Wicked issues: higher education research, and institutional innovation for learning and teaching – a reflection on ‘emic research’. A showcase presentation at the HERDA 2013, The Place for Learning and Teaching, Research and Policy Strand, 1-4th July 2013, AUT University, Auckland,

New Zealand.

Merilyn Childs

Australian Digital Futures Institute, Toowoomba

Merilyn.Childs@usq.edu.au

Mark Brown

Massey University, National Centre for Teaching and

Learning

M.E.Brown@massey.ac.nz

Mike Keppell

Australian Digital Futures Institute, Toowoomba

Mike.Keppell@usq.edu.au

Natasha Hard

Australian Digital Futures Institute, Toowoomba

Natasha.Hard@usq.edu.au

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About the presenters (click images to find out more)

Merilyn Childs Mark Brown

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Preamble • ‘Wicked’ does not equal “bad”

… or “cool”

• The research that triggered this reflection lead to great outcomes! (see slide 13)

• The research partners continue to warmly collaborate

• Our aim in this presentation is to foster critical reflection about research method in HE

• No Ewok was harmed in the making of this presentation!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/8990170752/sizes/z/in/photostream/

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Some basics…

• The study : Was funded by DeHub

• The focus: Managing

institutional change through distributive leadership approaches: Engaging academics and teaching support staff in blended and flexible learning at two Universities

• The partners: Charles Sturt University (NSW Australia) & Massey University (NZ)

• The method: eight case studies were developed through emic research

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Emic: of, relating to, or involving analysis of cultural phenomena from the perspective of one who participates in the culture being studied Origin of EMIC phonemic First Known Use: 1954 Coined by Kenneth Lee Pike an American linguist and Anthropologist (June 9, 1912–December 31, 2000)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/emic

Some terms:

• Emic

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Wicked problems are characterised by the following: • The solution depends on how the

problem is framed and vice-versa • Stakeholders have different world

views and different frames for understanding the problem

• The constraints that the problem is subject to and the resources needed to solve it change over time

• The problem is never solved definitively

Origin: Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Webber formally described the concept of wicked problems in 1973

Some terms:

• Wicked problems

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Our wicked problem in the context of the HE Sector’s wicked problem

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/

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Dimensions of wickidity#1: 3 emic research strengths

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1. Insider knowledge 2. Usefulness 3. Relationships &

partnerships

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Dimensions of wickidity#2: 3 emic research challenges

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1. Vested interests, assumptions and questions

2. Is it research or PR? 3. What is appropriate

data?

Dimensions of wickidity #3: The mighty challenge of received, preferred wisdom.

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1. Received wisdom from previous

funded studies to be used in new grant applications

2. Critique is tricky 3. Vested interests shape what

can, and cannot, be asked 4. Weak analysis of

methodologies and methods, focus on findings

Dimensions of wickidity #4: confirmatory research.

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• We will find the droids

that we are looking for! • We will confirm previous

studies • We will use methods

acceptable to the funding body to produce knowledge

Final Reflection: * wicked problems live, OK? *when framing: consider & explore the wicked problems *report the wicked problems so the HE sector remains critically engaged when doing emic research.

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Outcomes of the study

• Childs, M., Brown, M., Keppell, M.K. Nicholas, Z., Hard, N., and Hunter, C. (in press). Managing institutional change through distributive leadership approaches: Engaging academics and teaching support staff in blended and flexible learning, DeHub: Queensland

• A comprehensive set of findings, 3 key lessons and 5 take home messages available as a short report

• Eight richly described case studies of institutional approaches to fostering learning leadership

• Publications, links and other resources

• A wikiResearcher

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Referenced during presentation

Childs, M., Brown, M., Keppell, M., Nicholson, Z., Hunter, C., and Hard, N. (in press) Managing institutional change through distributive leadership approaches: Engaging academics and teaching support staff in blended and flexible learning, DeHub: Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

Rittel, Horst W. J.; Melvin M. Webber (1973). "Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning". Policy Sciences 4: 155–169. Retrieved 28th June 2013.

Trowler, 2012. Wicked issues in situating theory in close-up research, Higher Education Research & Development, Special Issue: Questioning theory-method relations in Higher Education research, (31)3, 273-284. Doi: 10.1080/07294360.2011.631515

Whelton, M. & Ballard, G. (2002). Wicked problems in project definition,

Proceedings of the International Group for Lean Construction 10th Annual Conference, Brazil, August. http://mail.leanconstruction.org/pdf/WickedProblemsinProjectDefinitionIGLC10.pdf Retrieved 12h June 2013.

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Thanks to Stefan and Kristina Alexanderson for making their wonderful images via Flickr available using Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

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