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University Education in a Time of Perpetually Wicked Problems

Received: 8 February 2024     Accepted: 27 February 2024     Published: 13 March 2024
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Abstract

Wicked problems differ from tame ones in important ways that define significant challenges in resolving them. Among these differences are their lack of a prescriptive definition, their absence of a clear stopping rule, their emphasis on better or worse outcomes rather than right or wrong solutions, their uniqueness, and their demand that resolutions not make the problem worse. University graduates will take on central roles and leadership responsibilities for addressing the world’s wicked problems such as those identified as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Those roles and responsibilities require advanced critical, systems, design, and ethical thinking skills and not just the disciplinary tactics and tame problem-solving abilities that largely comprise a university educational experience. This paper challenges the ways in which universities fail to equip their graduates with sufficient understanding of wicked problems and the approaches that offer the best chance to address them. The increasingly-granular structure of the academic year, the curricular emphasis on disciplinary rather than inter- or multi-disciplinary learning experiences, the lack of collaborative opportunities with those of other theoretical and practical perspectives, and the lack of intentional learning for critical, design, systems, and ethical thinking are discussed.

Published in Education Journal (Volume 13, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11
Page(s) 46-52
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Wicked Problems, University, Pedagogy, Curriculum

References
[1] Bostwick, V., Fischer, S., & Lang, M. (2022). Semesters or quarters? The effect of the academic calendar on postsecondary student outcomes. American Economic Journal: Policy! 4(1), 40-80. https://orcid.org/10.1257/pol.20190589
[2] Cather, W. (1994). O Pioneers! New York: Penguin Classics. ISBN 9780451532121
[3] Crowley, C. & Head, B. W. (2017). The enduring challenge of ‘wicked problems’: revisiting Rittel and Webber. Policy Sciences 50: 539–547. https://orcid.org/10.1007/s11077-017-9302-4
[4] Fuessel, A. (2020). Becoming a changemaker institution: A guidebook for how your campus can increase its relevance and resilience and lead in a rapidly changing world. https://ashokau.org/changemaker-campus-overview
[5] Gladwell, Malcolm (2008). Outliers. Little, Brown and Company. pp. VII–IX ISBN 978-0-316-01792-3
[6] Lauzon, A. (2015). The Civic University, the Engaged Scholar: Implications for Scholarly Work. In Handbook of Research on Scholarly Publishing and Research Methods, pp 105-124. ISBN13: 9781466674097. https://orcid.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7409-7.ch006
[7] Maslow, A. H. (1970). Motivation and personality. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0060442417
[8] Murthi, M. & Bassett, R. M. (2022). Higher education: Understanding demand and redefining values. World Bank Blogs, November 15 2022. https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/higher-education-understanding-demand-and-redefining-values
[9] Rittel, H. & Webber, M. (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences 4, 155-169. https://orcid.org/10.1007/BF01405730
[10] Tonnies, T., Brinks, R., Isom, S., Divers, J., Mayer-Davis, E., Lawrence, J., Pihoker, C., Dolan, L., Liese, A., Saydah, S., D’Agostino, R., Hoyer, A, & Imperatore, G. (2023). Projections of Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Burden in the U. S. Population Aged <20 Years Through 2060: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Diabetes Care 46(2): 313–320. https://orcid.org/10.2337/dc22-0945
[11] Trow. M. 1972. The expansion and transformation of higher education International Review of Education / Internationale Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft / Revue Internationale de l'Education, Vol. 18, No. 1, The Notion of Modern Educational Sociology / Der Begriff der Modernen Erziehungssoziologie / La notion contemporaine de sociologie de l'education, pp. 61-84. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3443177
[12] Vanderkamp, J. (1984). University enrolment in Canada 1951-83 and beyond. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Vol. XIV-2, 49-62. https://orcid.org/10.47678/cjhe.v14i2.182933
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  • APA Style

    Corlett, J. (2024). University Education in a Time of Perpetually Wicked Problems. Education Journal, 13(2), 46-52. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11

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    Corlett, J. University Education in a Time of Perpetually Wicked Problems. Educ. J. 2024, 13(2), 46-52. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11

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    AMA Style

    Corlett J. University Education in a Time of Perpetually Wicked Problems. Educ J. 2024;13(2):46-52. doi: 10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11,
      author = {John Corlett},
      title = {University Education in a Time of Perpetually Wicked Problems},
      journal = {Education Journal},
      volume = {13},
      number = {2},
      pages = {46-52},
      doi = {10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.edu.20241302.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.edu.20241302.11},
      abstract = {Wicked problems differ from tame ones in important ways that define significant challenges in resolving them. Among these differences are their lack of a prescriptive definition, their absence of a clear stopping rule, their emphasis on better or worse outcomes rather than right or wrong solutions, their uniqueness, and their demand that resolutions not make the problem worse. University graduates will take on central roles and leadership responsibilities for addressing the world’s wicked problems such as those identified as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Those roles and responsibilities require advanced critical, systems, design, and ethical thinking skills and not just the disciplinary tactics and tame problem-solving abilities that largely comprise a university educational experience. This paper challenges the ways in which universities fail to equip their graduates with sufficient understanding of wicked problems and the approaches that offer the best chance to address them. The increasingly-granular structure of the academic year, the curricular emphasis on disciplinary rather than inter- or multi-disciplinary learning experiences, the lack of collaborative opportunities with those of other theoretical and practical perspectives, and the lack of intentional learning for critical, design, systems, and ethical thinking are discussed.
    },
     year = {2024}
    }
    

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    AB  - Wicked problems differ from tame ones in important ways that define significant challenges in resolving them. Among these differences are their lack of a prescriptive definition, their absence of a clear stopping rule, their emphasis on better or worse outcomes rather than right or wrong solutions, their uniqueness, and their demand that resolutions not make the problem worse. University graduates will take on central roles and leadership responsibilities for addressing the world’s wicked problems such as those identified as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Those roles and responsibilities require advanced critical, systems, design, and ethical thinking skills and not just the disciplinary tactics and tame problem-solving abilities that largely comprise a university educational experience. This paper challenges the ways in which universities fail to equip their graduates with sufficient understanding of wicked problems and the approaches that offer the best chance to address them. The increasingly-granular structure of the academic year, the curricular emphasis on disciplinary rather than inter- or multi-disciplinary learning experiences, the lack of collaborative opportunities with those of other theoretical and practical perspectives, and the lack of intentional learning for critical, design, systems, and ethical thinking are discussed.
    
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Author Information
  • Faculty of Health and Community Studies, MacEwan University, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

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