The integrated curriculum, university teacher identity and teaching culture: the effects of an interdisciplinary activity

Abstract

The results of an investigative process are reported that centre on the impact that modular curricular organization and its interdisciplinary activity are having on the teaching culture in the Degree in Social Education at the University of the Basque Country (UPV/ EHU). This understanding of the curriculum is a seminal change for teaching staff and affects their professional identity by encouraging co-responsibility throughout the process. Communicative methodology is employed, which assists in the integration of the people in the investigation, so that they form part of the process of study under equal terms. The production of data was done through in-depth interviews, discussion groups, and documental analysis. The Interdisciplinary Activity Module (IAM) was developed in small groups, of 12-15 individuals, through active methodologies, and the university teachers needed to incorporate it into their discourse and relations with other colleagues and with their students. The results show that an integrated curriculum provides a worthwhile training opportunity to achieve learning of greater significance and depth, and that it happens through changes in their ways of relating and acting as teachers.

University-School Scenarios and Voices from Classrooms. Rethinking Collaboration within the Framework of an Interuniversity Project

“…The results presented in this paper demonstrate the progress made in this phase and the crystallisation of our commitment to improving interrelationships between agents and contexts, encouraging the presence of schools in university contexts. We have managed to break away from the normal isolation of the classroom and expand, challenging the established academic system which presides in university teaching (Alonso & Berasategi, 2017;M. & Dubula, 2016).…”

Fostering Interdisciplinarity: Implications for Social Sciences

“…Next, we will address implications in terms of scientific disciplinary identity, institutional consequences, and professional consequences, in an academia that is shaped for the maintenance of disciplinary boundaries (Jay, Rose, & Milligan, 2017;Shandas, & Brown, 2016;Sá ez, & Sancho, 2017;Santos, & Silva, 2017;Waldman, 2013;Žažar, 2016;Chan, 2012).…”

“…Thus, it entails a clear institutional support to be successful, as such a deep a cultural shift is not easy to achieve (Sá ez, & Sancho, 2017).…”

“…In the teaching processes, most teachers will need to find a new identity (Sá ez, & Sancho, 2017;Santos, & Silva, 2017) for which many academics are neither prepared nor motivated.…”

Student Competitions as a Learning Method with a Sustainable Focus in Higher Education: The University of Seville “Aura Projects” in the “Solar Decathlon 2019”

“…This commitment to transversality implies dealing with problems from the perspective of different disciplines. In the majority of cases, issues cannot be resolved by a single subject, such as History, Structures, Construction, Urban Planning or Projects [7]. To break away from the traditional organisation of teaching based on the master classes of a single discipline, a move towards a more integrated vision is proposed.…”