Steel is an excellent material for bridges because of its strength and flexibility. Building a bridge requires enormous collaboration. This context provides the framework of the figurative bridges between theory and practice, IRW curriculum and a learning center, and professional development resulting in enormous faculty growth and documented student achievement.
Dual themes of community and collaboration are highlighted within professional collegial circles, classrooms, and extend out to our learning center. A slide show illustrates initial redesign efforts concomitant with a seismic shift of culture through purposeful change: an intentional move to a constructivist andragogy and inception of a learning center from the ground up. Our findings represent varied perspectives: a first-generation co-author of IRW redesign and PD model; a second-generation faculty member/mentor; coordinator of the learning center and fourth-generation participant/mentor; and lastly, student perspectives via video. An ample bibliography is provided, along with a guide to assess participant’s institutional considerations.
