Interdisciplinary Learning Experience Research Articles

‘The character rests heavily within me’: drama students as standardized patients in mental health nursing education

WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Standardized patient (SP) simulation is an internationally recognized learning strategy that has proven effective in enhancing nursing students' competencies necessary for mental health practice. WHAT DOES THIS PAPER ADD TO EXISTING KNOWLEDGE?: A deeper exploration of the process from the perspective of SPs and more particularly drama students, revealed the complexity they need to navigate and the personal vulnerability they are exposed to when creating an authentic learning opportunity for nursing students. WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE?: Their vulnerability justifies deeper consideration of support, as well as research on the ethical implications of SP simulation. Nursing students need to be well grounded in therapeutic communication before engaging with mental health users. This should include opportunities to question personal frames of reference that could hinder therapeutic engagement with diverse others. In future, the drama students can be involved in scenario development to enhance the authenticity of simulations. Introduction The effectiveness of Standardized patient (SP) simulation in enhancing students' mental health nursing competencies is well published. Nevertheless, the believable and accurate portrayal of a patient with a mental health issue during SP simulation is complex. Though vital to the creation of safe authentic learning experiences, the perspectives of SPs and particularly of drama students involved in SP simulation are unknown. Aim The aim of this paper is therefore to explore and describe the experiences of 11 drama students engaged in mental health simulations for nursing students. Method A qualitative approach was taken and data were gathered using various techniques. Findings The content analysis revealed that these SPs negotiated three roles during this interdisciplinary learning experience, namely of a facilitator of learning, a drama student and the person within. Discussion The study provided valuable insight into the world of an SP, including the complexities they navigate and the vulnerability they experience. Implications for Practice Nurse educators are alerted to SP's need for support and the necessity of establishing good interpersonal skills before nursing students enter the practice setting. Involvement of SPs in scenario development could enhance the authenticity of future simulations. The ethical implications of SP simulation requires further exploration.

An Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program to Prepare Nursing Students for Future Workforce Roles.

It is important for nurses today and for those joining the workforce in the future to have familiarity and training with respect to interprofessional research, evidence-based practice, and quality improvement. In an effort to address this need, we describe a 10-week summer research program that immerses undergraduate nursing students in a broad spectrum of clinical and translational research projects as part of their exposure to advanced nursing roles. In doing so, the program increases the ability of the students to participate in research, effectively interact with academic medical center researchers, and incorporate elements of evidence-based practice into future nursing interventions. Their mentors are nurses practicing in roles as nurse researcher, advanced practice nurses involved in evidence-based practice or quality improvement, and clinical trials research nurses. Each student is matched with 3 of these mentors and involved in 3 different projects. Through this exposure, the students benefit from observing multiple nursing roles, taking an active role in research-related activities participating in interdisciplinary learning experiences. Overall, the program provides benefits to the students, who demonstrate measured improvement with respect to the program objectives, and to their mentors and each of the participating organizations.

Interdisciplinarity in design education: understanding the undergraduate student experience

Interdisciplinarity is becoming a critical issue of concern for design schools across East Asia in their attempts to provide industry graduates with the skills and competences to make creative contributions in a global economy. As a result, East Asian higher education institutions are aggressively endeavouring to provide interdisciplinary undergraduate curriculum that combine traditional designerly skills with engineering knowledge and methods. The current study takes an interdisciplinary undergraduate course as case-study to examine how the pedagogic strategy of team teaching influences student learning experience. Two surveys of student learning were conducted for this research purpose. The first provided an indication of the holistic student learning experience, while the second explored the conditions of team and non-team teaching as influence upon learning experiences specifically. Results showed how students taught by a single instructor provided a more positive overall opinion of course quality and experienced significantly more encouragement to participate compared to team taught respondents. However, findings also indicated how team teaching significantly increased the students’ experience of a balanced contribution from different disciplinary perspectives and how the team teaching approach was significantly more effective in providing students with greater opportunities to understand the relevance of the different disciplines to the course subject. We conclude with a discussion of results in terms of the effective use of team teaching at undergraduate level as strategy for interdisciplinary learning experiences.

