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Distant yet Near: Promoting Interdisciplinary Learning in Significantly Diverse Teams through Socially Responsible Projects
Author(s) -
Adya Monica,
Temple Bryan K.,
Hepburn Donald M.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
decision sciences journal of innovative education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 19
eISSN - 1540-4609
pISSN - 1540-4595
DOI - 10.1111/dsji.12058
Subject(s) - transferability , situated , work (physics) , teamwork , knowledge management , collaborative learning , pedagogy , psychology , engineering , computer science , management , mechanical engineering , logit , artificial intelligence , machine learning , economics
ABSTRACT With global specialization of work units within organizations, interdisciplinary work practices comprised of collaborative efforts between technical and business teams are increasingly common in today's workplace. While higher education has responded by creating opportunities for remote teams to learn from collaborative work, occasions for interaction between remotely situated significantly diverse teams such as business and engineering are few. This study describes a pedagogical offering between U.S.‐based business teams and U.K.‐based engineering teams that delivers such an experience around mutually dependent, socially responsible projects. Results from student surveys and reflections confirm that the pedagogical design is able to generate perceived interdependence between these diverse teams. Student responses to surveys also suggest that the collaboration is effective in raising student confidence in interdisciplinary and remote team work among students. The study concludes with recommendations for transferability and actualization of interdisciplinary collaboration.