Does requiring students to produce alternative solutions promote a high quality of software design?

The development of object-oriented design expertise requires the acquisition of a number of skills, including skill to consider tradeoffs between alternative designs. Observational studies of student learners and data logs of their CASE tool usage revealed the absence of reflective consideration of alternative designs. An experiment is described in which students were required to produce more than one design alternative: the resulting designs were scored and found to be of better quality than single designs produced by a control group. Interview and verbal protocol results were used to identify reasons for this improvement. Directions for future research are described.