Different Q – Same P-R
In some cases, the change in environmental conditions of such a nature that a different Q – a way of doings things – is needed to make the system viable. To put it differently, a system has to revive itself. To revive or not is an autonomous decision of the system itself because in Luhmans’s terms, the systems in the environment can only irritate a system. However, this is a subtle process. Other systems can irritate to such an extent that the system has no other option but to change its behavior. So, irritating taken to an extreme can be seen as nudging where a system in the environment can actually be in control. This is shown in the picture below. Dependent on the conditions, a system can make a shift from one Q to another one, and vice versa.
This is a powerful observation because it clearly gives handles to change the course for a number of systems to be on the same, but new page. It is not easy to organize the environmental conditions by the involved systems itself since this requires some sort of shared vision and roadmap. Typically, a system with power, such as the government, but it could as well be a charismatic person, is needed to set the right conditions, which could be in the shape of, amongst others, ideas, legislation, and benefits. The social theory of a sustainable, collaborative learning society provides a process to make progress collectively (link). A key element is the assessment framework, comprised of guiding principles, considerations, and rights and obligations, that set the conditions for change. It is based on mutual understanding and shared meaning, which are reassessed continuously as part of the process.
Returning to the example of a school. Times are changing and due to new insights, teaching practices have to adapt to cope with different circumstances. In the old days, but still practiced very much so today, frontal teaching was the norm. The teacher controls in what is being conveyed in essentially a one way direction. The effectiveness of this practice is diminishing because students can find an abundance of information on the internet. And because of the distractions offered by the internet, the student’s attention span has diminished as well, which makes frontal teaching less suitable for modern times. One of many alternatives for frontal teaching is the flipped classroom. Students prepare for a lesson at home using modern IT technologies like internet and smartphones to gain insights in a particular subject matter, which are presented and discussed in the classroom. So, a modern technology like internet can be seen as an external condition to discourage frontal teaching on the one hand and to encourage flipped classroom as an alternative on the other hand. The reason of being (P-R), however, still is educating students. That is something that will not go away.
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