This blog is all about higher education for wicked problems. The idea of wicked problems was introduced by Rittel and Webber, initially as a way of talking about social policy problems. Since then, their framework has been developed and applied to a wide range of complex challenges. A simple way to think about a wicked problem is that it has three main characteristics:
- complexity of elements and interdependencies
- uncertainty in relation to risk and consequences
- divergence in viewpoints and values
I’m Vel McCune a Professor in the Institute for Academic Development at the University of Edinburgh. All of the views expressed here are my own 🙂 I’ve been thinking, researching and teaching about higher education for wicked problems for some time now. Here are my most recent publications and also a full publication list.
By Leaves We Live: Entanglements with the 30 × 30 Biodiversity Challenge on Veterinary Campuses.
Academic identities and teaching wicked problems: How to ‘shoot a fog’ in a complex landscape.
Teaching wicked problems in higher education: Ways of thinking and practicing.
Two relevant projects I’ve been involved in are the Wicked Problems Project and the Academic Hospitality in Interdisciplinary Education Project.
The image on the front page is by Bhuwan Bansal on Unsplash, edited by Vel McCune.
wickededucation.blog 