Keywords
Integration
Problem-based learning
Educational design model
How to Cite
Abstract
In this article, we examine the challenges and opportunities perceived by university staff when planning and executing interdisciplinary activities for students in the problem-based and project-centred environment at Aalborg University. Using a qualitative approach, we interviewed 15 participants from nine pilot projects organizing interdisciplinary activities in higher education. The findings highlight various challenges to interdisciplinarities, such as building common ground to be “comfortable being uncomfortable”, framing and facilitating interdisciplinarity and balancing different disciplines in student recruitment. They also present multiple opportunities, including increased awareness of one’s own professional identity, a positive relationship with employability, the possibility of asking more fundamental questions about disciplinary practice, increased outlook when facing complex problems and the use of problem-based learning (PBL) as a frame of reference for interdisciplinarity. Based on the findings dimensions of educational design that are critical to interdisciplinary activity planning.
References
Askehave, I., Prehn, H. L., Pedersen, J., & Pedersen, M. T. (2015). PBL - Problem-Based Learning. Aalborg, Denmark: Aalborg University.
Bear, A., & Skorton, D. (2019). The World Needs Students with Interdisciplinary Education. Issues in Science and Technology, 35(2), 60-62.
Beddoes, K. (2020). Interdisciplinary Teamwork Artifacts and Practices: A Typology for Promoting Successful Teamwork in Engineering Education Australasian Journal of Engineering Education, 25(2), 133-141. https://doi.org/10.1080/22054952.2020.1836753
Bertel, L. B., Winther, M., Routhe, H. W., &, A. Kolmos (2022). Framing and facilitating complex problem-solving competences in interdisciplinary megaprojects: An institutional strategy to educate for sustainable development. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (Print Edition), 23(5), 1173-1191. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2020-0423
Borrego, M., & Newswander, L. K. (2010). Definitions of Interdisciplinary Research: Towards Graduate-Level Interdisciplinary Learning Outcomes. The Review of Higher Education, 34(1), 61-84. https://doi.org/10.1353/rhe.2010.0006
Braßler, M. (2020). The Role of Interdisciplinarity in Bringing PBL to traditional Universities: Opportunities and Challenges on the Organizational, Team and Individual Level. The Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-based Learning, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.14434/ijpbl.v14i2.28799
Braßler, M., & Schultze, M. (2021). Students’ Innovation in Education for Sustainable Development—A Longitudinal Study on Interdisciplinary vs. Monodisciplinary Learning. Sustainability, 13(3), 1322. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13031322
Braßler, M., & Sprenger, S. (2021). Fostering Sustainability Knowledge, Attitudes, and Behaviours through a Tutor-Supported Interdiscplinary Course in Education for Sustainable Development. Sustainability, 13(6), 3494. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13063494
Enelund, M., & Briggs, K. H. (2020). Tracks for change, flexibility, interdisciplinarity and creativity in engineering education. Proceedings of the 16th International CDIO Conference, Hosted on-line by Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden.
Friedrichsen, D., Hadgraft, R., Kolmos, A., Holgaard, J. E., & Routhe, H. W. (2024). Influencing Employability: Understanding Employability in the Context of Engineering Practice 35th Australasian Association for Engineering Education Annual Conference,
Graff, D. (2022). The impact of graduate student goal orientation on design projects. Journal of Engineering Design, 33(5), 388-411. https://doi.org/10.1080/09544828.2022.2076556
Graaff, E. d., & Kolmos, A. (2007). History of Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning. In Management of change. Implementation of Problem-Based and Project-Based Learning in Engineering (pp. 1-8). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789087900922_002
Graaff, E. d., & Kolmos, A. (2003). Characteristics of Problem-Based Learning. International Journal of Engineering Education, 19(5), 657-662.
Habbal, F., Anette Kolmos, Hadgraft, R., Holgaard, J. E., & Reda, K. (2024). Reshaping Engineering Education: Addressing Complex Human Challenges. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-5873-3
Han, S. J., Abadi, M., Jin, B., & Chen, J. (2021). Cultivating interdisciplinary team creativity through an intensive design competition. Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, 11(3), 757-772. https://doi.org/10.1108/HESWBL-06-2020-0141
Horn, A., Urias, E., & Zweekhorst, M. B. M. (2022). Epistemic stability and epistemic adaptability: interdisciplinary knowledge integration competencies for complex sustainability issues. Sustainability Science, 17, 1959-1976. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-022-01113-2
Jensen, A. A., Stentoft, D., & Ravn, O. (2019). Interdisciplinarity and Problem-Based Learning in Higher Education - Reseach and Perspectives from Aalborg University (Vol. 18). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18842-9
Josa, I., & Aguado, A. (2021). Social sciences and humanities in the education of civil engineers: Current status and proposal of guidelines Journal of Cleaner Production, 311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127489
Kiernan, L., Ledwith, A., & Lynch, R. (2019). Comparing the dialogue of experts and novices in interdisciplinary teams to inform design education. International Journal of Technology and Design Education, 30, 187-206. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10798-019-09495-8
Klein, J. T. (2010). A taxonomy of Interdisciplinarity. In R. Frodeman, J. T. Klein, & C. Mitcham (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Interdisciplinarity (pp. 15-30). Oxford University Press.
