Mapping It Out: How Faculty and Students are Growing Systems Thinking at Humber Polytechnic

By Elinor Bray-Collins, Sara Hassan and Isabel Sousa

Map the System, a global competition for post-secondary students led by the University of Oxford and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, was brought to Humber Polytechnic in 2019. That year, as the pandemic hit and education went virtual, two classes of degree students at Humber entered their systems thinking projects, seeking to understand the complexity of social and environmental change. 

In contrast to the many competitions that dominate the post-secondary sector, Map the System encourages students to delve deeper and more holistically into the challenges we face, emphasizing the interconnectedness of these issues and why complex problems are often so difficult to tackle. Students select topics they are passionate about, often rooted in their own lived experiences. Since this humble beginning, Map the System has continued to grow at Humber. Now in its sixth year, with hundreds of students registering and numerous awards under our belt, Humber boasts the highest number of participants in the world. The program is engaged in a process of innovation aimed at institutionalizing the competition across faculties and programs at the polytechnic, providing a way to bring the Humber Learning Outcomes (HLOs) to life in the classroom and offer students a culminating, skills-building, meaningful learning experience beyond the usual classroom setting.

Student Engagement

For students, Map the System is more than a competition—it is a transformative framework that equips them with the tools to engage with real-world issues in meaningful ways and to understand how their interests and chosen careers can link up to system change at broader levels. By participating, students gain valuable skills in problem mapping and critical thinking, enabling them to understand the world in a more connected, holistic way.

One core skill learned in Map the System is thinking in ‘systems.’ As students deepen their knowledge of systems thinking, they learn to identify key dynamics such as mental models, feedback loops, unintended consequences, and leverage points—areas where small actions can lead to significant impact. This process emphasizes understanding problems from diverse perspectives and using visual mapping tools to illustrate complex systems. It is iterative and collaborative, with students often producing multiple versions of system maps that tell different stories as they refine their understanding of the issues. This method helps students grasp how various problems intersect, showing that addressing one area often requires considering many others.

Sabriye Sagban is a Bachelor of Behavioural Science student whose project “Wildfires in Cordoba: A Growing Catastrophe” made it to the top 10 finalists in the 2023 competition. Sabriye notes, “I learned that many challenges we face in life can be better understood and addressed by first mapping out the system surrounding the problem. This process helps us to see how different pieces connect to build the problem and help identify potential leverage points for effective interventions.”

Working in interdisciplinary and sometimes international teams, students learn that challenges like loneliness, food insecurity, mental health, waste inequities and forest fires are shaped by a complex web of factors that cannot be addressed by singular solutions. Many students are surprised by how multi-layered issues are once they begin to dig deeper into their topics. Learning to map this complexity shifts the way students think about addressing social challenges, helping them see how sustainable and equitable change requires addressing the underlying system dynamics that work to perpetuate problems.

The team-based nature of Map the System projects encourages a collaborative research process, bringing together students from different disciplines, along with educators, mentors and community members in a shared learning experience. The final event and workshops hosted by MTS Canada offer students the chance to connect with peers from across the country, build partnerships with community organizations and industry leaders and connect students with a broader community of systems thinkers. Ultimately, Map the System can serve as a pathway for students to identify issues they care about as they pursue future work opportunities.

Working Internationally

Map the System at Humber has also been run as part of a Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) project with Otago Polytechnic (New Zealand) and VIA University College (Denmark)—Humber’s partners in the Global Polytechnic Alliance (GPA). Faculty from each institution teach systems thinking in various classes and mentor teams made up of students from each institution. This initiative fosters cross-disciplinary, international collaboration, all while building the skills we need as both students and educators to engage with complex global challenges more broadly.

At the heart of this collaboration are the relationships that have evolved in this faculty team. Faculty have worked across time zones and academic calendars to build resilient connections that have sustained the project year after year. The collaboration has led to many successes in the competition for students, as well as co-authored academic papers, presentations at scholarly conferences and ongoing reflections on the role of systems thinking education in advancing social and ecological justice.

Together with students, the team has published articles including: “International Collaboration for a Sustainable Future: Faculty and Student Reflections from a Virtual Polytechnic Classroom” and “Transformational Spaces: Educators Discuss Map the System and Supporting Canada’s Emerging Generation of Systems Thinkers.” These works explore how faculty and students can collaboratively advance change in complex social, political, and environmental issues, emphasizing diverse, interdisciplinary approaches and the necessity of robust relationships. Crucially, the faculty team has also involved students as co-authors in publications, reflecting a philosophy of creating inclusive learning environments where students are understood to be equal partners in creating knowledge and receiving acknowledgement for their efforts.

Beyond publications, GPA-MTS faculty members have co-presented at conferences in Canada, New Zealand, Denmark and the UK, sharing insights with a broader audience. Their presentations have contributed to discussions surrounding systems thinking and global collaboration while sparking interest in sustaining and scaling these international partnerships. 

In 2024, the team presented at the Map the System Convening at Oxford University, sharing reflections on the COIL project and its impact on both faculty and students.

The GPA’s collaborative model thrives on the strength of faculty relationships. Core members return nearly every year, while new faculty are invited and supported. Since 2020, 14 faculty members have been involved, with some meeting in person to forge closer relationships. While institutional support has varied, personal relationships nourish what the team refers to as “our virtual garden.” This project exemplifies how interconnected relationships can create a thriving environment for student growth, highlighting the transformative potential of global collaboration in systems change education at the post-secondary level.

Map the System at Humber is an approach to education at the polytechnic level that seeks to transform the way students think of their careers and contributions to work and their communities. It is an approach to education that strives to better equip students to more deeply grasp the complexity of their work and the world and to work creatively and innovatively to craft better solutions—regardless of what industry they find themselves in.

Author note:
Elinor Bray-Collins, Sara Hassan and Isabel Sousa are faculty members in Humber Polytechnic’s Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences.