What is a wicked learning environment?

A wicked learning environment is contrasted with a kind learning environment and involves several challenging characteristics. In a wicked learning environment, information may be unclear or incomplete, the rules can change, and human behavior often plays a significant role. Goals might be undefined, feedback is likely to be delayed, incomplete, or inaccurate, and patterns may not repeat, making it hard to learn from past experiences. Work in the future might not resemble work in the past, adding to the complexity and unpredictability. An example provided is a physician inaccurately reinforced for his diagnostic practices, leading to harmful outcomes 1.

In essence, wicked learning environments are those where the reliability of feedback and the clarity of succeeding steps are compromised, often leaving individuals to deduce their own rules with potentially changing parameters, which increases the complexity of learning and applying new knowledge effectively.