A MODEL CURRICULUM FOR CREATIVITY INSTRUCTION INTEGRATED INTO THE BACHELOR PROGRAM OF ENGINEERING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The creativity and innovation are of great importance for the new generation engineers who practice their profession in a globalized work place, gravely challenged by questions on sustainability of engineering products and services. Correspondingly, the students of engineering need to develop skills of creative problem solving and innovation. The paper presents a sample curriculum for creativity instruction to the students of engineering. It is aimed at familiarizing students with the creative thinking patterns of great engineers and inventors and to allow them to engage with key principles of creativity and innovation. The theoretical session of the course is planned for the Freshman Level. It consists of five modules namely, 1) Creativity and Innovation in Engineering, 2) Theories of Creativity, 3) Methods of Creative Problem Solving, 4) Team Creativity, and 5) From Creativity to Innovation. The practical sessions of the course is organized distributed in time over the entire Bachelor program spanning over four years in the form of "Hour of Creativity". Through the practical sessions students are equipped to develop and implement creative concepts for their Senior Level Capstone Design Project (Final Project). Thus the creativity instruction is well-integrated to the Bachelor program of engineering professional development. The general effectiveness of the curriculum for creativity instruction is also discussed.