Towards innovation in complex problem solving research: an introduction to the special issue Deniz Eseryel • Dirk Ifenthaler • Xun Ge Published online: 10 May 2013 Ó Association for Educational Communications and Technology 2013 Every day is problem solving With deepest respect and honor, this special issue titled Towards Innovation in Complex Problem Solving Research is a tribute to Professor David H. Jonassen, one of the greatest, as a scholar in complex and ill-structured problem solving, and a leader in the field of instructional design. Professor Jonassen has been an inspiration to many who pursue everyday problem solving and research everyday problem solving. In his legacy, Professor Jonassen left us with his last breathed scholarly work co-authored with Andrew Tawfik, titled The Effects of Successful versus Failure-based Cases on Argumentation while Solving Decision-making Problems, which is included in this special issue. Evidently, Professor Jonassen’s spirit continues to live on and shine through this collection of scholarly works. Complex problem solving Complex problem-solving abilities are particularly essential in the knowledge age and at the top of the list of job requirements for the twenty-first century work. Inevitably, the field of instructional design and technology has become increasingly conscious of the demands posed by society, business, and industry to address higher-order complex problem-solving skill development. A problem is complex due to the large number of highly inter-connected variables affecting the problem state. This means that changes in one variable affect the status of D. Eseryel (&) Á X. Ge University of Oklahoma, 820 Van Vleet Oval, Rm 321, Norman, OK 73019-2041, USA e-mail: eseryel@ou.edu X. Ge e-mail: xge@ou.edu D. Ifenthaler Open Universities Australia, Level 1, 473 Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000, Australia e-mail: dirk@ifenthaler.info 123 Education Tech Research Dev (2013) 61:359–363 DOI 10.1007/s11423-013-9299-0