Supporting Student Attainment and Management of Competencies in a Transdisciplinary Degree Program

Abstract

Iryna Ashby is a Ph.D student in the Learning Design and Technology Program at Purdue University with the research interests focused on program evaluation and self-regulated learning. She is also part of the program evaluation team for the Transdisciplinary Studies in Technology at Purdue Polytechnic aimed to redesign undergraduate student experiences through offering a combination of deep liberal arts experiences with student-driven, hands-on project-based learning. His research focuses on the role of student experience in informing a critical design pedagogy, and the ways in which the pedagogy and underlying studio environment inform the development of design thinking, particularly in relation to critique and professional identity formation. His work crosses multiple disciplines, including engineering education, instructional design and technology, design theory and education, and human-computer interaction. Dr. Marisa Exter, Purdue University, West LafayetteMarisa Exter is an Assistant Professor of Learning Design and Technology in the College of Education at Purdue University. Dr. Exter's research aims to provide recommendations to improve or enhance university-level design and technology programs (such as Instructional Design, Computer Science, and Engineering). Some of her previous research has focused on software designers' formal and non-formal educational experiences and use of precedent materials, and experienced instructional designers' beliefs about design character. These studies have highlighted the importance of cross-disciplinary skills and student engagement in large-scale, real-world projects.Dr. Exter currently leads an effort to evaluate a new multidisciplinary degree program which provides both liberal arts and technical content through competency-based experiential learning.c American Society for Engineering Education, 2016 Supporting Student Attainment and Management of Competencies in a Transdisciplinary Degree Program AbstractIn Fall 2014, a large Midwestern land-grant research university piloted a competency-based model as the foundation for an undergraduate transdisciplinary program focusing on connecting engineering and technology with humanities and social sciences. Students enrolled in this program progress through a set of competencies that require them to master cross-disciplinary and cross-functional skills needed to be successful in a 21 st century workplace. Now in its second year, the competency-based program has undergone significant changes that include a more substantial definition of competencies at each of the three levels of competence (developing, emerging, and proficient), scaffolding needed to support students on their path towards gaining competencies, and significant mentoring by faculty, TAs, and professional advisers to support competency attainment.In this paper, we will share challenges and discoveries made by the faculty throughout the first two years of the novel Competency-Based Education (CBE) experience, including a reflection on how such experiences impact...

Learning Transdisciplinary Collaboration: Undergraduate Student Perceptions of Successes and Areas for Improvement in Transdisciplinary, Problem-Focused Honors Seminar Courses

“…Skills acquired through CBE typically can be translated to other disciplines or involved in the creation of new disciplines (i.e., transdisciplinarity). Transdisciplinarity is increasingly seen as an important component of CBE at several institutions (Ashby et al, 2020; Van Epps et al, 2016), and the skills practiced in courses of this nature include transferable skills such as problem-solving. The ability to solve problems spanning disciplines is an important skill in the job market, as are critical thinking, teamwork, and intercultural skills (Bridle et al, 2013; Hart Research Associates, 2018).…”

“…Similarly, the importance of engaging students in transdisciplinary experiences addressing global problems (Bernstein, 2015) in the development of collaborative skills (Laal & Ghodsi, 2012), and in practicing workplace competencies (Taylor et al, 2011) are well established. As the ability to work in teams, think critically and engage across contexts to solve problems are increasingly important skills in navigating the job market (Bridle et al, 2013; Hart Research Associates, 2018), transdisciplinary skills are more and more understood as an important aspect of CBE (Ashby et al, 2020; Van Epps et al, 2016). Tying classroom skills and course learning objectives to particular activities and competencies is an important element in student reflection and can improve motivation (e.g., McGuire, 2015a).…”

Transdisciplinarity for Sustainability: A Unifying Framework for Navigating Transformational Learning Systems

“…They fall within a higher level of development in common educational taxonomies such as Bloom's taxonomy [24], Perry's theory of intellectual and ethical development [25], and Kitchener's Reflective Judgement [26]. No consensus has been reached, however, as to what those core competencies should be [27], with different researchers identifying different competencies [28], [27], [23]. There is some commonality across models as shown in Table 2, below, which we have synthesized from our four salient sources: (E) Engels et al [29], (VE) Van Epps et al [27], (W) Wiek et al [23], and (B) Brundiers et al [16].…”

“…No consensus has been reached, however, as to what those core competencies should be [27], with different researchers identifying different competencies [28], [27], [23]. There is some commonality across models as shown in Table 2, below, which we have synthesized from our four salient sources: (E) Engels et al [29], (VE) Van Epps et al [27], (W) Wiek et al [23], and (B) Brundiers et al [16]. The approach of Brundiers et al [16] represents a step toward emergent models.…”

Applying a Competency-Based Education Approach for Designing a Unique Interdisciplinary Graduate Program: A Case Study for a Systems Engineering Program

“…Also, the program design using CBE allows for better competency descriptions, assessment, transparency, accountability, assessment at differing attainment levels, education affordability, demand-driven education, transition to mentoring and coaching vs. lecturing, description of student's knowledge, skills, abilities, and learning outcomes. All of this results in putting more power into the hands of students to "curate" their learning paths, which can support life-long learning [14]. Other researchers have identified that competency frameworks are valuable for preparing students for workplace readiness [15].…”