Wicked problems, supply and demand, responsive pedagogy (w/technology)

Elizabeth Ellsworth, in her afterword: "The Wicked Problem of Pedagogy," deploys Horst W.J. Rittel's idea of "wicked problems" to describe the circumstances and situations of education

In short, wicked problems are ones that are always "ambiguous at best" (Marback 2009) That is, there's never a clear cut answer to the problem. To the same end, wicked problems are ones that are continuously changing over time. I think we'd all agree that this is a pretty apt characterization of pedagogy. No two classrooms are alike.

Marback (2009) takes up the idea of wicked designs in writing about visual rhetoric and digital composing. Marback argues, “document designing is wicked not only because the problem of document designing is not reducible to any single, all-encompassing design paradigm. It is especially wicked because composing in digital media, composing with print and image together, evokes problems of responsiveness that are interpretive as well as affective.” (pg. 401). Perhaps most important among Marback’s claims are that designers are constantly negotiating between their own impulses and the wishes of their clientele.

It's this final point that brings us back to pedagogy. In a way, teaching is analogous to the work of designers. Charged with a task, the teacher must develop an appropriate intervention. This task can be messy as the teacher negotiates their own dispositions with that of their students.

It's here, with this business/transactional model in mind, that I think about supply and demand. Teachers, in their own way, are supplying to the demand of students. But we're often too preoccupied with the supply side of the equation and neglect the demand - a no-no in the business world; we, the designers, are often caught up in what we think is best for those on the demand side without carefully observing and listening.

This could be particularly problematic when talking about technology in classrooms. If we allow our own pet projects, preoccupations and predispositions cloud our judgements, we end up doing our students (our clientele, our demand side) a disservice. We end up letting them down. Our interventions become less effective and our pedagogy spoiled.

That's why I think it's useful to think of each pedagogical moment - each lesson plan, intervention, assignment - as chance to become a designer with a client in mind. Though pedagogy is tough and murky, a careful analysis of our students can help us understand how to deploy technology effectively. Plus, communicative beings as we are, we're afforded the opportunity to engage in dialog and negotiation, which could could lead to interesting breakthroughs and successful new techniques.

If we take the time to look at the demand side of this equation, we'll find the best ways to respond and the best technologies to use. More than just tearing ourselves and our students away from "the static objects of the curriculum," we've got to, at many points, tear ourselves away from ourselves in a meta-reflective moment that may hurt and lead to more work than we'd expected (Ellsworth).

There's little doubt that education is, in fact, a wicked problem. But, at least in this case, wicked need not have negative connotations; instead, wicked can be viewed as a space and opportunity for innovation, new designs and the vanquishing of cookie-cutter-pedagogical-paradigms.

For more, check these out:

Marback, R. (2009). Embracing wicked problems: the turn to design in composition studies. College Composition and Communication, 61(2), 397-420.

Cazden, C., et al. (1996). A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures Harvard Educational Review 66 (1), 60-92.

George, D. (2002). From analysis to design: visual communication in the teaching of writing. College Composition and Communication, 54(1), 11-39.