Case Report Volume 4 Issue 3 − June 2017 DOI:10.19080/PBSIJ.2017.04.555636 Psychol Behav Sci Int J Copyright © All rights are reserved by Chris Hakala Issue Mapping and Inquiry: Preparing College Students for the Challenges of the Changing Economic World Thomas Williams, Lennart Johns, Chris Hakala* Quinnipiac University, USA Submission: May 26, 2017; Published: June 14, 2017 *Corresponding author: Chris Hakala, Executive Director, University Teaching and Learning and Professor of Psychology, Quinnipiac University, USA, Tel: ; Email: Psychology and Behavioral Science International Journal ISSN 2474-7688 Psychol Behav Sci Int J 4(3): PBSIJ.MS.ID.555636 (2017) 001 Abstract Students need to be equipped to handle the complexity of the world they are preparing for. Leadership skills need to be developed and cultivated and students need to understand the changing demands of the current workforce. At Quinnipiac University, we have fashioned a curriculum designed to help prepare students by helping them learn to frame problems using the technique of issue mapping. In this article, we provide both a description of how to help students learn this technique and also some of the rationale for why we think this is as effective as it appears to be. College and University students are entering a world that is different than 25 years ago. The percentage of students who obtain a college/ university degree is increasing and the demands for the skills necessary for the workforce are changing. To address these issues, Quinnipiac University has undertaking a variety of steps in re-shaping its undergraduate curriculum to help prepare students for the challenges that they are going to face. This article offers educators a problem structuring model (PSM) designed to help students better understand and approach what Senge [1] calls dynamic complexity: “situations where cause and effect are subtle, and where the effects of interventions are not obvious.” By doing this, we believe we are offering students an opportunity to be at the forefront of the intellectual and practical world that they will be entering upon graduation. Our model is an adaptation of issue mapping, which uses observations and questions to promote deep inquiry into an issue, rather than relying on simply, underdeveloped ideas. Over the course of the last year, faculty at Quinnipiac University have found issue mapping to be useful in multiple contexts and offer an easily adaptable description. We have certainly made changes since introducing the concept to our faculty in 2015, but the primary motivation remains; we want students to self-discover that education is less about the certainty of knowing answers and more about acknowledging and responding to the unknown. The reasons for this pedagogical focus are many, but perhaps most significant is the need to train 21st century leaders with what Yawson (2015) describes as the “pattern recognition skills of an artist” as well as the intellectual flexibility, open-mindedness, and cognitive diversity necessary for handling the disequilibrium and turbulence of the post-industrial age. Yawson (2015) is correct; students are entering an environment characterized by advances in science and technology so rapid that they often create or render obsolete global companies (or entire industries) in short order. Three iconic examples are Kodak, Polaroid (both replaced by digital cameras) and the VCR (replaced by on-line streaming services and digital formats of films and television). In fact, 88 percent of the companies that dominated the Fortune 500 list in 1955 have folded, and a modern company’s lifespan is less than 15 years [2]. Now consider that these same advances mean that some of our textbooks and disciplinary content are rendered obsolete within a few years of a student’s graduation [3]. It is very likely that we are preparing students for industries and careers that do not yet exist and possible that we are preparing them with soon to be dated material. In this “Knowledge Economy”, intellectual capability has supplanted physical inputs and natural resources as the driver of progress Powell, Snellman [4]. While do not define intellectual capability, and are generally cautious about next steps, a 2013 report issued by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) might offer an insight into what leading business and non-profit leaders think. The AAC&U report argued that 93 percent of these executive believe that “a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly, and solve complex problems is more important than [a candidate’s] undergraduate major”[5]. The report makes it clear that graduates lacking these abilities will be at a distinct disadvantage [5]. While it is a bit premature to discard college majors and the work each discipline does to instill these habits, we believe that by providing students with the essential habits of inquiry, integration and communication, we are giving them a competitive advantage. Abbreviations: PSM: Problem Structuring Model; FYS: First Year Seminar; AACU: Association of American Colleges and Universities.