Kolmos, A., Bertel, L. B., Holgaard, J. E., & Routhe, H. W. (2020). Project types and complex problem-solving competencies: Towards a conceptual framework. In 8th International Research Symposium on PBL (pp. 56-65). Aalborg Universitetsforlag.
Kolmos, A., Holgaard, J. E., Routhe, H. W., Winther, M., & Bertel, L. B. (2024). Interdisciplinary project types in engineering education. European Journal of Engineering Education., 49(2), 257-282. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2023.2267476
Macleod, M., & Veen, J. T. V. D. (2020). Scaffolding interdisciplinary project-based learning: a case study. European Journal of Engineering Education, 45(3), 363-377. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043797.2019.1646210
Ming, X., MacLeod, M., & Veen, J. V. D. (2023). Constructing and enactment of interdisciplinarity: A grounded theory case study in Liberal Arts and Science Education. learning, Culture and Social Interaction, 40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lcsi.2023.100716
Olmos-Peñuela, J., Benneworth, P., & Castro-Matínez, E. (2014). Are 'STEM from Mars and SSH from Venus'?: Challenging disciplinary stereotypes of reseach's social value. Science and Public Policy, 41(3), 384-400. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/sct071
Repko, A. F. (2007). Integrating Interdisciplinarity: How Theories of Common Ground and Cognitive Interdisciplinarity are Informing the Debate on Interdisciplinary Integration. Issues in integrative studies, 25, 1-31.
Richter, D. M., & Paretti, M. C. (2009). Identifying barriers to and outcomes of interdisciplinarity in the engineering classroom. European Journal of Engineering Education, 34(1), 29-45. https://doi.org/10.1080/03043790802710185
Rooks, R. N., Scandlyn, J., Pelowich, K., & Lor, S. (2022). Co-teaching Two Interdisciplinary Courses in Higher Education. International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 16(2), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.20429/ijsotl.2022.160208
Routhe, H. W., Holgaard, J. E., & Kolmos, A. (2023). Experienced Learning Outcomes for Interdisciplinary Projects in Engineering Education. I E E E Transactions on Education, 66(5), 487-499. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2023.3284835
Savin-Baden, M., & Major, C. H. (2013). Qualitative Research: The Essential Guide to Theory and Practice (1st ed. ed.). Routledge.
Scholkmann, A., Stegeager, N., & Miller, R. K. (2023). Integrating the Integration: The Role of Challenges of Problem-Based Learning in Bringing Together Social Science and Humanities (SSH) and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Journal of Problem Based Learning, 11(1), 98-123. https://doi.org/10.54337/ojs.jpblhe.v11i1.7371
Sharma, A., Khatreja, K., Kundu, M., Redhu, P., Rekna, & Yadav, K. (2023). The interplay of humanities, social sciences, sustainable development goals, and STEM education. Korean Review of International Studies, 16(4), 68-74.
Taylor, S. (2018). To understand and be understood: facilitating interdisciplinary learning through the promotion of communicative competence. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 42(1), 126-142. https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2017.1379059
Telléus, P. K. (2019). Trust Me, I'm the Doctor': Bridging Disciplinary Education and Interdisciplinary Professionalism. In A. A. Jensen, D. Stentoft, & O. Ravn (Eds.), Interdisciplinarity and Problem-Based Learning in Higher Education - Research and Perspectives from Aalborg University (pp. 21-35). Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18842-9_3
Aalborg University (2022). SSH-STEM Integration Model. https://prod-aaudxp-cms-001-app.azurewebsites.net/media/tv1j3omt/ssh-stem-integration.pdf
Wallin, P., Lyng, R., Sortland, B., & Veine, S. (2017). Experts in teamwork - A large scale course for interdisciplinary learning and collaboration. Proceedings of the 13th International CDIO Conference University of Calgary, Balgary, Canada.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Jette Egelund Holgaard, Mia Thyrre Sørensen, Maria Hvid Stenalt, Kirsten Jæger, Thomas Ryberg, Kathrine Lohmann Bjerg