Assessing safe spaces for digital scholarship in the library

INTRODUCTIONDigital scholarship is an emerging trend in multiple academic disciplines. Faculties in the humanities, social sciences, and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields are teaching students new forms of research, rhetoric, expression, and visualization of data using emerging media. Their students learn text encoding, data carpentry1, how to build online collections and exhibits, and how to make their work accessible to the public-while complying with copyright, fair use, public performance rights, and digital rights management. Academic libraries attempt to keep up with these trends by providing digital scholarship centers, digital media studios, creativity labs, makerspaces, co-working spaces, and other physical spaces that support this type of interdisciplinary experiential learning. Students curious about coding, digital storytelling, and other forms of digital scholarship can thus seek a safe place to learn these skills among peers and friendly, helpful mentors.The purpose of digital scholarship is not simply to learn about technology, but also to use new media and technology to improve the human condition. When planning spaces for digital scholarship, academic libraries focus on furniture, hardware, and software. People, including employees who will work in the space and patrons who will occupy and use the space, are often a secondary focus. While library employees who work in spaces for digital scholarship may have the technical and pedagogical expertise necessary for such work, they may not have the training required to create a safe space for digital scholarship. In fact, the organizational culture of the library itself may not reflect the open, exploratory, collaborative philosophy that shapes the culture of digital scholarship.Most publications praise digital scholarship in libraries as a smart practice, but do not address potential cultural barriers that could hinder library-generated digital scholarship initiatives. This blind spot creates the illusion that all academic libraries have a culture that would create safe, open spaces for digital scholarship. For this reason, libraries engaged in digital scholarship initiatives should reassess and change their culture in order to re-envision the library as a safe space for digital scholarship. This would include developing a safe space within the organization for library employees to explore emerging technologies and media to learn new skills, as well as building safe spaces for collaborative learning among mixed groups of library employees, faculty, and students.DEFINING DIGITAL SCHOLARSHIP AND SAFE SPACEBefore defining digital scholarship and how it manifests in libraries, it is important to provide a definition of safe space. People often describe the library as a sanctuary for those who are different, as well as a safe space for learning (Brewster, 2014; Maxwell, 2006). In reality, academic library environments created by library employees have the potential to be unsafe for innovation and learning (Madriaga, 2010; Mickiewicz, 2015).Definition of Safe SpaceThe definition of safe space in the higher education environment is a space where faculty, staff, and students can feel secure and free to express themselves, learn, and achieve without censure or harm (Booker, 2007). Moderators of a safe space, whether physical, virtual or conceptual, construct this space with ground rules for discourse and behavior (Ada Initiative, 2015a; Ada Initiative, 2015b; Booker, 2007; Fembot Collective, 2014; Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, 2015; Jones, 2009; Marchon, 2015; Pho & Masland, 2014; Robsinson, Sterner & Johnson, 2006; Ruggs & Hebl, 2012; Thorne, 2014). Academic and technology-related conferences have begun to establish and enforce such ground rules in order to prevent sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and other behaviors that negatively impact peoples' ability to learn and share as respected equals (Ada Initiative, 2015a; Ada Initiative, 2015b; Fembot Collective, 2014). …

“Not at the Expense of Their Culture”: Graduating Native American Youth from High School

What kinds of challenges do educators face in increasing Native American high school graduation rates, and what kinds of adaptations to a traditional high school are understood as necessary to achieve this outcome? This case study explored these questions as part of a larger multiple case study that investigated practices and processes related to high school graduation rates. It focused on educators’ attempts to increase Native American student graduation rates in a high school with typical gaps in graduation rates between Native American students and white students. Data collected included teacher and administrator interviews and documentary evidence. Framed by socioecological theory that focuses on relationships between district, school, and classroom processes and practices, study findings revealed that adaptations to improve Native youth graduation rates included (1) offering personally-relevant, real-world, experiential, and interdisciplinary learning experiences aligned to students’ own learning goals; (2) adapting school schedules to students’ lives outside of school; (3) prioritizing developing students’ sense of worth in contributing to their communities and societies; (4) providing flexibility regarding absences, (5) offering effective supports that emphasize connecting to an adult; and (6) partnering with families and other community members. Implications for future research and practice are discussed in light of the findings.

Utilization of Social Media for an Interdisciplinary Experiential Learning Study Abroad Program

The development of global awareness is essential for college students to compete in today’s international workplace. Interdisciplinary courses in higher education provide an opportunity for faculty to enhance student learning regarding the global marketplace. This paper examined the creation and delivery of an International Business in France course. The course was developed in cooperation between three academic departments and encompassed the study of business, economy, and culture. The course also contained an off campus study trip to Paris, France. Information from the trip was shared through social media to enhance the college’s marketing material.

