Cathie LeBlanc Plymouth State University Plymouth, NH Wicked Problems in Popular Culture An Open Pedagogy Experiment in Engagement Cathie LeBlanc Plymouth State University Plymouth, NH

Agenda First Year Seminar Goal: ENGAGEMENT Wicked problem focused Project based learning (using design thinking) Meaningful work that extends beyond the walls of the classroom (open pedagogy) Goal: ENGAGEMENT Revised Goal: STUDENT AGENCY (“own” their education)

Wicked Problems “A wicked problem is a social or cultural problem that is difficult or impossible to solve for as many as four reasons: incomplete or contradictory knowledge, the number of people and opinions involved, the large economic burden, and the interconnected nature of these problems with other problems.” 1 1. https://www.wickedproblems.com/1_wicked_problems.php

Projects and Design Thinking Can’t solve wicked problems in a FYS Can make a difference in some way Do something! (Bias Toward Action) Non-linear design thinking process 2 2. https://dschool-old.stanford.edu/groups/k12/

Meaningful Work and Open Pedagogy Much work in a traditional class is “disposable” “the disposable assignment where students’ work (and feedback from the instructor) often end up in the class recycling bin at the end of the semester.” 3 Meaningful work lives beyond classroom walls in impact, time, or both Opens the classroom in some way Called “renewable” by the open community Open Pedagogy: involve students in decision-making about work they will do 3. DeRosa and Robison, “From OER to Open Pedagogy: Harnessing the Power of Open,” in Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science, Edited by Rajiv S. Jhangiani and Robert Biswas-Diener, Ubiquity Press, 2017. https://www.ubiquitypress.com/site/books/10.5334/bbc/read/#epubcfi(/6/2[id001]!/4/1:0)

My First Year Seminar Wicked Problem: Fake News My vision Engage in some activities, become curious about sub-problems, become excited about learning more and about trying to do something, students drive the rest of the course Focus on design thinking strategies of “Fail early, fail often” and “bias toward action” Big unknown: How much scaffolding do students need in order to take control of the course?

My First Year Seminar What I would provide Students would determine Schedule for first 3 weeks of 16 week class Extensive list of fake news resources (articles, books, videos, games, web sites, infographics) Final activity Students would determine Attendance policy Items to be graded on (including any projects) Grading scheme Schedule of classes including materials to engage with outside of class

My First Year Seminar What happened Problems with daily homework Attendance policy Options they chose were very traditional even though I suggested some non-traditional policies (even at end of semester) Graded items Daily homework – one third Projects – two thirds Problems with daily homework Where it came from

Projects Problems with projects First Project: Flyers (everyone) or Survey (one big group) Second Project: Open Educational Resource (OER) on fake news (https://fakenews.pressbooks.com/) Entries for the Digipo project (https://digipo.io/) Open letter to Mark Zuckerburg Expressed concern about the ‘I’ button (an attempt to deal with fake news on Facebook) Sent to a list of newspaper outlets Fake news lesson for high school teachers to use with students Worked with PSU faculty member who trains tech integrators Sent to their high school teachers Problems with projects Using what they learned in first project Only did 2 projects (fail early, fail often?) Coming up with ideas

Observations Students have a traditional view of education Had trouble really grasping what we were trying to do When they got it, excitement! Made traditional choices (even at end of class) Had difficulty making decisions (as a group and individually) Students don’t know what they don’t know Thought they knew everything about fake news Pop culture topics: good because students already know something about them but challenging because students think they already know everything there is to know about them Never assigned themselves “research” Students don’t see themselves as agents They don’t know how to learn from failure Had trouble thinking of their next projects

Conclusion https://cathieleblancblog.com/ cleblanc@plymouth.edu Challenges were worth it because it lays the groundwork Can we deliver on the promise? Meaningful projects will change your students’ learning and your teaching Example: Intro to Media and Cultural Studies https://mediastudies.pressbooks.com/ https://cathieleblancblog.com/ cleblanc@plymouth.edu