The British Association for International & Comparative Education (BAICE) Early Career conference took place in an online capacity on Zoom in April 2022 over two days. The theme of the conference was explored potential and challenges in education in today’s world (BAICE, 2022). The organisation is affiliated to the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES) (BAICE, 2022).
“(BAICE) is an association which promotes research, teaching, policy and development in all aspects of international and comparative education. BAICE is the British affiliate of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES)”
The British Association for International & Comparative Education (BAICE) (2022)
What is a wicked problem?
“A wicked problem can be defined “…as a complex issue that defies complete definition, for which there is no final solution, since any resolution generates further issues, and where solutions are not true or false or good or bad, but the best that can be done at the time”
(Rittel & Webber, 1973 in Brown, Harris & Russell, 2010: p4).

It could be argued that the transnational online pivot is an example of a wicked problem. It has been acknowledged that the pivot “…exposed international students to many new study options. These include:
- flexible online access to classes and learning materials from anywhere
- multi-modality in creating diverse content and in student assignments
- multiple platforms and communication channels for diversified feedback and dialogue
- captions for recorded videos through tech platforms such as Zoom” (Adachi & Tran, 2022).
Furthermore, another example of a wicked problem could be student engagement. As educators, we are always trying to create a range of ways to ensure all students are engagement during learning sessions. However, every solution has a series of challenges to overcome. One solution can lead to further problems and questions. Theoretically, the wicked problem idea provides a way to think about complexity in a simple way.

A recent blog post in the Association for Learning Technologists OER Guest Post explored how international postgraduate students’ make connections using “Zoom University” (Lei, 2022). It is useful to ask what wicked problems are other institutions facing for example working across time zones (Lei, 2022). With regard to the technology enhanced transnational learning (TETL) From this, we are in a position to ask how are other institutions solving wicked problems?
“In addition, although universities were making a huge effort of making online communities through Teams, Moodle and other platforms, it is hard to make a real in-depth and ongoing conversation, the groups were always very quiet”
(lei, 2022)

Let’s consider the future, who decides what the problems are and who decides on the solutions? Problems and solutions don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Are students part of this process?
A helpful bog post was in the Post Pandemic University blog by Mittelmeier, Lomer, Lim, Cockayne, & Ploner in 2022 that asks “How can practices with International Students be made more ethical?”. Perhaps we need to recognise that “All international students need more help to adjust to university” (Moores, 2022).Prioritising an ethical approach is critical for example to overcome the tendency towards deficit narratives of international students (Mittelmeier, Lomer, Lim, Cockayne, & Ploner, 2022). The future publication entitled Research with International Students: Critical Conceptual and Methodological Considerations will be important in virtue of the fact that there is “…limited conceptual and methodological guidance specifically for researchers (rather than teachers) who conduct their work with and about international students” (Castiello, 2022). The Critical Internationalization Studies Network could play a fundamental role in this inquiry. Does higher education have a “Language Problem?”.
“To better understand the Language Problem, we must first understand how today’s university activity is increasingly tied to a worldwide knowledge economy in a global marketplace which is dependent, in large part, on proficiency in English”
(Bhatt, Badwan & Madiba, 2022: p425)
Empathy can form a big part of this ethical picture. In future, I hope to explore possible articulations of what empathy looks like in technology-enhanced contexts as part if a project led by by Dr. Lee Campbell from the University of the Arts London (UAL) in April 2022. Furthermore, an open source tool called Twine will be used to explore a techno-auto-ethnographic story which will be presented at the Open Education Resources (OER) Conference 2022, Association for Learning Technology (ALT) in April 2022. Making online tools as open as possible is a radical example and a wicked solution. “International students are back on campus, but does that spell the end of digital learning?…” (Adachi & Tran, 2022)
Perhaps the key to engaing learners is to enocurage to develop an “online learner identity” (Garip, 2020).
“A sense of identity allows you to establish yourself as an online learner when approaching prioritisation of tasks and managing time with work and family commitments”
(garip, 2020)
Perhaps a wicked solution could be to explore transnational research, for example by exploring the new book Introduction to Quantitative Analysis for International Educators (Whatley, 2022). Do staff and student prefer face-to-face teaching and learning? Is this a wicked question?
“Students Often Prefer In-Person Classes . . . Until They Don’t”
(Samson, 2022).
Wicked problems can be a useful way to understand and make sense of the complexity what is happening to us and to frame the range of uncertainties and changes to learning identities and relationships. It is useful method to avoid over-problematising. It requires us to be radically vulnerable, open and collaborative in novel and creative and interdisciplinary ways. Here’s to a wicked and interesting future!
Bibliography
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