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Herdsa.2013.wicked issues.bubbles

The document discusses a presentation on wicked issues in higher education research and institutional innovation, focusing on the use of emic research methods. It highlights the strengths and challenges of emic research, particularly in relation to managing institutional change through distributed leadership in blending learning. The presentation emphasizes the importance of critically engaging with wicked problems in the higher education sector while providing key insights and findings from eight case studies.

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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 http://www.flickr.com/photos/shellysblogger/ 1
About the presenters (click images to find out more) Merilyn Childs Mark Brown 2
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/ 3
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 http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/4193370268/sizes/z/in/set-72157616350171741/ 4
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 5
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 6
Our wicked problem in the context of the HE Sector’s wicked problem • http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/ 7
http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/8603050786/sizes/z/in/photostream/ Dimensions of wickidity#1: 3 emic research strengths 8 1. Insider knowled 2. Usefulness 3. Relationships & partnerships
http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/8603052978/sizes/z/in/photostream/ Dimensions of wickidity#2: 3 emic research challenges 9 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. http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/7684774224/sizes/z/in/photostream/ 10 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. http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/8601954407/sizes/z/in/photostream/ 11 • We will find the droids that we are looking for! • We will confirm previou studies • We will use methods acceptable to the fundin 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. http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/7691168406/sizes/z/in/photostream12
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 13 http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalexanderson/8578431148/sizes/z/in/photostream/
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. 14
Thanks to Stefan and Kristina Alexanderson for making their wonderful images via Flickr available using Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic http://www.flickr.com/photos/st3f4n/7698537630/ 15