{"172331":{"#nid":"172331","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Public Policy Course Embraces Problem Solving","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDestiny Cobb stepped outside of her comfort zone when she enrolled in a philosophy and public policy class on the topic of neuroethics \u2014 and she couldn\u2019t be happier that she did. \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTypically, I\u2018ve avoided these types of topics, because there\u2019s always a gray area,\u201d said Cobb, a second-year biomedical engineering major. \u201cI took this class because I am interested in neuroscience. While I think lectures and labs are necessary to establish a broad knowledge base, it\u2019s been nice to go from a class of 100, where I am passively taking in information, to an active group discussion among six or seven people.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe class Cobb is talking about is Biotechnology Law, Policy and Ethics and is taught by Roberta Berry, an associate professor in the School of Public Policy. Berry first learned about the problem-based learning (PBL) approach that she uses in the course from Wendy Newstetter, director of educational research and innovation for the College of Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBefore Berry met Newstetter, she\u2019d been thinking a lot about what she calls \u201cfractious problems\u201d in bioscience and biotechnology policy \u2014 such as issues related to embryonic stem cell research and end-of-life\u0026nbsp;technologies.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBerry observed five things that seemed to be common to these types of problems that explained why they generated such unproductive debates: they are novel, complex, ethically fraught, public and divisive.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn her 2007 book, \u201cThe Ethics of Genetic Engineering,\u201d Berry used these five features to outline a navigational approach to\u0026nbsp;policymaking.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhat was so striking to me about the work that Wendy and others were doing in PBL \u2014 bringing together teams of learners to resolve complex problems that crossed disciplinary boundaries \u2014 was the strong family resemblance to the decision-making processes in law and ethics that I had drawn from in developing my proposed navigational approach to policymaking for fractious problems,\u201d she said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2009, the two began working together on a three-year National Science Foundation grant project related to PBL, and one component of the project was to formalize the navigational approach so that it could be used in learning environments.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe result is \u201cSix Skills for Addressing the Characteristics of Fractious Problems\u201d that Berry now uses in the course that Cobb enjoyed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn this semester\u2019s course, Berry is teaching 19 students who are divided into four teams for the first problem and three teams for the second.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAbout 11 weeks of the course are devoted to allowing teams to work on the problems, while the other four are used for class meetings to teach the students about subject matter related to the problems.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis semester\u2019s problems included one examining issues surrounding memory-dampening drugs and post-traumatic stress disorder in U.S. military service members. The other focused on using neuroimaging technology to identify students who are at risk for committing acts of violence.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe most challenging part of the problems we discuss is their complexity, as they span a range of fields,\u201d said Cobb, who wrote about her experience in the class this semester for \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/d28gx24\u0022\u003ECharged Magazine\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cFor each issue, we have to look at everything: policy, ethics and technology. My group has found it helpful to split up the knowledge-building portion of the problem and share our research during our group sessions. When it\u2019s time to tackle the problem and come to a consensus, we use Dr. Berry\u2019s skills for addressing fractious problems.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis semester, Berry worked with three graduate students who served as co-designers of the course, as well as team facilitators. Ruchir Karmali, a master\u2019s student in public policy, and Sharon Norman and Jason Wang, both PhD students in bioengineering, are now working with Berry to design a spring 2013 course that will use PBL but will be taught to a large class of 180 undergraduate students.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPBL offers the opportunity to acknowledge the full dimensions of the complex problems that Georgia Tech students from all disciplines will encounter in their professional lives, and it prepares our students to be leaders in addressing them,\u201d she added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information, email \u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:roberta.berry@pubpolicy.gatech.edu\u0022\u003ERoberta Berry\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EDestiny Cobb stepped outside of her comfort zone when she enrolled in a philosophy and public policy class on the topic of neuroethics \u2014 and she couldn\u2019t be happier that she did.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Destiny Cobb stepped outside of her comfort zone when she enrolled in a philosophy and public policy class on the topic of neuroethics \u2014 and she couldn\u2019t be happier that she did."}],"uid":"27445","created_gmt":"2012-11-20 12:50:02","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:14","author":"Amelia Pavlik","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-11-26T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-11-26T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1259","name":"Whistle"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"50981","name":"Biotechnology Law"},{"id":"50991","name":"Policy and Ethics"},{"id":"50061","name":"problem-based learning"},{"id":"1284","name":"Roberta Berry"},{"id":"167078","name":"School of Public Policy"},{"id":"51001","name":"Wendy Newstetter"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amelia.pavlik@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EAmelia Pavlik\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EInstitute Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-4142\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}