Mix and Match: Promoting Interdisciplinary Teaching, Learning, and Community through Classroom-level Partnerships

Developed at the University of British Columbia (UBC), UBC Mix creates interdisciplinary learning experiences for students by developing partnerships between existing courses, and between existing courses and other learning opportunities. UBC Mix connects faculty members interested in making their courses more interdisciplinary, and facilitates the creation of shared learning activities that “mix” students together. The UBC Mix project provides a model for facilitating interdisciplinary teaching and learning within existing courses and programs at colleges and universities.

An Interdisciplinary Team-Based Learning Experience in Health Systems and Inequalities

Abstract This team-based learning experience was designed to addresses issues associated with health systems and inequalities. This content should be considered introductory. Team-based learning wa...

Interprofessional Leadership Training in MCH Social Work

The need to train health social workers to practice interprofessionally is an essential goal of social work education. Although most health social workers have exposure to multidisciplinary practice within their field work, few social work education programs incorporate interprofessional learning as an integrated component of both course work and field experiences (McPherson, Headrick, & Moss, 2001; Reeves, Lewin, Espin, & Zwaranstein, 2010; Weinstein, Whittington, & Leiba, 2003). In addition, little is written about the kinds of curricula that would effectively promote interdisciplinary training for social work students. These findings are particularly puzzling since there is increasing and compelling evidence that interdisciplinary training improves health outcomes (IOM, 2001). This article describes a social work education program that incorporates an Interprofessional education and leadership curriculum for Maternal and Child Health Social Work (MCHSW) at the University of Maryland's School of Social Work. The University of Maryland's Interprofesisonal Training Model is described along with the components needed to formulate an interdisciplinary learning experience. Various outcomes and lessons learned are discussed.

Teachers in an Interdisciplinary Learning Community

This study examines the inputs (processes and strategies) and outputs (perceptions, skill development, classroom transfer, disciplinary integration, social networking, and community development) of a yearlong, interdisciplinary teacher learning and development experience. Eleven secondary math and science teachers partnered with an interdisciplinary team of university engineering mentors in a yearlong engineering education and project implementation program. It consisted of a 6-week on-site resident professional development and collaboration experience, with an ongoing support and follow-up including digital systems. Mixed-method, multisource data indicate that teachers engaged with motivations combining personal, intrinsic interest and classroom integration goals. They formed and sustained an active community of learning and practice that supported their success, on-site and through classroom integration, thereby promoting innovations. Teachers reported positive perceptions throughout the program and demonstrated significant, productive trajectories of change-over-time. Teachers learned and transferred task-specific engineering and scientific skills, as well as more general inquiry-based pedagogical strategies to their secondary classrooms.

Service learning in Guatemala: using qualitative content analysis to explore an interdisciplinary learning experience among students in health care professional programs

IntroductionInterprofessional collaboration among health care professionals yields improved patient outcomes, yet many students in health care programs have limited exposure to interprofessional collaboration in the classroom and in clinical and service-learning experiences. This practice gap implies that students enter their professions without valuing interprofessional collaboration and the impact it has on promoting positive patient outcomes.AimThe aim of this study was to describe the interprofessional experiences of students in health care professional programs as they collaborated to provide health care to Guatemalan citizens over a 7-day period.MethodsIn light of the identified practice gap and a commitment by college administration to fund interprofessional initiatives, faculty educators from nursing, occupational therapy, and physical therapy conducted a qualitative study to explore a service-learning initiative focused on promoting interprofessional collaboration. Students collaborated in triads (one student from each of the three disciplines) to provide supervised health care to underserved Guatemalan men, women, children, and infants across a variety of community and health care settings. Eighteen students participated in a qualitative research project by describing their experience of interprofessional collaboration in a service-learning environment. Twice before arriving in Guatemala, and on three occasions during the trip, participants reflected on their experiences and provided narrative responses to open-ended questions. Qualitative content analysis methodology was used to describe their experiences of interprofessional collaboration.ResultsAn interprofessional service-learning experience positively affected students’ learning, their growth in interprofessional collaboration, and their understanding and appreciation of health care professions besides their own. The experience also generated feelings of gratitude for the opportunity to be a member of an interprofessional team and to serve those in need by giving of themselves.ConclusionThe findings support service learning as a platform to encourage interprofessional collaboration among students in health care professional programs. The research will inform future service-learning experiences in which interdisciplinary collaboration is an outcome of interest.

