This workshop took place in a formal classroom setting in collaboration with Syracuse University’s DES 324 ‘Creative Problem Solving’ taught by Dr. Jody Nyboer.
Wicked Problems are defined by the Interaction Design Foundation as “problems with many interdependent factors making them seem impossible to solve.” These problems could be as specific as a particularly hostile stretch of highway to as general as fast fashion and over consumption. Wicked Problems are issues that have a seemingly endless amount of interconnected stakeholders. Philosophies such as Design Thinking were developed in order to think critically about these problems and possible interventions.
Prior to this workshop, students of DES 324 had been working on a project about tackling wicked problems. ‘Wicked Problem Solving’ was more of an observational opportunity than an actual workshop. This collaboration with DES 324 was simply to see and understand what collaboration looks like in a formal classroom setting.
Students were already put into groups for this project, and had already decided on which issues they were interested in pursuing.
For this workshop the Learn and Meet portions were flipped. This was due to the necessity of introducing the research to a group of students who were not familiar.
Learn: Brief presentation explaining Mikebrain.xyz and the importance of collaboration and community.
Meet: Each group was given an opportunity to share with the class the wicked problem they’re hoping to tackle and some of the thoughts they have had while working through the problem.
Share and Exchange: There were 9 groups in the class with sizes varying from 2 students up to 6. Each participant in each group was given a document to write down their brainstorming. This document was collected. The groups were also encouraged to discuss their interventions with other groups and gain new perspectives.
Conclusions: This workshop highlighted how the informal aspects of mikebrain.xyz workshops and installations were what helped make them so unique. Working with a group that had a graded assignment in their heads generated a very different atmosphere compared with the informal workshops.
Wicked Problems are defined by the Interaction Design Foundation as “problems with many interdependent factors making them seem impossible to solve.” These problems could be as specific as a particularly hostile stretch of highway to as general as fast fashion and over consumption. Wicked Problems are issues that have a seemingly endless amount of interconnected stakeholders. Philosophies such as Design Thinking were developed in order to think critically about these problems and possible interventions.
Prior to this workshop, students of DES 324 had been working on a project about tackling wicked problems. ‘Wicked Problem Solving’ was more of an observational opportunity than an actual workshop. This collaboration with DES 324 was simply to see and understand what collaboration looks like in a formal classroom setting.
Students were already put into groups for this project, and had already decided on which issues they were interested in pursuing.
For this workshop the Learn and Meet portions were flipped. This was due to the necessity of introducing the research to a group of students who were not familiar.
Learn: Brief presentation explaining Mikebrain.xyz and the importance of collaboration and community.
Meet: Each group was given an opportunity to share with the class the wicked problem they’re hoping to tackle and some of the thoughts they have had while working through the problem.
Examples of Group Topics:
These documents were developed for the assignment outside of the workshop.
These documents were developed for the assignment outside of the workshop.
Share and Exchange: There were 9 groups in the class with sizes varying from 2 students up to 6. Each participant in each group was given a document to write down their brainstorming. This document was collected. The groups were also encouraged to discuss their interventions with other groups and gain new perspectives.
Examples of documents from S&E:
Conclusions: This workshop highlighted how the informal aspects of mikebrain.xyz workshops and installations were what helped make them so unique. Working with a group that had a graded assignment in their heads generated a very different atmosphere compared with the informal workshops.