An Interdisciplinary Oral History Initiative

Abstract

To achieve a significant educational experience that offered effective and lasting change in students' attitudes about expertise and collaboration, the authors designed an interdisciplinary project that purposefully linked students from history of pharmacy and communication studies courses. Over 3 successive semesters, 60 students formed interdisciplinary teams to design, conduct, and transcribe area pharmacists' oral histories. This project challenged students to overcome stereotypes, address anxiety about working with people outside traditional peer groups, and recognize specialized knowledge and skills they offered to the interdisciplinary partnership. Fifty-seven students wrote individual reflective self analyses that examined their own attitudes and experiences prior to, during, and after the project. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the students' accounts provided substantial insight into the value of the interdisciplinary and intergenerational experience as well as students' recognition of disciplinary expertise, both in and outside of their respective majors.