One or two members of our group who are more proficient in software applications will be charged with helping the others with questions about how to set up models and run them. If this is not enough, we will consult with the company by phone and if need be we'll pay to have a consultant come and help you with the software. The software Stella is just the tool we use to build the model. There's much more to learn about models and how to use them. By the way, you are not graded on how well you learned the software but on having completed a useful model through its use.
Systems modeling is a very useful tool for intellectuals.
It allows people who work with ideas to build an exacting map of their own thinking regarding a particular topic. When the topic is data-driven the model becomes interactive and may even become prescriptive. As an economist I was both a builder of models and very leery of them. I would never rely on a model I did not build myself and you'll see why in this course. To prepare a heuristic model containing every element deemed pertinent to the examination of a given research idea, question, thesis or hypotheses advanced by the student from the student's current knowledge.