Design principles for interdisciplinary collaborative learning through social, digital innovation

Abstract

As academics, we are acutely aware of our responsibility in the design of our teaching and learning environment to instil principles of ethics, sustainability, agency and social justice. We are at the crossroad between the commodification of knowledge versus learning that steeped in well-being and innovative socio-ecological and or socio-technical transitions. These complexities prompted a Design-Based Research (DBR) project that commenced in 2020 to test and refine design principles that can facilitate an interdisciplinary, collaborative learning environment that exposes students to future challenges foregrounded in social justice perspectives of local voice, collaboration and co-design. A conceptual model informed by four pedagogical propositions of relationality, reflexivity, responsiveness and recognition is stipulated and nine design principles derived from these propositions are proposed. The overall purpose of this DBR project is to situate the student within a multifaceted learning experience that mimics the complexities associated with an interdisciplinary collaborative learning environment steeped in contemporary societal problems within a specific societal context. The ultimate aim of this project is to shift from interdisciplinary to transdisciplinary collaboration to explore a holistic approach to complex societal problems.

Integrating education for sustainable development into a sustainable-smart transdisciplinary learning framework

“…The first-generation framework was based on a pilot study that focused attention on agency in communities and resulted in four design principles: relationality, reflexivity, responsiveness and recognition (van den Berg & Verster, 2020). The second-generation framework developed the four design principles as pedagogical propositions and proposed an enriched understanding of each by suggesting sub-principles (Verster & van den Berg, 2021). The third-generation framework saw a return to theory in the form of sociomateriality and combined it with the concept of Future Learning Spaces (FLS).…”