Signature Assignment: Defining Twenty First Century Problems

Carefully review your response to the “Problem Identification” assignment you submitted during Week 1. Next, provide a clear, useful definition of the problem you propose to address in the Signature Assignment. A high-quality definition of a problem identifies and carefully describes the most important contextual factors impacting attempts to fully understand and ultimately solve a problem. Examples of contextual factors include – but are not limited to — resource shortages, limited technological capacities, community or societal biases that undermine a search for solutions, and a lack of political will to move a problem higher on the agendas of policy making institutions.