Sustainable Development of Collaborative Problem Solving Competency for Technical Students through Experiential Learning (A Case Study in Planning Skills Subject at Ho Chi Minh city University of Technology and Education)

Abstract

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) competency is one of the key competencies in the 21st century [1]. However, this competency and other core ones achieved by students in higher education do not match with the requirements of labor market [2]. Therefore, CPS and other competencies of students should be sustainably developed to support them to meet needs of workplaces in the near future. This research focuses on how CSP competency of technical students could be sustainably developed by applying experiential learning (EL) during the teaching-learning process. Documentary research was applied to construct the literature review of CPS competency and EL. Experimental research (no control group) judged by qualitative (observation and interview) and quantitative (questionnaire) methods were used to assess the development of CPS competency of students at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education (HCMUTE). Initial results revealed that there were significant differences between Mean of students’ CPS competency before and after conducting the experiment. Some minor suggestions of organizing experiential learning activities were also given to enhance the sustainable development of students’ CPS competency.