Transdisciplinarity in higher education: the potential of digitalization

Abstract

The complexity and urgency of societal challenges are growing steadily, as the world currently experiences with managing the coronavirus pandemic. Transdisciplinary research approaches are necessary to confront these complex problems and relevant research capacity is increasingly in demand by society, politics and research funders. However, education and training continuously lag behind societal needs. Students, researchers and practitioners from all backgrounds should be trained and have the opportunity to learn how to use transdisciplinary approaches in research. Digitalization, and especially the massive open access online course (MOOC) format, provides a unique leverage point to increase access and extend reach equitably across the global higher education landscape. This chapter describes how a MOOC concept and contents were designed through intense co-production processes by experts from various Swiss institutions to ‘tell an interesting storyline’ and provoke interaction through social learning between and among learners and educators. We discuss the process and challenges of incorporating integrated learning into higher education curricula, summarize some lessons learned and highlight the global perspective. The MOOC provides a digital resource, for learners, educators and trainers, to support transdisciplinary research capacity building and knowledge co-production globally.