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I would like to take this opportunity to explain assessment in the big history
solving complex problem specialization.
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This video is the first of five that will help guide you through all written work.
Rest assured that instructions for all assessments are available on Coursera, so
you don't need to take detailed notes while you watch.
Instead, this videos will serve to orient you, so
you understand why you're doing, what you're doing.
As you progress through specialization.
First, your main task and
the principle output of this specialization is a briefing paper.
That addresses the significant problem facing in organization of your choice.
All other assessment and course content more generally supports that activity.
Let's begin by looking at the briefing paper assignment.
Your briefing paper summarizes the mission, status and
trajectory of an organization in a changing world.
Identifying a significant problem.
It then proposes a single innovation to address that problem.
Exploiting opportunities and avoiding threats.
This proposal must be specific and precise.
Aimed at decision makers in the organization who can implement it.
Although it should also be understandable to an informed outsider,
a briefing paper should inform and persuade.
Briefing papers often have two main parts.
The first, informs the audience by describing an organization and
a problem it faces.
While the second, persuasively recommends a solution.
To help guide you, we've broken your briefing paper down further.
Into six sections.
We will provide more information about each of those sections later, but
a brief summary will be useful now.
First, you will start with a brief statement of the chosen organization's
purpose or mission.
Second, you will define the single biggest problem or
threat your organization faces across the next few decade.
A time horizon of about 10 to 50 years.
Here, you will summarize the problem and its significance, so
that the leadership of the organization can understand it.
Third, you will build on section two by exploring the nature of this problem and
its potential impact on your organization.
In light of concepts, ideas, or approaches from at least three disciplines.
This section is built around an exploration of relevant sources.
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Fourth, you will predict trends under your organization's current course of action.
This section addresses the intersection of your organization with the problem you
have identified.
It extrapolates the current trajectory over the next 10 to 50 years
if no major course corrections are undertaken.
It represents a status quo scenario.
Fifth, you will articulate a single most important innovation
that your organization could implement to address the problem.
This section should include the convincing scenario of what the future would look
like for your organization, if your innovation were implemented.
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Finally, you will write an executive summary.
This summary will eventually go at the beginning of your briefing paper, but
you should write that last.
Decision-makers are busy, so briefing papers must be to succint.
A maximum length of 2000 words will be forced for the entire paper.
Length guidelines or each section are provided in the written instructions.
The briefing paper will be marked using Coursera's peer review function.
It is important to keep this final goal in mind, but don't panic.
The entire specialization guides you through the process of conceptualizing and
writing this paper.
You will do so bit by bit.
All the writing you do during every module,
will advance you towards your goal.
Now, is a good time to summarize what the assessment in each module will look like.
As you complete each module,
you'll take a short quiz to ensure that you grasp the content.
Next, you will complete a short informal writing assignment.
These assignments vary from one course to another but
they're consistent within each course.
All short writing assignments contribute toward a final course assignment.
These final assignments in turn,
constitutes drafts of various sections of your briefing paper.
Specifically, the final assignment for course one,
analyzing complexity, is a well defined problem.
For course two, Evaluating Problems,
it is a summary of key sources for understanding that problem.
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For course three, Creating Innovation, it is a summary of your innovation and and
its potential impact on your organization.
Final assignments will be marked using Coursera's Peer Review Function.
As you can see,
each of these course outputs contributes directly to your briefing paper.
FInally, we will sometimes ask you to write short reflective pieces about
the work you're doing.
These reflections are designed to help you review your progress and adjust as needed.
Be sure to keep a copy of all the work you do for every module.
You will need it again as you move through the specialization and
it cannot be retrieved from Coursera.
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David BakerAssociate Lecturer
David ChristianProfessor
Shawn RossAssociate Professor
