Relevance
In designing interdisciplinary education, teachers often struggle with what pedagogical approach(es) and which design propositions to choose in order to guide students in attaining the learning outcomes as foreseen (Spelt et al., 2015). Interdisciplinary teaching can indeed take many different forms, based on the motivation that teachers have for their teaching (e.g. societal relevance), the level of integration they aim for and the disciplines that are combined (Klein, 1990).
Interdisciplinary education, whether a course or a whole bachelor or masters’ curriculum, when designed properly, is student-centered and guides students in their development towards becoming ‘integrators’, possessing both the cognitive and affective skills needed to integrate insights and perspectives in their future studies and jobs (Hoffmann et al., 2022). Learning outcomes associated with interdisciplinary learning environments are, however, diverse and can range from lower order thinking to higher order thinking levels. Moreover, learning outcomes can be both cognitive, affective and adaptive. Recently an overview of outcomes associated with the interdisciplinary learning process has been published (Oudenampsen et al., 2024), however in most cases interdisciplinary education is still designed based on its’ pedagogy instead of the possible learning outcomes (Oudenampsen, 2024).
As discussed in Spelt et al. (2015), it would therefore help teachers to focus on designing outcome-based interdisciplinary education, based on the principles of constructive alignment (Biggs & Tang). This is why we are developing a teacher tool at Utrecht University that can support teachers in designing constructively aligned interdisciplinary learning environments. The tool guides teachers in the designing process by providing information, good practice examples and tailored assignments in answering questions like: what are the intended learning goals I would like students to achieve? What assessment as well as teaching and learning elements are needed to guide students towards these intended goals? The tool brings together the existing (empirical) literature on interdisciplinary education, best practices in the educational field and the resulting design principles. It, therefore, provides the so-needed guide for teachers to develop interdisciplinary education.
Content tool
Teachers who are developing, or implementing a multi- inter or transdisciplinary course can use the tool to attain their goals. At the same time, educational professionals who want to evaluate and improve existing interdisciplinary education can use the tool to redesign their education and educational professionals who seek inspiration are also welcome to use the tool.
The tool consists of 5 ‘building blocks’/ steps for designing interdisciplinary learning environments:
1. Preparing for design: what is interdisciplinary education and why is it relevant?
2. Design step 1: Learning outcomes of interdisciplinary education
3. Design step 2: Learning activities in interdisciplinary education
4. Design step 3: Assessment forms for interdisciplinary education
5. Design step 4: Completing the interdisciplinary learning environment for my course
Teachers who are (re)designing a course go through the steps in a sequential manner, thereby being guided through the constructive alignment process, but it is possible to go back and forth in the tool in order to allow it to be an iterative process.
Furthermore, it is also possible to navigate to a desired section of the tool, for teachers with a specific question or specific interest concerning the design of interdisciplinary education.
For each building block, the following components are provided:
- Each building block starts with background information on this particular section, with the possibility to proceed to more extensive information with associated literature references. Special attention is paid to existing empirical research in the research field.
- Thereafter, the user is presented with questions regarding the design of interdisciplinary education concerning this building block, following from the background information provided earlier. This challenges the user to become aware of the design principles regarding their interdisciplinary education, to make choices regarding the design process, and to reflect on existing education.
- Furthermore, each building block contains examples of best practices that can inspire users for their own interdisciplinary education.
Workshop design
During the workshop, we will provide a presentation of 10-15 minutes to demonstrate the content of the educational design tool. In this introduction to the tool, we will provide information about the design-process of the tool, we explain the design choices that we made in the tool, and we will clarify the scientific basis of the tool. Furthermore, we will demonstrate the tool so that participants will be able to actively test the tool in the next part of the workshop.
Afterwards, participants will be able to actively test the tool (in pairs)(45 minutes). For that, they can use an existing or fictitious course. Participants will be able to go through the tool in a sequential manner, starting from the beginning, or search for specific information regarding specific design principles for interdisciplinary education. The workshop leaders will be available for guiding through the tool and answering questions.
In the final half hour, we will gather feedback about the design and content of the tool itself, and answer questions with the entire group of participants. Participants can save the results of this test session and use them in their teaching practice.
References
1. Spelt, EJH., Luning, PA., van Boekel, MAJS., Mulder, M. (2015) Constructively aligned teaching and learning in higher education in engineering: What do students perceive as contributing to the learning of interdisciplinary thinking? European Journal of engineering education, 40(5):459-475.
2. Klein, JT. (1990) Interdisciplinarity: History, theory and practice. Wayne State University Press (23).
3. Hoffman, S., Deutsch, L., Klein, JT. & O’Rourke, M. (2022) Integrate the integrators! A call for establishing academic careers for integration experts. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(147). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-022-01138-z
4. Oudenampsen, J., Das, E., Blijlevens, NMA., van de Pol, MHJ. (2024). The state of empirical evidence for interdisciplinary learning outcomes in higher education: a systematic review. The Review of Higher Education, ahead of print. 10.1353/rhe.0.a920416
5. Oudenampsen, J. (2024) Unraveling interdisciplinarity. Changing perspectives on interdisciplinary education, learning and learning outcomes. Radboud University. https://hdl.handle.net/2066/302724
6. Biggs, J., & Tang, C. (2020) Constructive alignment: An outcomes-based approach to teaching anatomy. In: Chan, LK., Pawlina, W. (eds) Teaching Anatomy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43283-6_3
