worked out very well. The teacher, Professor Wayne Wakeland, has been a great help and inspiration.
Other posts about this subject you might want to read:
System dynamics learnings so far
MIT Opencourseware SD Lecture Notes
System dynamics video course
Updates on the system dynamics course
