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This course is grounded on a pedagogical innovation called “Staying F.O.C.U.S.E.D.” which will guide you through a process of HOW to (un)learn when dealing with the complex. This course is carefully designed to equip you with 21-century global skillsets which will give you the confidence and wisdom to deal with those problems, issues and challenges keeping you awake at night.
Whether you are a university student trying to make sense of a difficult major course project or struggling to add value during your internship placement; or you are practicing manager struggling to find a resolution to a complex problem, issue or challenge, this course will guide you through a framework designed to help you open up the alternatives. Through this structured framework designed to help you better deal with your unstructured problems, you will learn BETTER, learn FASTER and learn MORE than you are used to. In essence, this short course will help you “HOW” to learn to (un)learn during knowledge transfer.
The course is for you if:
• You have a burning unsolved problem, issue or challenge you want to solve
• You are looking for a new way of dealing with the unknown, unfamiliar, rare and novel situations
• You want to become BETTER at understanding, explaining and anticipating complexity
Grounded on solid empirical research and theory, the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. philosophy has been tried and tested across multiple disciplines and industry sectors for over a decade. Through a carefully designed learning sequence and thought-provoking learning activities, this course will enable you to:
• Learn the 21st century core competencies (of the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. framework) much sort after by successful key decision-makers when dealing with the unknown, unfamiliar, rare and novel events.
• Identify key questions, statements and prompts within each of the seven (7) themes of the framework that will broaden and deepen your understanding of complex unsolved problems, issues and challenges.
• Review the importance that problem-solving is also about problem-setting.
• Open your mind to “otherness”: other forms of reasoning, other forms of logics, other forms of explanations and to other ways of knowing.
• Better explain how the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. framework can be applied into your specific disciplinary field.
MODULE 1: Overview and F.O.C.U.S.E.D. Philosophy (WEEK 1)
• Before we start
o Download the workbook, make your own F.O.C.U.S.E.D. dice and/or download the “Focused Dice” app.
o Identify “one” really tough UNSOLVED problem, issue or challenge you bring to this course and provide three (3) reasons why you are unsatisfied with your current approach.
• Why staying F.O.C.U.S.E.D. is important in problem solving/ problem-setting.
• What is F.O.C.U.S.E.D. and how to use this framework?
• Drag-drop game to test knowledge of what has been learned.
• Praise from international experts (Harvard, Oxford, Cambridge…).
MODULE 2: Applying the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. framework (WEEK 2)
• Learners are presented with a complex unsolved problem, issue or challenge from a disciplinary subject expert.
• We showcase a live case group discussion to demonstrate how the F.O.C.U.S.E.D. framework is applied to open up the alternatives.
• Reflections are shared by both subject expert and group members on the usefulness of the framework.
• We challenge the learner to use a metacognitive scaffolding game to test knowledge application.
MODULE 3: Case studies of the framework in practice (WEEK 3)
• Learners go in for a deep dive into one real-life case and co-create possible alternatives with the senior executive of the organization.
• Additional five (5) more live case studies are presented with different levels of complexity where the learner will see how this structured framework provides insights to key decision makers given their unstructured problems, issues and challenges.
• Course wrap-up and where to from here.
