3.2.1.2 Session: Implementing Decentralized Coordination

Observing Real-World Examples (30 minutes)

Start the session with a brief recap of the conclusions from the previous session.
Present students with various scenarios or problems where centralized recordkeeping systems might pose challenges. These could be hypothetical situations ⇒ e.g. finance, supply chain, healthcare, voting systems…
Encourage students to empathize with the users and stakeholders in these scenarios by considering their pain points, needs, and desires.
Select one scenario and facilitate an ideation session where students brainstorm innovative solutions using decentralized coordination.
Emphasize that ideation in this context is about generating high-level concepts and ideas, rather than detailed solutions.
Encourage students to think beyond traditional approaches and to be creative in their suggestions.
Allocate a brief period (e.g. 10 minutes) for students to share their ideated concepts within small groups or pairs.
Promote discussion on these conceptualized solutions' feasibility, advantages, and potential challenges between students in groups.
Emphasize that the focus is on exploring possibilities and thinking divergently.

Visualizing Concepts (30 minutes)

Ask groups of students to select one idea per group and to visually represent their ideated concept using simple diagrams or sketches. These should be highlevel representations, not detailed prototypes.
Encourage them to include key components like network, communication, data records, and the benefits of decentralization in their visualizations.
Encourage students to focus visualizations of concepts on the alignment with decentralized coordination principles.
Instruct students to prepare a real-world scenario in which a user would use their proposed system. Promote the idea that for each process students define what is happening in the system.

Group Discussion and Validation (30 minutes)

Invite all groups to present their proposed solutions and concepts.
Initiate a group discussion to review the visualized concepts and ideas.
Encourage students to validate these concepts against the principles of decentralized coordination discussed earlier.
Ask open-ended questions like, "How do these concepts align with the advantages of decentralization?”, “Is the presented concept actually solving the problems highlighted at the beginning of the session?” or “What are the problems of the presented solutions?”.
Summarize the key insights and conclusions regarding decentralized coordination.
Encourage students to carry their understanding and ideation skills into the other modules as they delve into more advanced topics and conclude the session.