Mirbahai Leda, Noordali Farhan, Nolan Helen
Warwick Medical School, Gibbet Hill Campus, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
J Med Educ Curric Dev. 2024 Aug 8;11:23821205241260488. doi: 10.1177/23821205241260488. eCollection 2024 Jan-Dec.
Research into interdisciplinary education, where concrete examples and empirical evidence of interdisciplinary teaching is explored, is limited. Furthermore, there are no standardized guidelines on best practices for designing and implementing an interdisciplinary curriculum. Recently, in healthcare settings there has been a drive to adopt interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary practices, creating a need for training individuals capable of working across discipline-specific boundaries, or to even adopt a transdisciplinary practice. This is partially attributed to recognizing that local and global complex health challenges are interlinked and share common factors and often require a new integrated approach to management. In response, a new interdisciplinary course using a modified snowflake model of interdisciplinary course design was launched at a medical school. The course aimed to provide a broad foundation for lifelong learning with a strong emphasis on the development of knowledge, skills, and professional values essential for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary practice in applied health promotion for individuals and society.
A semi-structured focus group with students ( = 15% of the inaugural cohort) having completed at least 1 year of the course was undertaken to investigate student perspectives on best approaches for the development and delivery of interdisciplinary learning and teaching.
Results highlighted the importance of providing training and opportunity for students to practice integration within the curriculum. Additionally, it was noted that including a module to introduce students to different disciplines and guiding students to explore their inherent interconnectedness is essential in helping them develop interdisciplinary thinking and skills. Crucially, the role of integrated assessments was also recognized as fundamental for demonstrating and practicing interdisciplinarity.
Overall, this study provides valuable insights and recommendations for educators with the objective of developing interdisciplinary learning in new or existing higher education courses or those seeking to prepare learners for contemporary and emergent societal challenges more generally.
对跨学科教育的研究有限，其中跨学科教学的具体实例和实证证据有待探索。此外，对于设计和实施跨学科课程的最佳实践，尚无标准化指南。最近，在医疗保健领域，人们推动采用跨学科或跨专业实践，这就需要培养能够跨越特定学科界限开展工作甚至采用跨专业实践的人员。部分原因在于认识到本地和全球复杂的健康挑战相互关联且有共同因素，通常需要新的综合管理方法。对此，一所医学院推出了一门采用改进型跨学科课程设计雪花模型的新跨学科课程。该课程旨在为终身学习提供广泛基础，重点培养在个体和社会应用健康促进中进行跨学科和跨专业实践所必需的知识、技能和专业价值观。
对已完成该课程至少一年的学生（占首届学生 cohort 的 15%）进行了半结构化焦点小组访谈，以调查学生对跨学科学习与教学发展和实施的最佳方法的看法。
结果凸显了在课程中为学生提供实践整合的培训和机会的重要性。此外，还指出纳入一个向学生介绍不同学科并引导他们探索其内在关联性的模块，对于帮助他们培养跨学科思维和技能至关重要。至关重要的是，综合评估的作用也被认为是展示和实践跨学科性的基础。
总体而言，本研究为教育工作者提供了宝贵的见解和建议，目标是在新的或现有的高等教育课程中发展跨学科学习，或更广泛地帮助那些希望让学习者为当代和新出现的社会挑战做好准备的人。