Audiology and speech-language pathology student service learning experience may enhance attitudes of students working with adults with dementia

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Kaf, W. A., Barboa, L. S., Fisher, B. J., & Snavely, L. A. (2011). Effect of interdisciplinary service learning experience for audiology and speech-language pathology students working with adults with dementia. American Journal of Audiology, 20, S241-S249. Source of funding and disclosure of interest: Partial funding by the Citizen and Service-Learning Research Stipend grant at Missouri State University; the original authors of this research report no conflicts of interest.

Classroom in the Clinic

Classroom in the Clinic

An interdisciplinary learning experience in neuro-optics

How can a Ph.D. student initially trained as a biologist take part in the development of a multineuronal recording method that requires cross interaction between physics, neurobiology and mathematics? Beyond student training in the laboratory, interdisciplinary research calls for a new style of academic training of young researchers. Here we present an innovative approach to graduate student academic training that fills the need for multidisciplinary knowledge and provides students, in addition, with a deeper understanding of the interdisciplinary approach to scientific research.

Effect of Interdisciplinary Service Learning Experience for Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Students Working With Adults With Dementia

An interdisciplinary service learning (SL) experience with audiology and speech-language pathology students was designed to examine changes in students' attitudes toward adults with dementia following an SL experience in which they socialized with nursing home residents who had dementia. Nineteen audiology and 24 speech-language pathology students completed an SL course, and 14 audiology and 18 speech-language pathology students did not participate in the SL course. The students interacted with 24 nursing home residents with dementia; specifically, the audiology students conducted 2 hearing evaluations with the residents, and the speech-language pathology students socialized with the residents during 15 visits. The students' attitudes toward older adults with dementia were assessed using Kogan's Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (Kogan, 1961) and qualitative analysis of their journal entries. The results were compared across groups over time. The SL groups showed more positive attitudes than the non-SL students, and their later journal entries were more positive than earlier entries. This SL experience provided clinical opportunities for audiology and speech-language pathology students to work with adults with dementia. Direct contact with the residents resulted in more positive attitudes toward older adults in residential facilities.

Interdisciplinary Learning Experience in Biophotonics

Light provides a means to image, analyze, and manipulate living cells and tissues. Photonic applications have produced a wave of new discoveries that have revolutionized our understanding of a vast array of biological processes. The exceptional scientific breadth of biophotonics research makes it virtually impossible for a single science department to deliver all topics necessary for a well-rounded basic undergraduate education in this rapidly progressing scientific area; therefore, we developed a new interdisciplinary course. The instructors are from the Departments of Physics, Chemistry and Biological Sciences and the students come from each of those departments as well. The course includes lecture, discussions, team activities and projects, and practical experiments in optical foundations of fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy, organic fluorophore synthesis, advanced spectroscopy, and the use of microscopy in cell biology. Students work in interdisciplinary groups, which fosters peer-to-peer learning and develops their communication skills in a cross-disciplinary setting. Students produce a portfolio which is used for assessment and they present final team projects dealing with the synthesis of organic dyes and their properties in vitro and when introduced into living cells or projects dealing with the three-dimensional visualization of fluorescently labeled cells. Pre- and post-assessment of student viewpoints revealed changes in attitude and perceptions. For example, as expected by the opportunities given in the course, more students indicated that they had “designed, or worked with others to design, an experiment to test a hypothesis”. Following the course, there was an increase in the number of students who felt that they “enjoy and feel comfortable working with others in lab settings to solve problems together”. Student attitudes toward team teaching by several instructors became more positive after the course, with a greater number of students feeling comfortable with a team-teaching approach.

Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine

Number of Activities: 145 Number of Hours of Instruction: 1,964 Number of Physician Participants: 29,136 Number of Other Learners: 17,094 Received Commercial Support: Yes Received Income from Advertising or Exhibits: Yes Participated in Joint Providership: Yes Offered Courses: Yes Offered Enduring Materials: Yes Offered Internet Enduring Materials: Yes Offered Performance Improvement: Yes Offered RSS: Yes Offered Test Item Writing: Yes

Changing Approaches Towards Open Education, Innovation and Research in Tourism

There is a widely held assumption that the Internet provides opportunities to rethink and reorganise the knowledge interaction and dissemination between industry, education and research. Web 2.0 technologies are emerging as teaching and learning tools, but there is still no striking evidence to support the above-mentioned assumption. Accordingly, the purposes of this article are to, first, discuss the challenges in tourism education and address in brief the declining role of universities as knowledge monopolies and their emerging role as open knowledge mediators. Second, to present open innovation paradigms and address issues of knowledge accumulation and dissemination in tourism and the new role of the university. Third, INNOTOUR, an experimental Web 2.0 innovation hub for tourism, is presented. Preliminary learning experiences using the INNOTOUR platform as an advanced tool for collaborative, open source education in tourism are outlined. Finally, we point out collaborative challenges for international tourism research and teaching. We argue that there is a compelling need to build grounded theory and consolidated practice that will advance the quality and efficiency of tourism education through the use of a wide span of interactive technologies and committed teaching methods, facilitating dynamic, interdisciplinary and international learning experiences.

Difficult conversations: Improving communication skills and relational abilities in health care*

Communication skills and relational abilities are essential core competencies that are associated with improved health outcomes, better patient adherence, fewer malpractice claims, and enhanced satisfaction with care. Yet, corresponding educational opportunities are sorely underrepresented and undervalued. To evaluate the impact of an interdisciplinary experiential learning paradigm to improve communication skills and relational abilities of pediatric critical care practitioners. Prepost design, including baseline, immediate follow-up, and 5-month self-report questionnaires. Tertiary care pediatric hospital, Children's Hospital Boston. One hundred six interdisciplinary clinicians with a range of experience levels and clinical specialties. Participants rated their sense of preparation, communication and relational skills, confidence, and anxiety. Open-ended questions asked participants about lessons learned, aspects of the training they found most helpful, and suggestions to improve the training. When questions were posed in a yes/no format, participants were nearly unanimous (93% to 98%) that the training had improved their sense of preparation, communication skills, and confidence immediately after and 5 months posttraining. Ninety percent of participants reported improvements in establishing relationships immediately after the training and 84% reported improvements 5 months posttraining. Eighty-two percent reported reduced anxiety immediately after training and 74% experienced reduced anxiety 5 months posttraining. On Likert items, 70% estimated their preparation had improved; 40% to 70% reported improvements in communication skills, confidence and anxiety, and 15% in relationship skills. Four qualitative themes emerged: identifying one's existing competence; integrating new communication skills and relational abilities; appreciating interdisciplinary collaboration; and valuing the learning itself. A 1-day experiential learning paradigm focused on communication skills and relational abilities was highly valued, clinically useful, and logistically feasible. Participants reported better preparation, improved communication and relational skills, greater confidence, and reduced anxiety. Participants deepened their understanding of family perspectives, recognized valuable existing competencies, and strengthened their commitment to interdisciplinary teamwork.

The Benefits of an Interdisciplinary Collaborative Learning Experience: The Student Perspective on Outcomes

Increasingly, human service professionals require knowledge from other disciplines to de- velop, and implement comprehensive treatment/intervention plans. Collaborative decision-making and information sharing among the helping professions ensures that consideration is given to all of the factors affecting intervention and outcome and is a skill that is most effectively learned during pre- professional training. The Student Interdisciplinary Day project is a series of didactic and group learningexperiencesdesignedtopromotethepre-requisiteskillsforeffectivecollaboration.Thepurpose of this study was to qualitatively examine student perspectives on the benefits of participating in this interdisciplinary learning experience. Graduate students (n=16) from clinical psychology, education, social work and physical therapy were selected to participate in a focus group. From the data, the following themes emerged: (1) increased understanding of the professional roles of other disciplines; (2) better awareness of professional role overlap; (3) an appreciation for the importance of collabor- ation;(4)understandingthatconflict canarisewithininterdisciplinaryteams;(5)realizingtheimport- ance of leadership; and (6) the development of increased confidence in one's ability to collaborate. The findings reveal the importance of including opportunities for interdisciplinary interaction and collaboration in graduate school curriculums.