Cross-Disciplinary Learning Online

As I begin a new post back in China, I renew conversations about cross-disciplinary teaching and learning. The approach is now enhanced after many learners have had an online learning experience (perhaps not an ideal one). It seems that many of us can now integrate more opportunities for students to engage in authentic conversations with colleagues around the world. Recent research supporting this approach includes this 2021 article entitled, "Empowering cross-disciplinary learning through online collaboration among students and faculty from Business English, Website Building, and Accessible Design Fields" by Koris, Palmer, and Oswal.

The authors "argues for the capacity of cross-disciplinary online collaborations to prepare students for the complexity of working in today’s interconnected, digital environment. The study presents the intricate curricular design of a cross-disciplinary collaboration project implemented by students and faculty at one European and two US universities. This multiyear project connects three university courses of different disciplines through virtual collaboration: Hungarian students in a business English course, students in Michigan preparing to engage in website building work, and students in Washington studying the field of accessible design."

The instructors structured the workflow among these interlinked teams on the model of international distributed work groups coming together to achieve shared goals in one or more multinational organisations (Jordan & Adams, 2016; Nardi & Whittaker, 2002).

This paper seeks to answer the following research questions:

1. What knowledge and skills did students perceive to have gained as a result of their participation in the online international collaboration project?

2. What evidence can be found for cross-disciplinary learning through this online international collaboration?

3. How do students perceive the overall benefit of cross-disciplinary learning?

The findings included overall increased engagement, enjoyment of the courses and improved project artifacts, and ability to connect conceptual frameworks beyond traditional discipline boundaries.

Reference

Koris, R., Palmer, Z., & Oswal, S. (2021). Empowering cross-disciplinary learning through online collaboration among students and faculty from Business English, Website Building, and Accessible Design Fields. Journal of University Teaching & Learning Practice, 18(7), 112-134.