Stylus Publishing (VA) Creating Wicked Students: Designing Courses for a Complex World

In Creating Wicked Students, Paul Hanstedt argues that courses can and should be designed to present students with what are known as “wicked problems” because the skills of dealing with such knotty problems are what will best prepare them for life after college. As the author puts it, “this book begins with the assumption that what we all want for our students is that they be capable of changing the world….When a student leaves college, we want them to enter the world not as drones participating mindlessly in activities to which they’ve been appointed, but as thinking, deliberative beings who add something to society.”There’s a lot of talk in education these days about “wicked problems”―problems that defy traditional expectations or knowledge, problems that evolve over time: Zika, ISIS, political discourse in the era of social media. To prepare students for such wicked problems, they need to have wicked competencies, the ability to respond easily and on the fly to complex challenges. Unfortunately, a traditional education that focuses on content and skills often fails to achieve this sense of wickedness. Students memorize for the test, prepare for the paper, practice the various algorithms over and over again―but when the parameters or dynamics of the test or the paper or the equation change, students are often at a loss for how to adjust.This is a course design book centered on the idea that the goal in the college classroom―in all classrooms, all the time―is to develop students who are not just loaded with content, but capable of using that content in thoughtful, deliberate ways to make the world a better place. Achieving this goal requires a top-to-bottom reconsideration of courses, including student learning goals, text selection and course structure, day-to-day pedagogies, and assignment and project design. Creating Wicked Students takes readers through each step of the process, providing multiple examples at each stage, while always encouraging instructors to consider concepts and exercises in light of their own courses and students. Review Creating Wicked Students places faculty members in the role of engaged learners where the skillful Dr. Paul Hanstedt guides them to construct curricula, courses and assignments that will prepare students to participate in the world in active and constructive ways. Faculty readers become Dr. Hanstedt's 'wicked students, ' equipped to transfer the skills practiced in this book to challenge their own students to do their best work.--Amy Sarch, Phd, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs "Shenandoah University" (3/23/2013 12:00:00 AM)CreatingWicked Students is one of the best books I have read in the last decade. I am amid-career teacher educator and scholar in an English department, and I wish Ihad read this book when I was a doctoral student. Nevertheless, thisoutstanding text has a lot to offer for all scholars trying to adapt tochanging technologies and learner populations, providing innovative andpractical strategies for course design. The main argument of the book centers around the idea that we livein a changing, unpredictable world where the demands and expectations placed ongraduates are constantly changing. According to Hanstedt, 'we need wickedgraduates with wicked competencies', which he argues are developed whenstudents are provided with opportunities to apply and use information instead ofjust receiving it. In a highly accessible and reader-friendly way, Hanstedtexplains how this is done. He innovativelyillustrates how to build such measurable, clear, and meaningful goals forlearning outcomes. In conclusion, [this]is amust-read for anyone teaching at the college level. The book providesincredibly useful information not only for current faculty but also fordoctoral students who will soon assume faculty positions. Paul Hanstedtprovides a compelling and thoughtful argument throughout the book that we, college instructors, need to recons