Work in progress: A developmental approach to better problem solving: A model for bridging the Alverno Gap

Abstract

The department has adopted a holistic student-centered approach to support attributes of the Engineer of 2020. Among these include a culture that embraces intellectual diversity, better team skills, improved problem solving skills, and better complex thinking skills. Strategies incorporating classroom inversion, active learning, and team projects have demonstrated remarkable gains in retention, intellectual diversity, and general problem solving skills. While well above the national average, continued intellectual growth has stagnated over the past three years and remains below that desired both by industry and by the department. In an effort to improve complex thinking skills the department is adopting a developmental approach modeled by Alverno College which has demonstrated substantial growth in many of the attributes of the Engineer of 2020. As a first step towards reducing this "Alverno Gap", the department has adopted a developmental approach which is focused on improved problem solving skills within a team environment. In this paper, we describe the Alverno model, discuss an explicit developmental approach to team skills and processes, and provide some initial insight into using embedded assessment as an integral component of transformative curriculum.