I’ve been struggling lately with my problem finding strategy. Am I considering looking at ill vs. well conceived projects or is it ill vs. well received projects?

It seems my criteria for selecting whether or not a project is “good” would be the external evaluation that a judge/judges conduct(s). These scores identify whether or not the project results/presentation are of high or low quality and meet the expectation of excellence as compared to the other reviewed projects. Is this final analysis a reflection of a good or bad problem selection/problem finding experience?

I go back and forth between my acceptance of this, but I think ultimately, a poorly received project that is examined by MULTIPLE sources is poorly conceived. Realistically, a good problem that is executed poorly by a student can be the results of a lack of support, mentorship, individual expertise, materials/instrument availablity, resources, time, etc., which by my construct would be a demonstration of poor problem finding, because it resulted in a poor product.

On another note, I have been using the term “ill conceived” – a term that is laced througout the creativity literature. (e.g. in order to promote creativity, students are posed with ill-conceived problems). Perhaps I need to rethink the terminology -> poorly conceived/received?