Item: FED-UP WITH FEEDBACK: WHY FEED-FORWARD MATTERS MORE IN WICKED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
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Title: FED-UP WITH FEEDBACK: WHY FEED-FORWARD MATTERS MORE IN WICKED LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
Proceedings: Proceedings, International Snow Science Workshop, Whistler, BC, Canada, 2026
Authors:
- Tim Dassler [ CARE Center for Avalanche Research and Education, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway ] [ Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway ]
- Tove Dahl [ CARE Center for Avalanche Research and Education, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway ] [ Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway ]
Date: 2026-09-28
Abstract: The concept of the "wicked learning environment" has gained significant traction in avalanche education, where the spatial variability of the snowpack, the rarity of fatal feedback, and the potential for misleading positive outcomes are cited as features that make the winter backcountry uniquely difficult for learning. This paper argues that while avalanche terrain undeniably sits at an extreme position on the wickedness spectrum, the underlying pedagogical problem it presents is not unique to the mountain environment. Drawing on educational psychology, situated learning theory, cognitive apprenticeship, and reflective practice, we argue that raw feedback, whether from a graded essay or an untracked snowfield, never guarantees learning on its own. Learning benefits from interpretive mediation: a teacher, guide, or mentor who can supply the framing, the vocabulary, and the debriefing structure that transforms experience into competence. Empirical avalanche education research suggests that current course structures, designed primarily for information transfer, may produce overconfidence without commensurate skill development, consistent with the outcome the cognitive apprenticeship literature predicts when guided reflection is absent. The implication is not merely diagnostic but actionable: the challenge of avalanche education is best understood not as a problem of environmental wickedness but as a problem of insufficient learning architecture and mentorship.
Object ID: ISSW2026_P1.7.pdf
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15788/1790098887
Language of Article: English
Presenter(s): Tim Dassler
Keywords: wicked learning environment, avalanche education, mentorship, cognitive apprenticeship, reflective practice, expertise development
Page Number(s): 99 - 105
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